How to get overwhelmed in 5 easy steps in any field (Thank me later)
By: Yiğit İrez
Tags: Work Life Balance, Burnout, Software, Burnout Prevention, Overwhelm

I’ve been in several different seats of software life for some decent time now and through hard work and experience I can proudly say I have found the guaranteed method for anyone on any level to immediately start overwhelming themselves and burning out with these 5 easy steps. I believe these steps will work on other walks of life too but in the software field it has been tested and it worked, twice.

As with any recipe on the internet, I will not be going directly to the details and instead go off-topic with an unnecessary story around these parts where you will be expecting previously mentioned valuable steps.

My story is two fold. At my previous company I have unknowingly stumbled upon the secret elixir of burning oneself out. Back then, I didn’t realize how valuable this information was so I was angry with everyone but myself because as usual, it was someone else’s fault. However, at my next job, I finally mastered the art. Upon realising my achievement, shock was the first emotion I felt. Exactly the same thing somehow happened. The same feeling of being completely spent, emotionally battered and motivationally as barren as space, but I meant well right? Then of course, I proceeded to be angry, since naturally, the problem lied with everyone else but me. The natural progression of these trains of thoughts brought me to my final step; the realization of my knowledge and the raw power I held.

The power to completely destroy any motivation for your work and make your life miserable.

Now brace yourself for the burden of knowledge and rejoice, if you have completed some or maybe all of these steps.

Be overenthusiastic and jump at every opportunity to learn everything about your job. This is looked up on positively as part of being a great employee, which I still believe to be true. However, instead of just vertical, one should also aggressively go horizontal. This probably is the gateway to the happiness that ensues. Notice that you naturally get more work as you spread your knowledge horizontally. Have more contact points as you spread over multiple disciplines and infiltrate almost every aspect of whatever you are working on. At this point, you should have people lining up to speak with you and your phone should be ringing like never before. Start to feel enthusiasm wane due to being unable to focus on anything properly, missing deadlines and work quality decreasing. Here, you are almost invincible since you won’t even have to explain whatever excuse you have because you are everywhere at once anyway. This is the sweet spot of enlightenment. The final step of ascension; realize you are losing control of everything, have no hobbies left to speak of, have to choose what to mediocrely do and you are not learning anything new at all. You have become one with the storm and everything is flying around. Everything depends on you and the best part; you get to enjoy the personal hell you created.

The next part will be about how to get out of this wonderous position and get back to the person you were in the beginning of the first step.