Preventing and dealing with creative burnout

In any walk of life it’s all too easy to find yourself burnt out. Even when you’re just back from an extensive holiday, it doesn’t take minute to feel like you’re fizzling out. Whether you’re working on something you hate or love with a passion, you’ll still feel that emotional drain hitting you from time to time. 

As creative entrepreneurs, responsible for nearly every area of our business, this is all the more pertinent.

It’s certainly an issue, but if you’re feeling like you’re alone being drained of all stamina then you couldn’t be more wrong. In fact, most people will suffer from burnout at some stage in their life and business – especially if you are in a more creative line of work. And we hold the controversial view that all entrepreneurs are creative entrepreneurs! If you are trying to rebrand your business, for example, you might start to hit a few creative gaps that makes it impossible for you to keep growing. Want to avoid that kind of problem? Then you need to know where to start.

If you’d like to try and get around the pain and frustration of burning out in the workplace, then these tips might just help you to do that. This should help you to both prevent, delay and then deal with burnout when/if it arrives.

Preventing Creative Burnout

• Don’t leave it on yourself to always be re-inventing the wheel. When you’re trying to develop a new look for your business, you need to be inspired by something.
• Don’t feel ashamed about looking for inspiration from similar industries and businesses.
• So long as you aren’t ripping off your nearest competitors, you can get creative without having to come up with every last piece of imagery yourself.
• Speak with others – collaborate. If you are struggling to help develop your business, then you can find help through creative experts. If you are looking to help stay in an inventive mind-set, then making it part of your personal discourse can help a lot.
• When you frame all creativity in the prism of professional thoughts only, it’s hard to retain that creative spirit and freedom. Remember to walk away from the proverbial workspace every now and again and give yourself rest. The creativity won’t go away, it will be waiting for you to return; refreshed!

Handling Creative Burnout

Still feeling zapped? Then here are some tips to help handle the challenge of being burned out:

• Take a night off. Trying to force it when you already feel zapped is foolish. Take your mind off it, watch some documentaries or just relax and get your mind out of the downward spiral of striving.
• Hire an expert. There’s no shame in consulting with a designer or firm to help try to spot something you cannot see. Goes across the board with work systems and processes…stop trying to be the Jack of All Trades and hire some help. It may only be an hour or 2 a week to start.
• Appreciate the challenge of being creative. It’s a part of the fun of making your own business; you get to drive every last part of the business ideology and performance.
• If you are serious about improving how your business works, and want to avoid burning out, a simple shift in mentality to appreciating the challenge is very much worth your time.

With this in mind, you should hopefully feel a touch more optimistic about your capabilities in an artistic sense – and your creativity returning.

 

 

 

 

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