Getting through burnout

Destinyamber

Lately, I have been creatively burnout. I'm unmotivated unless I have money incentives, and I have a hard time performing tasks for my business and my projects.

Have you guys experienced burnout before? What's your best remedy?

I've been trying to take breaks and relax, but it ends with an unproductive day and work still needed to be done.

spool32

Best suggestion I can think of is to try and get 8+ hours of sleep a night, 6 or 7 nights in a row, and to do something two or three times a week that has nothing whatsoever to do with your creative endeavors. Go to the gym, play games, walk your dog, play music, something. The trick for me in avoiding burnout is not to have my mind focused on the tasks all the time - I need mental breaks, where I give myself permission to stop thinking about the project and really, truly set it aside for a few hours. That plus rest helps me refocus later. Also I need sleep to maintain a sharp edge all day. Sleep and physical exercise are my two - yours may be different.

Once every 9-12 months I need a true vacation of at least 4 days, where I discard all responsibility and reset everything. No housework, no job work, no writing, no thinking about any of those things.

The Crowing One

I work in Foreclosure Prevention and have hit burnout about three times in my career. In each case, I ended up either switching jobs (to a different agency) or simply taking time off. The difference, I think, is that money incentives have nothing for me.

I recently went through a minor burnout when I was immensely swamped, in bad mental shape and after a string of poor job-related events out of my control. It took a few weeks, but I ended up just relaxing and taking more time when I took lunch, small breaks and walks about the area, etc. I simply slowed down my professional life and battled it out until I had some positive things kick me out of it.

But I don't think you're necessarily burnt out, but just unenthusiastic about your work. A certain drive had dissipated and you're finding non-monetary reasons to be insufficient. I get the impression you're an artist of some sort? Self-employed/contract?

I spent a 6+ month period self-employed, working out of my home last year, and the biggest struggle was on getting myself into a mindset where I actually did work. At first it was fine, but day after day of not going to an office and being surrounded by the same things in my professional and personal capacity blended the two together. I pulled out of it by doing my work elsewhere. If I knew I had a grant to work on for 3-4 hours, I'd camp out with my computer at a Starbucks or find a nice and quiet place somewhere that wasn't my home office where I also played WoW and chatted to friends.

Perhaps the simplest thing is a change in scenery?

Destinyamber

I am a freelance designer who mainly makes websites, but I offer a lot more. I've just been unmotivated creatively, but both of you guys gave me great suggestions. I will be changing scenery very soon for college, so that will help, but I think giving myself a break with other activities will help too.

Tox

If you don't have any currently pending projects/timelines, take a few days off. Hopefully money isn't too tight. It sounds like you mostly work out of your home, so try to spend as much time not there as you can for the next short while. When you are home, try to see if you can cultivate some creativity in areas you normally wouldn't. Do you enjoy cooking? Try a new recipe, or try to whip something up from a cooking show. Rearrange some furniture. Redecorate something. Do some semi-annual cleaning.

Exercise and socializing are also both good ideas.

Tommy2Hands

drugs, movies, naps, music, cleaning and cooking are all things I use to channel my creativity


look into those

Horus

Is your life balanced work, school and sleeping? You need to diversify what you do. I was in your shoes when I graduated from college and landed a great job but I did nothing other than work and sleep. I did not have any hobbies basically I was nothing more than living for work. That changed after I lost my job (not fired) and decided to attend grad school, started going to the gym and really try to keep a healthy social life. Now I feel like nothing can stop me and I have more to offer.

Hope this helps

Destinyamber

Thanks guys and gals, I appreciate the advice so far.

I've been having issues socializing lately because I can be socially awkward and I'm phobic of large groups with people I don't know, but I'm learning how to break out of my shell. Nonetheless, I have to end all this and change for the better.