Notes on burnout
Here is The Zvi discussing Cate Hall and Emmett Shear on burnout.
The central, essential point of consensus is: burnout is not about working too hard. I'd guess this is because burnout is about energy depletion, and energy depletion is (counterintuitively) not about working too hard. Gas-tank metaphors mislead us: they suggest that we can do relatively little to expand the tank or change the rate at which work consumes the fuel.
Zvi helpfully compiles a list of what causes burnout (fake emergencies, broken steering, and so on). These seem to me analogous to lists of leaks in one's poker game or personal finances. Definitely plug these, but don't forget that we can often do more than we think to start out with more energy. (This post from Nabeel Qureshi1 is useful, and Scott Adams wrote usefully on the subject.2
Zvi and the sources he links are excellent. I'd add that environment--not just macro-level organizational environments, but immediate working environments--are important sources and drains of energy. Some of us habitually underrate this, to our detriment.
...which I find myself referring to often. Speaking of poker, Nabeel and Cate Hall are both former poker people.↩
Yes, Scott Alexander's essay is as good as everyone is saying. I stand by the How to Fail at Almost Everything... takes I link above.↩