# Burnout = Conditioning your brain to associate work with failure

<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5630618>

- Host: [news.ycombinator.com](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/hosts/news.ycombinator.com/)
- Saved: April 30, 2013 (2013-04-30T15:56:57Z)
- Record: https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/81a59257dfa4/
- JSON: https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/81a59257dfa4.json

## What Jamie wrote

Very insightful comment (and slightly less insightful replies) about the root of burnout. It makes a lot of sense and should be obvious, but isn't at all. I can easily see how this would be backed up by many of the neuro books I've read.

I instantly started to wonder how this definition of burnout dovetails with hobby or sideprojects. Are sideprojects a way of fighting the negative association?

<blockquote>
Burnout is caused when you repeatedly make large amounts of sacrifice and or effort into high-risk problems that fail. It's the result of a negative prediction error in the nucleus accumbens. You effectively condition your brain to associate work with failure.
</blockquote>

## Facts

- Kind: [Page](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/kinds/page/)

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