Last Updated on August 3, 2024
Break through the burnout barrier with this.
After hours of putting pen to paper (more like typing, who am I kidding?), filming YouTube reels and TikToks, you end the workday feeling wrung out. Your eyes are drier than the Sahara desert in a sandstorm, and your coffee-sharp mind is now sluggish and dull.
This cycle of hard work followed by rest is just a part of everyday life. However, things start to go tits-up when you continually miss the ‘rest’ part of the cycle.
Before you know it, you’re burned out.
If your main source of income is creative, burnout can be especially dangerous!! You may have deadlines coming up that cannot be extended, or a marketing funnel that is too new to tweak. Don’t worry, I’ve been there.
At the start of this blog I had the “genius” idea of speeding up my growth by posting a blog every. other. day. 💀
If burnout were a physical injury, mine would’ve been third-degree.
I went from a complete internet ghost and passive observer, to constantly putting myself out there stretching my comfort zone to the max. I was excited, overzealous, and just not forward-thinking enough to see that I was setting a trap for myself.
After taking months off of this blog, I’m finally back and ready to ROCK IT. Here was my strategy for getting past a painful burnout break.
Rest.
It’s unavoidable, I’m so sorry!! Unfortunately for all of us, you can’t just side-step “rest”.
Like I said before, working on any project or goal goes in a cycle. First you prepare for the task ahead, then you actually start working. Eventually, you start winding down or taking stock of what you accomplished and what you may have left to do next time. And finally, at the end of all of that, you rest.
A wheel can’t turn with a huge chunk of it missing!
If building your portfolio or world-building for your next great novel is the work that took away your fire, you need to take a break from it before attempting to stoke the flames again. Take this time to build up some more appreciation and joy for your craft (your metaphorical fuel) before poking the fire again.
If you’re still fortunate enough to work from home, maybe take a nap during your lunch break. Replace some of the time that you would be spending engaging in that activity doing something else, liker re-reading your favorite book. A weekend trip somewhere quiet or rejuvenating can do the trick as well!
Re-strategize.
Alright, so you feel rested and maybe ready to jump back in? Now it’s time to Re-strategize. Burnout is the product of a work cycle gone bad. If you’re trying to recover from burnout, the key will be to change whatever formula you were following before. If you don’t, you’ll be right back where you started!
Some key things to evaluate:
- What specifically about the task burned you out?
- How long were you working on the task each day/what did your schedule look like?
- Are there places where you can iron out wrinkles in your process or “streamline” your operations?
Sometimes, it’s not the work that burns us out, but the process! It could be very possible that you are tired of being inefficient at what you do instead of actually tired of the work itself.
For example, I wasn’t tired of writing for my blog last year!! After months of rest and self-reflection, I realized that I was out of my depth with social media marketing and was ignoring my own feelings of overwhelm. BOOM. Burnout explosion.
To avoid this happening again, I am starting with just one post a month, and putting of my energy into good SEO practices and the writing itself! See how re-strategizing makes you feel…you might be pleasantly surprised!
Reinvigorate.
The last step to recover from burnout is to Reinvigorate your passion. If you were taking a break from
Go online and get inspired by other creatives like you. Make a vision board! Take notes on new techniques that seem interesting to you.
The sky is the limit on how, and where, you can find creative inspiration to reinvigorate your passion and beat burnout to the curb.
My favorite way to reinvigorate my passion for a writing projects is to make a Pinterest board. It is, by far, the easiest and most used way to make a digital vision board nowadays!
Another strategy to ask yourself is, “Why did I start this work in the first place?” Remembering your “why” can motivate you through hard times, which are bound to happen at some point. If you can’t answer that question, it might be time to check out my post about quitting your job.
Welp! You made it through my strategy in recovering from a painful and inconvenient burnout. I sincerely hope that, if nothing else, you commit to the first step of resting a bit…even if it’s just a nap!
When you are ready to jump back in the fray, check out my post on creating a sustainable writing schedule for your busy life!
Happy Writing.
