Webmaster Stress: The Ultimate Killer

We've got the ultimate weapon right at our fingertips...

[pageoneresults]

If I could gather up all the Webmaster Stress that is in these forums, I'd have the ultimate weapon right at my fingertips. ;)

I have to wonder if anyone is doing any long term studies into our industry and the average life expectancy of the "Webmaster".

I don't understand how many get so worked up over datacenters, day to day movement in the SERPs, etc. I guess some are just a glutton for punishment and strive on that "day-to-day" fix, eh?

Let me ask, did anything change from 7 days ago? 14 days ago? How about 28 days ago?

And, if it did change, did it change back? And did it change back again?

The above has to be like "watching paint dry". Come on now, there are more productive uses of your time other than chasing the daily movement of your site(s) within the search engines.

Don't get me wrong, I see nothing wrong with "monitoring" the success of your site(s) but there are more "less stressfull" ways to do so, there have to be. ;)

So, let's say someone has chosen "Webmaster" as their career path. What do you think the average life expectancy is of a Webmaster who finds themselves in the above scenario?

How do you minimize Webmaster Stress?

[Marshall]

Are you talking actual "life" or life in the profession? Actual life I would not speculate because I think a job is only as stressful as you make it and its physical effects would vary from individual. As for professional life, I say 10 years. And even then, I think that has to do with where you are in the hierachy of the design role, e.g owner vs. grunt.

[pageoneresults]

Are you talking actual "life" or life in the profession?

Well, when I was writing the topic, I was thinking actual "life". But, now that I read your response, I'd like to talk about "life in the profession" too.

There are certain career paths that by default will shave a few years off your life. I worked in one of those fields for 17 years and still do. :)

I say 10 years.

I'd have to say that I really didn't start learning the "good stuff" until around that 10 year mark. I'm not in any real hurry. :)

And even then, I think that has to do with where you are in the hierachy of the design role, e.g owner vs. grunt.

I think diversification is the key to minimizing stress and burnout.

Webmaster Burnout

Anyone burnt out yet? ;)

[grandpa]

Let me ask, did anything change from 7 days ago? 14 days ago? How about 28 days ago? And, if it did change, did it change back? And did it change back again?

Yes, there have been enough changes in the last 14 days to fill out the year. Host screwing around, errmmm, make that former host. Major vendor instituting changes, have to roll with that one. Changed, but not changed back. Stressed? The last couple of weeks haven't been fun. I tried not to be stressed, really hard. But there were a few moments that anxiety and stress won out, and I went for a ride on my bike.

Fortunately, all this paint will dry soon, and then I can go back to playing Cribbage all night, or being a webmaster. Ohhh look, that spot in the corner is already dry.

[vincevincevince]

How do you minimize Webmaster Stress?

I find that stress is normally produced by there being something I've not yet realised that I'm struggling to achieve. The answer is normally one of the following:

Ctrl-A, Delete... scrub all the code I've done on that section so far and write it in a better way

Outsource... hire someone to do it, because although it wastes whatever I've done so far, it means I can then move on... block and stress down.

Scrap it. Many very stressful projects end up more trouble to develop than the benefit they would bring when live.

Webmaster burnout

I once read something about our brains constantly forming complex ideas and plans by linking neurons further and further away. These links, apparently, whilst they allow us to perform great mental feats, also tie up the brain into particular configurations, making it hard to break out of a given mindset and to refresh itself by applying itself to a task 'afresh'. This, to me, is the major cause of burnout.

It then went on to say that alcohol breaks these long-distance links, which is why the more alcohol you drink, the less able you are to think complex and difficult things. After the alcohol, the brain is then able to rebuild the links in a new way, without being so constrained by pre-existing concepts and mental debris.

I now avoid drinking alcohol during the week, on the basis that I don't particularly want to blur the edges of my plans, but come the weekend I am careful to obtain a few cans of beer or similar to really clean out all the mental resources. It does seem to work as part of a weekly rest and relaxation cycle!

[treeline]

Wine not whine!

[rocker]

There's a lot of Webmaster stress going on in the AdSense forum.

[webmasterworld.com...]

[percentages]

>How do you minimize Webmaster Stress?

I got stressed back in 2000....2002, the days when you could actually make a difference......in those days changes in algo's counted.....today they don't!

In 2001/2002 I could take a new site and get it to rank #1 in Google, Yahoo and MSN within a month, for any term I wanted,......today that is impossible to achieve.

If you are starting out today you are going to have a lot of stress! If you've been in this business for 6+ years you probably won't have any stress at all.....

Today I don't need the money, I don't need the stress, I don't need to follow Serps on a daily or weekly basis. I monitor annual revenue to an extent, but it never causes a knee-jerk reaction or any stress!

If you started out 6+ years ago you should have the situation covered today. If you started out yesterday you need to understand it will probably take 20+ years to become stress free! :)

[15MB of Fame]

Well, Hi!

I am new to the forum but have been a webmaster for 12 years and looking for new friends online. I have had over 100 sites at one time, and I guess by reading this forum, I have oficially found out that I am burnt out... LOL

I am checking out lots of new stuff and I don't know what direction I want to go yet, but with Google's new algorithm, web 2.0 and the plethora of new tools, I am wondering if I could be bothered with it all... (again)

Am I bovvered? Does this face look bovvered? Umm, perhaps not. Perhaps frustrated in finding a new niche and how to dominate it and knowing lots of stuff as I do, yes, I am frustrated knowing that the amount of promotion that's needed to succeed is a lot ... LOL

[edited by: 15MB_of_Fame at 9:30 am (utc) on May 23, 2007]