The Two Healthbar Theory of Burnout

When's it time to move on? Some things to consider.

Burnout is no joke. According to Deloitte, roughly 77% of people have experienced burnout in their current roles, with the top driver being a lack of support and recognition from leadership.

The reality is that sometimes you get burned out at a job, and it’s time to move on. It’s like you can feel it in the air, you know? It’s inherent in the nature of work that we’ll run into obstacles and things that make us grumpy. Sometimes, we can deal with these, but sometimes they get under our skin. Eventually, you get to the point where you can’t take it anymore. Showing up to work becomes not just annoying but painful.

A friend once told me that we’re all in one of two states: Ignoring recruiter emails or opening recruiter emails. Even if you think you’re happy, if you find yourself opening the emails, it’s likely you’re reaching the end.

What’s the Two Health Bar Theory?

Imagine a fighting game like Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat. Don’t worry; no special knowledge is required. The only thing that’s relevant is that you have a character, and they’ve got a health bar. When they get kicked, the health bar goes down.

Work is like that, but you actually have two health bars. The first one’s is the outer bar. It takes hits and goes down. But when good things happen, it goes back up. It heals. However, when the outer bar gets all the way down, something different happens when you take the next hit. The next bar is your core bar. It has four blocks in it. If you get hit without the outer bar, you lose a core block; unfortunately, these don’t come back.

All of us walk around with these two bars at varying levels. The funny thing is that you can be on just a single block in the core bar for years. If you’ve been at a company for years, through ups and downs, this is likely where you are. That toxic manager three years ago? That strategic pivot that canned three months of your hard work? Or what about the way the company handled the layoff? Each of these curveballs or letdowns takes out a core block.

But then there are folks who are running on zero core blocks. They might not even realize it, but their behavior will show it. The once amiable colleague might become irritable or even mean. While it’s a jarring transformation, it’s also a sign of deep burnout.

Unfortunately, there's no magic potion to restore the core health bar.

While there might be rare instances where it can be rebuilt, it's not something to bank on. Techniques to reduce burnout are helpful to prevent getting to this state in the first place. But I have rarely seen someone recover, even if the company is willing to do anything to make it work. At Prefab, my colleague Jeffrey has a helpful way of viewing this:

I’ve started thinking about it internally, like an over-shield and a health bar. The over-shield can take some punishment and grow back with time, but the health bar is a finite resource, so you can only take so much damage while your over-shield is down before you need to GTFO.

Jeffrey Chupp - Founding Engineer @ Prefab

This is why, sometimes, the engineer who’s been there for five years and is dealing with something that feels like it should be a small deal can sometimes explode and announce they’ve found a new opportunity.

There’s no magic wand you can flip. Personally, I have found it hard to heal the core health bar without switching jobs. I’m sure it happens in special circumstances, but I wouldn’t count on it.

Are you managing someone at zero? Do yourself both a favor, call it what it is and come up with the right long term solution for them. You have a responsibility to the company to share that path in the best light, but pressuring someone into staying is the wrong answer.

What should you do when this happens to you?

I’d prefer to tell you that you should never feel miserable at work, but that seems Pollyannaish. Unfortunately, sometimes you’ve got a great equity plan or other perks that make the pain worth it. Really, it’s up to you to factor your company’s trajectory against your own satisfaction.

Tech follows a power law, and the successes are outsized. Being part of one of these success stories is extraordinarily helpful. Maybe there’s some money in it, and yes, it will look great on your LinkedIn, but what is truly impactful is the network you get connected to when something really works. Being part of a company that jumps from 10→100 people puts 100 people in your network. Going on the ride from 400→4000 people adds thousands.

Unfortunately, hyper-growth can make for an extraordinarily bumpy ride. It’s easy for those early employees to take massive hits and lose their core health bars, then pop right as the victory parade is warming up.

If this sounds like you, here’s my advice:

1. If you get fired, it’ll be for behavior/attitude, not performance. The company is likely here because people like you took it all on their shoulders, but it’s not longer up to just you. Let go and enhance your calm.

2. Concentrate on what you can learn from new people as much as you can. Ask them about their time at companies. What did they learn? Any influx of colleagues with backgrounds different from yours is an opportunity.

3. Remember: You are the sage at your org. Your institutional knowledge is very valuable. Sages watch people make avoidable mistakes in order to learn. This is fine. It’s not going to kill the company like it would in the early days.

4. Start thinking about work in the context of your next opportunities. What is it you want to learn?

If this isn’t doable, you can still leave. But even a few extra months in this zone can be long-term worth it.

But, sometimes, the best option is to cut yourself loose.

If you’re at the point of thinking about doing this to your CEO’s car, it is most definitely time to leave.

Ultimately, the best thing you can do to prevent burnout is to be proactive in your prevention efforts. Take stock of what you like about your current position before you jump ship. Is it the challenges you’ve taken on? Your colleagues? For instance, I’ve always found value in the long-term relationships that come with a job. The world’s smaller than we think. In addition to being ethically sound, it’s a sound long-term strategy to treat your employees and colleagues right, even when they’re teetering on the edge of burnout. You never know who you might be reporting to one day or who might want to tap your expertise in the future. A few extra months or years with those people can provide a deeper well in your network that you can draw from later.

Lastly, while it’s important to recognize when it’s time to let go, try visualizing what comes after your current role. If your core health bar’s depleted, you’re not doing anyone any favors by sticking it out. A wise person once said it’s always better to be running towards something rather than away from it. When you’re running away, you’re more likely to take the first lifeline handed to you. When you’re running towards something, you get to chart your own course toward a role that’s right for this next phase of your career. Maybe it’s something where you get to build 0-1 and own the strategy side, or maybe it’s a more established Series F where you’ll be able to flex more deeply into the people manager side. Whatever it is, having that next lilypad in mind can help stabilize your burnout while you asses what comes next.

Has rampant burnout happened to you? Curious to hear how you dealt with it. Drop me a line below.

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