I've been in the NFT space since 2020 and full-time degening since early 2021. Last May, I experienced burnout for the first time. I was unprepared for it.
Like many people in this space, I'm a type A personality.
I (attempt to) multitask
I can't stand wasting time
I'm uber-competitive
I spend almost every waking hour "working"
I'm determined to succeed
Underachieving stresses me out
Does any of these ring a bell?
Over the past 23 months, I've neglected things like...
IRL frens
Exercise
Nutrition
Sleep
Mindfulness
...in favour of staring at anthropomorphized animals for ~14 hours a day.
Turns out we can't just attempt to transcend our biology without incurring consequences.
So what does "burnout" feel like?
I always assumed it would manifest as a physical illness or extreme tiredness... but it was more than that.
For me, it was an overwhelming sense of apathy.
I felt empty, mentally exhausted & devoid of all motivation.
My brain was sick of having 69,420 tabs open 24/7, so it just decided to throw up the spinning wheel of death.
Intellectually, we all know how to avoid burnout -- but so many of us still find ourselves hitting that brick wall eventually.
Having just done so myself, I decided to jot down a few things that may help minimise your exposure to burnout.
Sleep
You’ve probably heard NFT Twitter say, “People who sleep are NGMI.”
Bullshit.
That's about as true as saying, "Pixelmon under-promised and over-delivered."
Sleep is essential for your mental acuity, longevity & overall health.
People who sleep are absolutely GMI.
Relationships
We all love our NFT frens, but humans are evolutionarily wired to connect with each other IRL as well.
Spending time with frens or family in the meat space can be a really effective pressure release -- particularly if they're not into crypto/web3.
Nutrition
This is always a controversial topic, and I'm not here to tell anyone what to eat.
Bio-individuality plays a huge role in that, anyway.
We all know when we're consuming too much crappy food, and the science is pretty clear on how that affects our mental well-being.
Exercise
Like nutrition, there's no "one size fits all."
If you sit at a desk from dusk till dawn, then going for a 30 min walk each day will be a huge improvement.
Try to find a form of exercise you genuinely enjoy doing so that motivation is less of an issue!
Empty Space / Mindfulness
This could be anything from meditation to hiking to a fun night with frens.
Being completely disconnected is usually the common denominator because that's the opposite of our daily routine.
Turn off your notifications and forget about Discord for a few hours!
Gratitude
Honestly, I suck at this... so much that I'll probably write a whole thread about it.
On the few occasions I've been able to find legit gratitude, I've noticed that the thoughts & emotions which usually contribute to burnout begin to fade away.
Worth a try!
Goals
Setting a new goal can go a long way toward addressing burnout.
For me, the goal is to get back into writing.
I decided to try writing a thread every day for 30 days.
Two days later, and I already felt a renewed sense of energy/direction.
Self-talk
"I'll have lots of time to sleep after the bull run."
"Once I hit 7 figures, I'll take some time off."
"Gotta make hay while the sun shines."
This kind of thinking will put you on the WL for burnout, so try to recognize it early & play devil's advocate with yourself.
Web3 is an inherently community-centric space.
We need to look out for each other, especially during less euphoric times.
If you feel like you're on the verge of burnout, please reach out to someone.
Sharing that burden might just be enough to help avoid it altogether!
I hope you found this helpful.
I'll be writing more over the coming weeks, so if that's of interest to you, feel free to follow me @FriendlyJameson.
In the meantime, look after yourself!
ygmi fren
*This article was adapted from a Twitter thread by Jameson*
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