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All statements about occupational burnout

81 statements about occupational burnout in 59 videos, by upload date.

Back to occupational burnout.

2007

  • 2007-04-03 · April 3rd: Seattle! — Hank says even with the best job in the world, some days you won't want to go to work; that's what work is, since no one would pay you to do what you'd do anyway. — 00:02:05

2012

  • 2012-06-08 · How to be More Productive...With Hank! — Hank says he works a lot because work is more like a hobby for him; he just likes making things, which is one of the things that make him excited about life. — 00:02:19
  • 2012-08-21 · Is College Worth It? — John: In John's experience, maximizing income is far less important than maximizing passion and fulfillment, professionally and personally. — 00:03:00
  • 2012-10-02 · What To Do With Your Life — John: options narrow even if you don't decide, and you needn't do just one thing, e.g. an electrical engineer who volunteers on archaeological digs. — 00:02:14
  • 2012-10-02 · What To Do With Your Life — recommendation: John: Most importantly, John says, surround yourself with people you like and make cool stuff with them; who you do it with matters more than what you do. (hedged) — 00:02:52

2014

  • 2014-09-30 · Keeping it EVEN REALER — John says his usual answer to young people asking what to do with their lives (you don't do just one thing) is a cop-out: honestly he doesn't know what to do with his own. (hedged) — 00:00:40

2015

  • 2015-07-14 · On Exhaustion — John is exhausted and drained: he is not good at interviews and misses his family and home; the last month has been exhausting with two weeks still to go. — 00:01:29
  • 2015-07-14 · On Exhaustion — John won't take a break from promoting the movie, which he has no contractual obligation to do, because he likes it and is grateful, nor from vlogging, which fills him up rather than drains him. — 00:02:04
  • 2015-07-14 · On Exhaustion — John: For a long time, when overwhelmed and exhausted, John would spiral into doing less and less until nothing, still overwhelmed, because he stopped doing everything, not only what drained him. — 00:02:26
  • 2015-07-14 · On Exhaustion — John: So even vlogging over unchosen music and making videos that aren't that good, John will 'just keep swimming', because Nerdfighteria is a big part of what keeps him going. — 00:02:42
  • 2015-07-21 · PAPER TOWNS IS HERE AND JOHN IS A BALL OF ANXIETY — John says the past week was intense and overwhelming, with lots of interviews, which he is not good at, but he was usually with Nat Wolff, who makes everything better. — 00:00:04
  • 2015-07-28 · Paper Towns, Agloe, and Touring: Thoughts from (Many) Places — John says the past two months were long and difficult; he missed his family and is glad to be home, but the tour week was an adventure that brought him closer to people he loves. — 00:03:37

2017

  • 2017-05-26 · Some Rough Advice for the "Real World" — Hank says following your dreams disappoints because work has much more to do with the people you do it with and your own attitude than with what you do. — 00:00:30
  • 2017-06-09 · Some Unhealthy Productivity Tips (and some Healthy ones) — Hank's first unhealthy secret: he has convinced himself that if he isn't using all his tools to do the most good and give people good jobs, he is less of a good person, maybe too much pressure. (hedged) — 00:02:00
  • 2017-06-13 · Cheyenne, Wyoming — John says creative work requires spending time in ways markets and culture don't recognize as productive, like reading, pacing or staring out the window. — 00:02:04
  • 2017-08-11 · Life is not a Job Training Program — Hank says life is not a job training program: we are not in college, or on Earth, to get jobs. — 00:01:45
  • 2017-10-27 · The Secret to my Productivity — Hank avoided making this video for years partly because he works too hard, which is a problem, and such content assumes everyone wants the maker's life; there are many great lives. — 00:00:04
  • 2017-12-26 · LEAVE IT IN 2017 — John: Leave in 2017 prioritizing career over sanity: that's dumb. — 00:02:20

2018

  • 2018-07-06 · This Ends in Death — announcement: Hank plans to schedule his vacation days far in advance so he can't skip a week for lack of good ideas: he needs the pressure. (hedged) — 00:00:55
  • 2018-09-04 · The Eisenhower Matrix — John: Productivity talk lacks joy: life is not about becoming the most efficient value-creation machine but also fulfillment and enjoyment, so unimportant things you love aren't unimportant. (hedged) — 00:02:30
  • 2018-09-14 · Our Rivalry — Hank has been thinking about success because there is a lot of frustration and burnout in the YouTube community. (hedged) — 00:01:01
  • 2018-11-09 · I Don't Know What Work Is — Hank says that if he doesn't know exactly where the line between life and work is, maybe that is because work is part of life. (hedged) — 00:03:13
  • 2018-11-13 · HAIRMERGENCY! — The description says John feels really overwhelmed and a bit burnt out, but also tremendously supported, and knows he can take breaks when needed. — video description
  • 2018-11-13 · HAIRMERGENCY! — John writes that although he has anxiety problems, viewers needn't worry this is part of a larger thing: he is stressed because too much is happening, not falling into 'the tightening gyre' — he thinks. (hedged) — video description
  • 2018-11-13 · HAIRMERGENCY! — John says he has the same problem with burnout: he thinks he has time for another thing, such as a podcast reviewing facets of the human-centered planet, a book club or a new novel. — 00:01:05
  • 2018-11-13 · HAIRMERGENCY! — John says that as he adds things, everything feels doable, just as his hair seems under control, until suddenly he has a level one burnout emergency. — 00:01:56
  • 2018-11-13 · HAIRMERGENCY! — John says burnout is harder to fix than a haircut: overwhelmed, he becomes less productive, since being overwhelmed is time-consuming; burnout inspires exhausted fatalism, not productivity. — 00:02:10
  • 2018-11-13 · HAIRMERGENCY! — John says he can't see burnout coming; when it arrived recently he was gobsmacked by how much there was to do, though he had scheduled it that way. — 00:02:33
  • 2018-11-16 · Doing This Makes Me Happy, but Maybe it Doesn't' Seem that Way? — Hank: Echoing John's last video, Hank says he loves every individual thing he is doing. — 00:02:36
  • 2018-11-16 · Doing This Makes Me Happy, but Maybe it Doesn't' Seem that Way? — Hank says Vlogbrothers has never felt like maintenance or keeping a thing alive to him: it is a creative outlet with freedom and complete control over the process. — 00:02:36

2019

  • 2019-01-11 · What is Burnout? — Hank admits he doesn't know what burnout is: he thought it was working until mind or body collapsed, but he has worked through burnout and been burned out on one part of life but not another. (unsure) — 00:00:00
  • 2019-01-11 · What is Burnout? — recommendation: The description recommends further reading on burnout: the BuzzFeed News article on millennial burnout everyone is talking about, a Slate piece in response, and a video by Hank's friend Rosianna. — video description
  • 2019-01-11 · What is Burnout? — Hank writes that much discussion of burnout concerns people who have opportunity but have long been sold the wrong kind of fuel; he thinks it important to be grateful for opportunities, find good fuel, do good work and work hard. (hedged) — video description
  • 2019-01-11 · What is Burnout? — Hank doesn't love the idea that burnout is a problem of overwork; he thinks it comes more from being overly convinced that work is the most valuable, or only valuable, thing we do. (hedged) — video description
  • 2019-01-11 · What is Burnout? — Mark Rober (quoted): Mark Rober told Hank that burnout is when the treadmill keeps going but the dopamine runs out: you keep running though it no longer feels good. — 00:00:29
  • 2019-01-11 · What is Burnout? — Hank thinks there is no single burnout: look at fuel and opportunity; ignoring your needs, driving without payoff, exhaustion and lost meaning are very different things all called burnout. — 00:01:28
  • 2019-01-11 · What is Burnout? — Hank says holidays remind us to be thankful for others, and remembering people important to us reminds us we are important too, regardless of our economic output. — 00:03:26
  • 2019-02-22 · I Don't Want The Same Things Anymore — Hank says a business opportunity existing doesn't mean he'll pursue it, though he once felt that not creating all the economic value he could meant failing society. — 00:00:58
  • 2019-04-26 · It's Time to Care About "Business" — Hank doesn't love that paid labor is currently one of the main ways we define ourselves, but work is commonly a huge part of people's lives and identities. — 00:00:58
  • 2019-05-14 · An Open Letter to Professional YouTubers — John says no career can healthfully carry all of your identity, let alone one as weird and unpredictable as online video. — 00:03:24
  • 2019-11-26 · old fashioned parts video — John says he has been thinking about burnout lately; he is not really burnt out now, but is starting to think differently about the role work plays in his life. — 00:00:15
  • 2019-11-26 · old fashioned parts video — John says his central goal for the next decade is to do fewer things the world constructs as work and more valuable things not imagined as work: family time, dishes, sleep, reading, volunteering. — 00:00:32

2020

  • 2020-01-07 · Endings · Beginnings — John wants to stop working at night and on weekends: to keep the goal specific, measurable and achievable, no more than one night a week and never weekends except work travel. — 00:01:36
  • 2020-07-14 · The ice we skate is getting pretty thin. — John is burnt out, not just with work but, like many parents, with helping kids through immense uncertainty and constantly managing and analyzing exposure risk. — 00:00:29
  • 2020-07-14 · The ice we skate is getting pretty thin. — John: Solving the cube wasn't a Vlogbrothers video, a podcast episode or answering overdue emails, but John says it also wasn't time wasted. — 00:02:55
  • 2020-08-18 · what's wrong with taking the back streets? — John has focused his life on being productive with a very narrow definition: YouTube videos count but woods walks with his kids don't, email but not Twitter, good artists' art but not his. — 00:01:27

2021

  • 2021-09-21 · how we spend our days — John's mattering as a person is not contingent on his production, especially production the world recognizes; sometimes the most important work is merely thinking or being, above all being present for those he loves. — 00:02:55
  • 2021-10-15 · What is Pizzamas? ...and a New Friend — Hank says that after all these years making a Vlogbrothers video never feels like going to work: the goal isn't productivity, just making things and seeing if people like them. — 00:01:56
  • 2021-11-23 (said on 2021-10-28, implied) · I have been playing a small trick on you. — John: The most important part of John's life is interpersonal, relationships with friends and family, then intrapersonal time for reading, writing, thinking, exercising and being; work matters but should not be his whole life. — 00:00:29

2022

  • 2022-05-06 · Why I Didn't Quit YouTube (yet) — Hank: Hearing the worst parts of the last 15 years of his life summed up made Hank wonder why the brothers didn't quit or burn out on YouTube. — 00:00:00
  • 2022-07-22 · What are These Boys Doing?? — Hank: Asked why they work so hard on businesses they don't profit from, Hank used to say they have plenty; his refined answer is that they are more interested in impact than wealth, and he wouldn't work half as hard on the sock club just for money. — 00:01:10
  • 2022-08-09 · How to Cook Beans and Resist Dread — John suggests that maybe his whole life shouldn't worship at the altar of efficiency anyway. (hedged) — 00:00:58

2023

2024

  • 2024-01-02 · Being Old on YouTube — announcement: John: After 17 years John knows how to show up for the work, so from now on he won't make a video in weeks he doesn't want to, even if it hurts subscriber or view growth. — 00:03:22
  • 2024-04-23 · Full Hank — John thinks he and Hank both need to find a better work-life balance. — 00:03:30
  • 2024-05-28 · A Midlife Crisis — John says his other work feels extremely urgent because it involves many people's livelihoods and, with tuberculosis and maternal and infant mortality, many people's lives. — 00:02:55
  • 2024-08-03 · I Love Hank. (Also I'm back.) — John thanks Hank for encouraging him to take time off, which was helpful and productive even though he wasn't mainly producing things for the public. — 00:01:13
  • 2024-08-06 · What Helped Through Depression — John: A real-life friend offered to have John explain all his jobs to look at his work-life balance; it was not balanced. — 00:00:58
  • 2024-08-07 · Dear Hank and John Livestream! — John says their real job is Nerdfighteria, making cool stuff with the community; during his break he saw it is the job he wants, unlike his other jobs. — 00:22:40
  • 2024-09-06 · I feel like I can't talk about this… — Hank says many creators are honest about burnout and mental health, but simply working a lot and enjoying it feels countercultural in his spaces. — 00:00:00
  • 2024-09-06 · I feel like I can't talk about this… — Hank: At 44, Hank knows his heavy workload is no problem while things go okay; it becomes one when two or three things go wrong at once and he can't fix them fast enough. — 00:03:24
  • 2024-12-31 · I Just Can't Do It Anymore — John says his relentless always-working habit has benefited his work but not other parts of his life, including his right shoulder, and the injury has him rethinking his relationship with work. — 00:03:24

2025

  • 2025-01-03 · My 2025 Bingo Card — Hank says he never enjoys video games or music anymore because he has put so much on his plate; he loves them when he makes time but denies himself them for supposedly important work, a big current struggle. — 00:01:52
  • 2025-01-07 · The Format but it hurts to stand up — John says all his other goals revolve around making his life less complicated and overwhelming. — 00:03:44
  • 2025-09-26 · I've Not Been Doing Well — Hank says the more he imagines himself as a tool, the more he accomplishes and the more impact he makes, but the less happy he is. — 00:02:27
  • 2025-10-03 · Is It Time to Retire? — John says other friends moved behind the camera or to unrelated careers; one way or another the game tells you you're done: people stop watching, or you burn out and stop feeding the content machine. — 00:00:58
  • 2025-10-03 · Is It Time to Retire? — John: Over nearly 19 years both brothers have had periods of burnout, but John never felt being in Nerdfighteria wasn't worth it, and that carried him through times he didn't enjoy making videos. — 00:01:23
  • 2025-10-03 · Is It Time to Retire? — John believes in the value of creative discipline: for most of his adult life he has made a YouTube video every Tuesday, the organizing principle of his creative production. — 00:01:23
  • 2025-10-03 · Is It Time to Retire? — John doesn't think he wants to retire now, but increasingly feels inclined to take a week off here or there. — 00:02:22
  • 2025-11-11 · John's Annual Psychophysical Decline — John says getting up, doing work and engaging in relationships is a path to wellness, even if it feels like an obstacle to wellness. — 00:00:29

2026

  • 2026-07-14 · On the Road Again — John apologizes for not touring more places, especially outside the US and Canada: balancing family and work, he tries to err on the side of family. — 00:03:37
  • 2026-07-21 · One Must Imagine Sisyphus Happy — John says Camus leaves something out: unlike Sisyphus's, our work can benefit others in small ways, easing their burdens and bringing them joy or distraction. — 00:04:23
  • 2026-08-21 · Not (Just) Dunking on Jeff Bezos — Hank is certain valuing life by output is wrong; the third most-quoted passage of his first book says you will struggle to feel productive until you accept your own joy can be something you produce. — 00:07:48
  • 2026-10-09 · The Productivity Lie — Hank says brains and society tell a lie: how much someone produces doesn't show how hard it was to make themselves work; his output comes mostly from opportunities to work on things that matter. — 00:01:57
  • 2026-10-16 · Is Happiness the Goal? — Hank's joke answered a line he wrote, which he calls a pretty big deal: you will always struggle with not feeling productive until you accept that your own joy can be something you produce. — 00:01:46