🚒 So, you're burnt out. Now what?
This post is about how to identify the signs of creative burnout before it catches you, and how to recover from it if you're feeling stuck.
🔥 The cycle of burnout
The first step of escaping the seemingly unending cycle of burnout, you need to identify its different stages and where you might be at:
- ♻️ Keep pushing through it
You feel overwhelmed but determined to just push through it and get back on track so you can enjoy being creative again. - ⭐ Overcommitting
You're finally starting to enjoy things again but you don't pace yourself and end up creating things at an unsustainable pace until you've got too much on your plate. You fall into the trap of perfectionism, or start comparing your work to others instead of celebrating your success and feeling proud of your creations. - 😅 Feeling the stress
You've lost the enjoyment of creativity and it's feeling like a chore, you become frustrated with the progress and quality of your work and start to feel drained.
Despite this, you feel the need to keep going because you love your creative passion, or you've tied this to your identity and feel like if you stop then you won't be you any more. - 😓 Burning out
The stress hits you with creative block. You feel exhausted & detached from your project - even if you wanted to keep working on it, but you just can't. - 👤 Withdrawal
You distance yourself from your creative project (or creative work entirely) to take a break and recover, but it ends up stretching into weeks, months, or even years of feeling disconnected.
🧯 How to recover from burnout (and prevent it, too)
If you're burnt out and stuck with creative block, here's how you can flip the cycle into a process of recovery - it's also the method of preventing yourself from falling back into burnout:
- 📈 Get back into creativity
Embrace your excitement to get back into your creative project by starting with things that are small, achievable, and finishable. When you're really burnt out, make it REALLY small. No, smaller than that. Ridiculously easy to finish.
This eliminates your chance of failing the first step! - 🎽 Keep a steady pace
As you enjoy your creative expression again, keep a steady & sustainable pace. Resist the urge to drain your well of enthusiasm all in one go. Stop before you've finished and keep the itch - it's what will fuel you in the next day to keep going, and the day after that. - 📦 Switch it up
When things start to feel challenging or boring, think outside the box and explore things from different angles. Play to your strengths and change or adapt it into something that you're passionate and excited about. If it's not fun, stop doing it!
As you continue these steps, you'll start to feel more energised, motivated, and able to achieve your creative goals. - 🚨 Notice the signs
Frequently check in with yourself and watch out for any early signs of burnout. As soon as you notice that stress creeping in or that brain fog building, try sectioning your current project into smaller sections that are easier to complete, remove any unnecessary tasks, and ask for a bit of help. - 😌 Take a break
Make time for proper rest and take frequent short breaks from your creative work to stretch and stay hydrated. Take a pause from your creativity by doing other activities like walking, reading, cleaning, or cooking.
No, really! It will be an easier and quicker solution than fighting through it by yourself, and you'll feel a whole lot better for having the weight of it lifted from your mind.
🩺 Tools & resources to help get you unstuck
📚 3 books
When I moved from the UK to Argentina I cut down all of my possessions into just two suitcases. Due to the weight restrictions I could only bring about 10 books, among them were these three that I recommend to anyone going through burnout or who frequently suffers with it (I keep them in line of sight and ease of reach on my desk for this very reason):
- Keep Going by Austin Kleon
- Feck Perfuction by James Victore
- DO/Purpose by David Hieatt
If I had to only pick one, it's Austin Kleon every time.
📺 1 video
Ignore the clickbait thumbnail and give it a go - if you feel called out in the first bit, watch how Struthless flips the script to start solving his routine and work through creative block.
📝A generous handful of ideas
I created a Google Sheets list of writing prompts organised by topic - it's a great tool for sparking ideas and developing a consistent writing habit! Whenever I'm feeling a bit stuck, I just pick one at random and write a super-short answer to it. If I feel inspired to write more, I can do a bit extra to get the ball rolling again.
If that sounds useful, join more than 3,900 people(!) in getting inspired with this easy to use set of worldbuilding prompts:
What advice would you tell me if I'm suffering burnout?
Update: Catoblepon also just finished up a post on this topic, too - check it out here.
