My Worst Experience Burning Out From Working Nights And Weekends

For two tough years, my day looked like this:

• 9 AM–5 PM: Full focus at Day job

• 6 PM–8 PM: Quick dinner, maybe a walk

• 8 PM–1 AM: Building products non-stop

• 2 AM–6 AM: Struggling to sleep

• 6 AM–9 AM: Morning routine, then repeat

After 18 months, burnout hit hard. I wasn’t sick, but I couldn’t code. My brain just shut down. Sitting at my desk, staring blankly at VS Code, I felt like a hollow shell.

Every failure stung more. If I was sacrificing sleep, friends, and life, why wasn’t it paying off? Spoiler: It wasn’t.
That gap between effort and results—that’s burnout’s cruel game.

Burnout made me:

• Get sick often

• Snap at people

• Lose joy in coding

• Doubt my skills

• Think of quitting often

I was too embarrassed to tell anyone. Hustle culture cheers the grind, not the burnout.

Here’s what I wish I’d done:

1.Set earlier curfews (11 PM, not 1 AM)

2.Took weekends fully off

3.Actually slept instead of “resting” zombie-style

4.Found someone to vent to without judgment

The lesson?
Hustle culture is a myth. Your brain can’t run full speed for years without crashing. I built better products like QRAnalytica, learned faster, and had cooler ideas when I rested.

Remember:

• You can’t outwork bad habits

• You can’t out-grind reality

• You can’t burn both ends of your candle forever

If you’re grinding now, take care of yourself today. Your success isn’t worth your health.

Are you burning out? What can you stop doing this week[?

Follow me on](https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/all/?keywords=%23burnout&origin=HASH_TAG_FROM_FEED) my journ[ey Nookesh Karri

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