Multiple books on ruminating without marinating—techniques drawn from Buddhism, Christianity, and Science! Also a review of Dumb Money (the book) and productivity advice from a ex-spook.
>> “Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman would also be in there, even though it sent me into an existential and productivity spiral that I've only barely recovered from.”
Details, PLEASE! (I’ll say that I read it in the midst of a burnout a month ago, and I’d describe its effect as “consistent bliss state” rather than “productivity spiral”… but maybe that’s the same thing from different perspectives?)
I think you're on to something with the "same thing from a different perspective". Reading Burkeman while you're kind of (or even severely) burned out is very comforting. But it's definitely the opposite of what you need if you want to try to power through the burnout.
In the past when I got burned out, or tired of something, then I would abandon it completely an irrevocably. Now that I'm older I can keep something going while recovering from burnout. So to take the concrete example of this blog. I think without Burkeman I probably would have maintained a somewhat higher post volume. Mentally that would have definitely been tougher. So I think Burkeman was good for my psyche, but bad for my productivity. This much seems obvious, but I think the difference in the final outcome. How productive and mentally healthy I am right now, is not super significant, and that I could have made a different tradeoff which would have been better in some respects, but worse in others.
>> “Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman would also be in there, even though it sent me into an existential and productivity spiral that I've only barely recovered from.”
Details, PLEASE! (I’ll say that I read it in the midst of a burnout a month ago, and I’d describe its effect as “consistent bliss state” rather than “productivity spiral”… but maybe that’s the same thing from different perspectives?)
I think you're on to something with the "same thing from a different perspective". Reading Burkeman while you're kind of (or even severely) burned out is very comforting. But it's definitely the opposite of what you need if you want to try to power through the burnout.
In the past when I got burned out, or tired of something, then I would abandon it completely an irrevocably. Now that I'm older I can keep something going while recovering from burnout. So to take the concrete example of this blog. I think without Burkeman I probably would have maintained a somewhat higher post volume. Mentally that would have definitely been tougher. So I think Burkeman was good for my psyche, but bad for my productivity. This much seems obvious, but I think the difference in the final outcome. How productive and mentally healthy I am right now, is not super significant, and that I could have made a different tradeoff which would have been better in some respects, but worse in others.
Hopefully that answers your question.