“Avoiding burnout is difficult to write about, because the basic premise is obnoxious. Burnout is a rich man’s game. Rice farmers don’t get burned out and spend long afternoons thinking about whether to switch to sorghum. Most people don’t have the luxury of thinking about their lives in those terms. But at the rarefied socioeconomic heights of computerland, it’s true that if you run a popular project by yourself for a long time, there’s a high risk that it will wear you out.
…
What burns you out is the constant strain of being responsible for a lot of other people’s stuff.
The good news is, as you get older, you gain perspective. Perspective helps alleviate burnout.”
It does seem circumspect to complain about the benefits of working in an air-conditioned, safe, not physically taxing office like one does, but man – is burnout ever a thing to worry about.
Congratulations to Maciej, doing anything for 5 years straight is amazing. Running a big and successful web-based company is even more impressive.