Here’s a proof why “burnout” is such a fickle term.
People burnout only when what they’re working on is either not interesting or not working.
We haven’t seen anyone burning out when things are working great on their side.
Results are addictive, and we’re humans. We love to double down when things are working.
That’s why momentum is generally a better catalyst for growth than just consistency.
In a Sam Altman interview, he says:
I was told, and I thought for a long time, that you get burned out from working too hard. At least in my own experience, what I’ve found is that burnout actually comes from failing and things not working.
Momentum is really energizing. The lack of momentum is super draining. And I find that I have infinite energy to work on things that I find interesting and that are working, and almost none to work on things that I either don’t find interesting or aren’t working.
I think you see a lot of founders try something and fail, and they assume that they just can’t work hard enough or don’t have enough energy or passion or whatever. And that’s actually not true. It’s just that that thing didn’t work. And what you should do is shut that company down, go on vacation, and try again.
When you look at really successful people and say, How do they get all those things done? It’s that they have the benefit of momentum. And momentum is energizing.