Season 6 Episode 5

Let's talk about burnout, motivation, and developer mental health.

I struggled to develop a discussion topic for this week's episode, and luckily, the amazing Discord community I'm a part of gave me a great suggestion.

Shout out to all the awesome folks in the community! If you're interested, I'll include a link to join in the show notes.

The idea for this episode is to talk about those times when you're a developer and have plenty of tasks to do, but you don't feel like doing them.

This is a common struggle in the life of a developer. I'm going through this myself and want to be completely transparent with you all. It's challenging to stay motivated and work on my projects.

It's easy to stay on top of client projects or work-related tasks because they have deadlines and are necessary for our jobs. But when it comes to personal projects, learning plans, or side projects, that little voice in our heads says, “You don't have to do this right now.” And that voice can be pretty loud.

I'm trying to fight it, but I've realized that the act of attempting to force motivation can be part of the problem.

I often think of this feeling as temporary burnout or a rut. There are days when I don't want to do anything or have no idea what to do. This podcast episode is a perfect example because I haven't worked actively on Swift or app development lately.

It's challenging to talk about something when I'm not regularly interacting with it or feeling like I can speak authoritatively on the subject.

Last Friday, I realized I didn't have an episode to discuss because I hadn't been working on Swift or my apps. I want to release episodes, but I don't want to talk about anything or release an episode just for the sake of it. That's when the idea for this episode came from the Discord community.

We should talk about these struggles and challenges instead of only focusing on success stories.

It's essential to acknowledge that it's okay to have weeks where you don't feel like working on your projects. We must respect what our brains and bodies tell us and take the time to reset and recharge. I had a lazy day recently, and it was exactly what I needed to energize myself for the upcoming week.

I've mentioned this before in previous episodes, but it's worth emphasizing that you can't continuously produce content or work on projects without a break. It's not feasible for most of us, and that's perfectly fine.

I'm fortunate to have a supportive Discord community, a livestream audience, and listeners of this podcast who provide fantastic feedback and support. But I understand that not everyone has that kind of support system.

Feel free to contact me if you're going through a similar phase and need someone to talk to. While I'm not an expert or a medical professional, I'm here to help and support.

Remember, it's normal to have nothing to share or contribute. I haven't done a livestream in a while because I didn't feel like I had anything interesting to show or discuss.

But I'm starting to get over that and have a few things lined up. Sometimes, hanging out and having fun with people without any specific agenda is okay.

I want to assure you that it happens to everyone. And to those who reached out and asked about the podcast or how I'm doing, thank you so much!

Your support means the world to me. I'm getting through this slump and will be back to producing content regularly. If you're going through a similar phase, don't hesitate to reach out or join our Discord community. I'll do my best to help you through it.

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