[strawbucks]

Burnout and subsequent energy management are only the superficial components, I think. I've found that the curriculum really cuts to the core of how people think as they work. To me, the major lesson I've learned throughout my 3.5 years at MIT so far is how to deal with futility.

I feel like people (I'm probably thinking mostly of my parents and friends outside) often refer to "trying until you succeed". But sometimes you just won't. Often you won't. You're not smart enough, don't have the resources, those things that keep you up at night. If you tie everything to big success and ground-breaking progress, you'll burnout because there's nothing for you to chew on. You feel like you're spinning your wheels.

So the lesson I've only just started to really take in is that to avoid burnout you do things for the sake of doing them and celebrate the smallest, stupidest things you can. That's of course from someone who has yet to even graduate, let alone really start accomplishing anything of significant worth. So take that shit with a grain of salt.