I’ve always loved a good Day 1
But this time, I’m not rushing in. I’m figuring out how to show up without burning out.
Starting a new job post-burnout isn’t this triumphant, all-caps FRESH START.
It’s softer. Quieter. A little hesitant.
I’m back home from vacation, my laptop’s set up, and I’m thinking a lot about boundaries—what I want to do differently this time. Not in a big sweeping “new me” kind of way, but in small shifts. Little things that add up to a more sustainable way of working.
I don't fully know what my boundaries should be yet. But I know where I used to struggle—responding to Slack messages late at night, feeling guilty for not being instantly available, always having the answers ready before anyone even asked.
Doing so may have helped others, but it created an expectation that I would always be on. I’d be available anytime for anything. It was exhausting.
This time, I want to be intentional about how I show up. I want to leave work at work. I want to believe that I can be trusted without having to prove myself over and over again. I don’t want to change too much because, again, the “new me” mentality tends to leave to making large, unsustainable changes. I just want to start a little more grounded.
A friend of mine recommended I write down my biggest time vampires—the items that suck the energy out of me but aren’t actually part of my job description. At Spot this was essentially all of IT. I was extremely vocal about our need for it to the point where I was heading up IT alongside my other work in engineering, product, and security, and it ultimately contributed significantly to my burnout. I want to do better this time.
So I’ll spend some time journaling and ideating on what my time vampires might be. Passion is fine. Providing feedback about something I think could be better is also okay. It’s about balancing what I care about and what actually deserves my energy.
I’m not fully rested (will I ever be?), but something in me is starting to feel excited again. And that surprise excitement, even if it’s small, feels like progress.
I’ve always loved a good “Day 1.”
But this time, I know that a good Day 1 starts with protecting the person showing up.
I'm happy for you—the new job, the excitement, and the intention to keep boundaries in place.
At various points in my career, I've found time-logging to be really helpful in identifying time vampires. When I realize I spent 2 hours on email, or my 5 minute web surfing break turned into 45 minutes, or we somehow spent 4 hours this week debating the order of fields in a data structure, or all my meetings tend to run way over, it's the start of having enough information to make a change.
Piece of paper, jot down start/end times (or write hours of the workday down the side and make boxes), not getting too upset if you forget now and then. Pretty lightweight!