My company does a 30, 60, and 90 day, and a yearly review after hiring new employees. One of the questions on the review is geared to get to the point of what level do you feel you’re at in terms of workload vs sustainability.
Do you feel like you’re not being challenged at all at work and you need more things to push you? Do you feel as if you have too many tasks that you couldn’t possibly hope to get all of them done and you’re constantly stressed? Or are you somewhere in the middle?
There are times when I think it’s appropriate to have both of these. Sometimes it’s good to be drinking from the firehose. Having too much information to in turn learn something much more quickly. It’s a short burst of hard work that pays off quickly. However, it’s not a sustainable thing. It’s not good to continue at this rate because it is likely that you may experience burnout.
There are other times, when you, or sometimes the entire company needs a rest. A break from all the goings-on. You need to just have a simple project to work on to refresh your mind of the grind.
Most of the time, the best place to find yourself is where you are constantly challenged to grow, but not overwhelmed, and you feel like you’re able to live a normal life and relax a few times throughout the day, but not feel lazy.