How to fix burnout

Every time I get into a low energy, low mood, low everything burnout—like I just did—I do most or all of these things:

• Increase magnesium intake. I increased by one capsule more, about 300mg. Magnesium helps improve your mood, and it’s the one supplement that I find is on painkiller level, not vitamin. In fact, it shouldn’t even be called a supplement for me. It’s an essential intake. Anytime I feel low, it’s often due to magnesium deficiency.

• Sleep more. No more 4am mornings. Now I do maybe 7h sleep, wake at 6am.

• Coffee naps. I went back to post-lunch coffee naps. 12-15min after I finish coffee after lunch, no timer, just a short toe dip into light sleep mode, and then I’m back. It’s amazing how it changes how I feel for the rest of the day after lunch. From everything is a struggle to everything is fine.

• Pulled back on my grinding on my new projects to just maintaining steady state. I’m not ashamed that I’m just doing the bare minimum of code commits, writing, and engagement. Some see it as cheating, I feel it as the minimum effort to keep my promise to myself, rather than totally break it. It’s much harder to come back from a total break.

• Other bonus things I try to do is to plan for a half day or full day alone time, to come back to myself. I might treat myself to a nice ribeye steak lunch, go for a slow walk, hang out by the beach or nature, and just take it slow.

I’ve only did this for about a week so far, and already I’m feeling sooo much better.

Gone are the silly ruminations and dark clouds.

Can imagine good recovery after a few weeks at least, or a full heal after a few months.

Supplements. Sleep. Stress.