Building a new life after burnout

A presentation at Non Binary in Tech in July 2017 in London, UK by Damien Senger

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BUILDING A NEW LIFE 
 AFTER BURNOUT

Non Binary in Tech • London •
July 29th, 2017

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Damien Senger • hiwelo.

UX / UI Designer 
 Accessibility advocate

hiwelo.co •
@iamhiwelo Raccoon

my own web studio

raccoon.studio

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BUILDING A NEW LIFE AFTER BURNOUT

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28 years old, 2 burnouts .

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So I will tell you two stories .

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Two different experiences in two really different environments.

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Working as a campaign manager 
 for a political electoral campaign 1 .

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A quick overview of a 
 campaign manager job A final deadline you can’t change. A lot of responsibilities : 
 I was babysitting in charge of 12 candidates. A lot of skills involved in a workday: 
 strategy, communication, administrative and legal stuff, PR, human resources management, etc. Work hours: 9am – 10pm the good days, 
 7am – 2am the bad days.

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Working as a campaign manager 
 for a political electoral campaign 1 .

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Working as a front end developer 
 in a small French web agency 2.

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3?

I hope this slide will stay empty.

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Two different experiences… 
 but one unique pattern .

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How can we 
 detect these situations ?

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Listen to yourself! Your body can give you 
 a lot of clues.

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Less performant Less focused, lack of memory Working more than the regular hours Fatigue, useless holidays Unstable mood, irritability Loneliness and exclusion Musculoskeletal disorders Risk behaviours

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Three main things to watch: Resignation, exhaustion, 
 inefficiency.

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Burnout is hell . !

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Burnout is hell . !

But it’s not your fault .

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Burnout is hell . !

You must do something against it .

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Burnout is hell . !

It will not resolve itself .

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How can we 
 recover from a burnout ?

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You need to accept

your condition : this is a real disease, ask for help. 1 .

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You need to take your time , and sometimes to make choices . 2.

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You need to 
 adjust your environment . 3.

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Reduce stress .

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There is no good stress .

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Stress is a natural body reaction, designed to be temporary .

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Stress over time 
 turns into exhaustion.

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Three main things to watch: Resignation, exhaustion , 
 inefficiency. Fighting stress is the best solution against exhaustion.

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I moved to a more peaceful city: Amsterdam.

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Reduce fear.

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At work, we have fear… 
 of everything.

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Judgement, failure, ratings, errors… 
 Is our work this much scary?

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Nobody has ever been fired at Valve 
 for making a mistake. 
 It wouldn’t make sense for us 
 to operate that way.

VALVE “ ”

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Failure is part of 
 the human process.

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We can learn more from our failures than our success.

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To fight fear, we need more trust

and more independence .

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Trust and independence are needed to increase
self-confidence.

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Three main things to watch: Resignation , exhaustion , 
 inefficiency . Reducing fear is the best solution against resignation.

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I chose to focus my job on my main interests: 
 accessibility and improving users’ web experience.

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Find help.

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Burnout involves one person. This person is not responsible.

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Burnout involves one person. But it’s a collective responsibility.

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We need to find a better work-life balance.

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Don’t hesitate to take sick leave when needed.

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Ask for more breaks. Ask for more research time.

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After a sprint, you need a break. 
 For your brain, it’s the same!

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Say thank you.

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If needed, ask for a new team.

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Look for new opportunities.

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A more inclusive workplace is needed for a good mental health.

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Fight for yourself, and for everyone else!

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Three main things to watch: Resignation, exhaustion , 
 inefficiency . Asking for help is the best solution against inefficiency.

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Feeling over-whelmed, few days ago I asked for a 
 new planning and different tasks: it worked well!

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How can we avoid these situations ?

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We have 
 no super power.

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We are no ninjas , gurus , 
 unicorns , rockstars or whatever.

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We are professionals. We deserve respect.

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We must say no.

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No .

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Say it. Say it over and over. Never stop saying it.

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Nope .

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Listen to yourself. Learn from yourself. Watch for your limits.

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I just talked with William, 
 I know you are no backend developer but we have this emergency. 
 Can you fix it for tomorrow morning?

Your project/product manager at 5pm. “ ”

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Nope , nope & nope .

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If you work on unknown things, you need time. Ask for it.

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We must control our plannings.

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Tasks, deadlines, schedules: tell your limits and ask for help!

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Switching often between tasks is highly exhausting for our brain.

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And no, I mean, NO task ever takes 
 only five minutes!

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We are not our work . We are more.

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Thank you! 
 (and please pardon my French!)

damien@raccoon.studio • @iamhiwelo