Fighting Burnout as a Creative in Business
Photo by HB Photos // IMAGE ID: A desk space with two chairs at You Belong Here is lit by a window behind it with hanging plants. The image is tinted teal and framed by a darker blue and chartreuse blocks to the left and bottom, respectively. In the center, white rounded font reads ‘huddle up, creatives’.
If you’re a creative in business, you likely are familiar with burnout, characterized by feelings of energetic exhaustion, disconnection from your work, or cynicism about your work. Fighting burnout can feel like an uphill battle and sometimes an oxymoron in itself. You’re exhausted and attempting to muster the energy to fight your own exhaustion. As a creative, burnout is a common companion to the starving artist stereotype, but it doesn’t have to be your experience! The good news is burnout is often preventable, and with practice, it can be healed or avoided altogether. Many articles that discuss burnout suggest exorbitant solutions out of reach for many working artists, but finding a healthy balance between work and energy doesn’t have to drain your bank account. Together, we can provide support to one another at You Belong Here and learn how to heal burnout within our own means. Below you’ll find examples of tools and tactics from creatives on how to avoid burnout.
Schedule your healing time first
As creatives, we are consistently driven to produce work to feed both our bodies and our artistic minds. While scheduling work first can feel like the main priority to satisfy these cravings, try to reconsider how to best honor the value of your time. Time is a valuable commodity, and when we schedule our work first instead of personal time, we fail to prioritize ourselves.
Creative work comes from creative minds and bodies--minds and bodies that deserve care and nourishment. Whether you have a few minutes or are able to take a few days off, schedule time to take care of yourself first. This can look like a few minutes to journal each morning, a nighttime meditation practice, or an afternoon walk around your neighborhood.
It can be tempting to make our self-care productive by only completing practices that have a guaranteed outcome. Try activities that have no purpose or outcome other than to nourish your body and mind, and find what works for you! Release the pressure to make your healing look linear, and simply relish the time you’ve given to no one but yourself.
Create a pleasure practice
Many articles on burnout involve expensive purchases such as a massage or vacations, which can feel out of reach for many working creatives, but at the root of these suggestions is creating a pleasure practice. A pleasure practice is simply a commitment to exploring your own pleasure, and it looks different for every person. Some examples might include dancing to music to match your mood, enjoying a treat at your local coffee shop, or reading Audre Lorde’s Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power.
It’s important to remember that pleasure doesn’t require a financial expense. It does require an understanding of our own needs and how to meet those needs. Do you know how to meet your pleasure needs?
Find inspiration again
Creating for the sake of expressing yourself and creating for the sake of putting food on the table are two different experiences. It’s totally normal for your inspiration to ebb and flow.
Remember that feeling of making something for the sake of creation? That doesn’t have to go away. When inspiration doesn’t knock on your door, seek it out. In the meantime, distract yourself with the creativity of others--in social gatherings, through coworking, at local events, or by starting a new book.
Creativity is really just the synthesis of old ideas into new ones. Inspiration requires us to take in ideas to come up with new ones. Whether you are inspired by something you dislike (because you want to make something better) or inspired by something you love (because you want to capture its beauty), inspiration often comes when you least expect it and always when you’re open to receiving it.
Plan ahead for next time
The next time you’re facing burnout, it’s helpful to have a pre-determined plan to know what really matters and what can be put on hold until you feel like yourself again. By mapping out an attainable plan with monthly and quarterly goals, you can take the guesswork out of what needs to get done. In a state of burnout, it can be difficult to make sensible, healthy decisions when your focus is scattered by your emotional and physical state. To make a plan, start with your goals and break them down quarterly and then monthly. To determine the success of each component, assign key performance indicators (KPI) to track your success over time.
The most effective KPI’s use the SMART framework:
Specific - answer who, what, where, why, and which resources and limitations are involved
Measurable - answer how much, how many, or what value will let me know I’ve accomplished this goal
Achievable - answer if this goal is realistic
Relevant - answer why do I want to accomplish this goal now
Time-Bound - answer when you want to reach your goal by
If you’d like help with creating a plan for your creative business, then stay tuned for The Huddle, a full-day business development retreat coming to You Belong Here in December 2021.
Fighting burnout is about healing, pleasure, inspiration, and planning ahead
Whatever brings you to read this article, I hope you find peace in your healing, pleasure, inspiration, and planning. Burnout can be tricky to navigate, and as creative business owners, we can experience burnout for multitudes of internal and external factors both within and outside of our control. By prioritizing your healing, practicing pleasure, seeking inspiration, and planning ahead, you can minimize or avoid burnout altogether. I hope this article helps to remind you of the decisions within your reach and the care and support you deserve. Please know that you are not alone. As always, remember you belong here.