[Dmentor]

Originally Posted by MikeL303

Why do mentors get burned out?

I usually burn out because somewhere along the way robotics transitions from fun to a job. Since I'm already working a (more than) full time job, I get intellectually tired and stressed out the farther build season progresses. Also my sleeping patterns are disturbed during build season most significantly because my brain is constantly engaged wrestling with the problem(s) of the day more often robotics related than work. My burn out correlates directly with my commitment to the team. If I was less committed I'd be less engaged and less stressed out.

My burn out is generally temporary. A few weeks off and I'm eager to watch webcasts and do a little light weight robotics R&D but I'm unable to sustain any real heavy lifting for months. Come build season time I'm ready to go again.

The real source of my burn out is myself. I don't do enough in the lead up to build season to protect myself. These are the concrete actions that I know I need to take but don't seem to find the time (mostly because they are intellectually less appealing than playing with robots):
1. Recruit more mentors to the team
2. Train more team members (students and mentors alike)
3. Organize better so that we can more effectively use all our team members
4. Build a better community support structure so that we are all helping each other throughout the season rather than letting the load fall on a select few.