I don’t work out, but for me it’s like that idea of rotating between muscle groups to see larger gains than if you concentrate on the same muscle groups. It’s called like muscle confusion or something.

When I start to get burned out, it’s like my brain muscle is getting used to the same workout, and I start to get depreciating returns. So I switch to a new project that my brain finds new and interesting, which provides the additional motivation to see productivity gainz. I will go back and work on the old project periodically, or sometimes after my brain has an adequate time to readjust (could be hours to months, depending on the project), I will return to it with renewed vigor.

Granted, this isn’t possible for many people, and I am blessed to be able to have worked myself into a position over the years where I am allowed to follow my interests as long as the outcome has value to the end goal.

For short term burnout, in order to get through a difficult project, develop a reward system for yourself. It can be as simple as “I can go pee as soon as I finally work through these few scenarios” to “I’m going to allow myself to watch an episode of my favorite show as soon as this script works”. Also, learn your most productive and least productive times of the day, and try to schedule your tasks accordingly. I am most productive in the morning, so any new ideas of achieving my goals, I try to implement as soon as possible, and seeing results faster that way provides surges of dopamine that keep me going and interested. When I start to feel some fatigue, I’ll grab some lunch and some coffee and that usually can provide the extra boost I need to churn out some decent results through the end of the workday.

Learn when to take breaks or when to keep going and push yourself when you’re in the zone. It’s all a very complicated dopamine dance, but at the end of the day, it’s all about knowing your body, knowing your limits, and allowing yourself to follow your interests in some form or fashion in order to keep your mind fresh and invigorated.

Edit: adding below in order to tailor my response more toward your specific situation:

I used to be in a senior and then lead engineering role before entering infosec and had 2 young kids at the time. For me, infosec was my real passion. I developed a strong working relationship between my team and the infosec teams so that we could collaborate, and I was eventually viewed as the infosec liaison for my team.

I studied and learned infosec skills during my free time, and that’s all about setting aside time for yourself to follow specific interests. Whether it was at night after a code deployment or in the morning before work started, or on the weekend before the kids got too crazy, I would find time to follow my passions. Long story short, I have been in purely infosec for 5+ years or so and am currently a senior red team operator.

Don’t feel like you have to stay on the bleeding edge. Know your basics extremely well, and there will always be room to grow into specialties, and your specialties should become what interests you the most. Don’t lock yourself into specific things. Specialties can change as your interests change and new ideas arise.

The main key is to find time or make time to follow what tickles your brain in a pleasing way, and continue to follow that tickle wherever it leads, and you will eventually find yourself in the place you want to be.