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BUILDING A NEW LIFE
 AFTER BURNOUT Non Binary in Tech • London • July 29th, 2017

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Damien Senger • hiwelo. UX / UI Designer
 Accessibility advocate hiwelo.co • @iamhiwelo Raccoon my own web studio raccoon.studio

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BUILDING A NEW LIFE AFTER BURNOUT

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28 years old, 2 burnouts.

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So I will tell you two stories.

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Two different experiences in two really different environments.

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Working as a campaign manager
 for a political electoral campaign 1.

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A quick overview of a 
 campaign manager job A final deadline you can’t change. A lot of responsibilities:
 I was babysitting in charge of 12 candidates. A lot of skills involved in a workday:
 strategy, communication, administrative and legal stuff, PR, human resources management, etc. Work hours: 9am – 10pm the good days,
 7am – 2am the bad days.

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Working as a campaign manager
 for a political electoral campaign 1.

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Working as a front end developer 
 in a small French web agency 2.

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3? I hope this slide will stay empty.

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Two different experiences…
 but one unique pattern.

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How can we
 detect these situations?

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Listen to yourself! Your body can give you 
 a lot of clues.

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Less performant Less focused, lack of memory Working more than the regular hours Fatigue, useless holidays Unstable mood, irritability Loneliness and exclusion Musculoskeletal disorders Risk behaviours

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Three main things to watch: Resignation, exhaustion, 
 inefficiency.

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Burnout is hell.

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Burnout is hell. But it’s not your fault.

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Burnout is hell. You must do something against it.

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Burnout is hell. It will not resolve itself.

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How can we
 recover from a burnout?

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You need to accept your condition: this is a real disease, ask for help. 1.

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You need to take your time, and sometimes to make choices. 2.

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You need to 
 adjust your environment. 3.

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Reduce stress.

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There is no good stress.

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Stress is a natural body reaction, designed to be temporary.

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Stress over time
 turns into exhaustion.

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Three main things to watch: Resignation, exhaustion, 
 inefficiency. Fighting stress is the best solution against exhaustion.

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I moved to a more peaceful city: Amsterdam.

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Reduce fear.

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At work, we have fear…
 of everything.

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Judgement, failure, ratings, errors…
 Is our work this much scary?

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“ Nobody has ever been fired at Valve 
 for making a mistake. 
 It wouldn’t make sense for us 
 to operate that way. VALVE

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Failure is part of 
 the human process.

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We can learn more from our failures than our success.

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To fight fear, we need more trust and more independence.

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Trust and independence are needed to increase self-confidence.

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Three main things to watch: Resignation, exhaustion, 
 inefficiency. Reducing fear is the best solution against resignation.

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I chose to focus my job on my main interests: 
 accessibility and improving users’ web experience.

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Find help.

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Burnout involves one person. This person is not responsible.

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Burnout involves one person. But it’s a collective responsibility.

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We need to find a better work-life balance.

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Don’t hesitate to take sick leave when needed.

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Ask for more breaks. Ask for more research time.

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After a sprint, you need a break.
 For your brain, it’s the same!

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Say thank you.

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If needed, ask for a new team.

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Look for new opportunities.

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A more inclusive workplace is needed for a good mental health.

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Fight for yourself, and for everyone else!

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Three main things to watch: Resignation, exhaustion, 
 inefficiency. Asking for help is the best solution against inefficiency.

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Feeling over-whelmed, few days ago I asked for a 
 new planning and different tasks: it worked well!

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How can we avoid these situations?

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We have 
 no super power.

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We are no ninjas, gurus, 
 unicorns, rockstars or whatever.

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We are professionals. We deserve respect.

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We must say no.

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No.

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Say it. Say it over and over. Never stop saying it.

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Nope.

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Listen to yourself. Learn from yourself. Watch for your limits.

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“I just talked with William, 
 I know you are no backend developer but we have this emergency.
 Can you fix it for tomorrow morning? Your project/product manager at 5pm.

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Nope, nope & nope.

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If you work on unknown things, you need time. Ask for it.

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We must control our plannings.

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Tasks, deadlines, schedules: tell your limits and ask for help!

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Switching often between tasks is highly exhausting for our brain.

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And no, I mean, NO task ever takes
 only five minutes!

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We are not our work. We are more.

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Thank you!
 (and please pardon my French!) damien@raccoon.studio • @iamhiwelo