Surviving Burnout (2015)
>> caring about the results of our actions but having no meaningful control over those outcomesThis really dies sum it up in a useful generic way. Ultimately the balance of this sentence will differ from context to context, but the equation ultimately has to balance.Put another way, if you care a lot, but have no agency, then ultimately you will be frustrated.If you care a lot, but have no resources,  then again, you get frustrated.Burnout is just the moment whe  you stop fruitlessly caring. But you -want- to care (about something) so not-caring leads to depression.Matching your care to resources available is a good start. Make sure you care about something that can be materially affected by your resources. Feeling under-resourced is a sign that those allocating the resources have different goals to you.If your care exceeds your agency in resources  product direction, code quality, then you can choose to care less, (find something else to care about), align your caring to match those who do have agency, or move on.Starting your own business gives you agency, so you're free to allocate resources as you choose. However you still need to aquire those resources (which in turn can change what you care about.)Starting and running your own business is enormously freeing - it gives you complete agency. But its also HARD. People don't pay you for what -you- care about, they pay you for what -they- care about.  Its very hard to find customers who appreciate your priorities, and it's also hard to adjust your priorities (aka what you care -about-) to match theirs.But if you get it right, it's amazing.