Dealing with Burnout and the Time Management Train Wreck that Follows

Great topic of Discussion. Burn out is something I feel happens to many thru out school or in ones career. And the worst part is that it tends to creep up on you, and you may not notice it till its too late and your tired all the time,sick, or both.
Iv learn this lesson the hard way myself, where Iv gotten sick from pushing my self hard for too long. However sometimes you have to burn the candle at both ends I guess. The interesting thing is that there where signs that where there, but I just did not recognize them. For example before getting sick I was always tired, for a good 2 weeks or so before. I found that was my body telling me I needed to rest. By pushing so hard for so long your expanding your energy out to get things done or reach a new level, but then comes a point where you need to contract/rest or your body forces you in contraction by getting sick. I learned that after these expansion phases, where Iv scheduled my self to work and push harder to achieve a new goal,I also require a time of scheduled contraction, A time to re-balance myself and get back to zero. Or other wise my body will force it upon me. The key for me has been to learn to listen to my body, and learning to say “no”. I say learning to say “no” because it almost always seems that when I want to rest, that’s when friends all come out of the woodwork with parties, events or other activities that take away my periods of resting. Its those silent energy killers that quietly compound, trigger and expedite the downward energy cycle of burn out.Those activities although fun and needed, also consume energy.”Rest” means “rest”. Becoming self aware seems to be the best medicine I’ve learned.

At one point in my career, I was working full time during the day @ a greeting card company and freelancing in the evenings and on weekends. Even as a young man, there was only so long I could keep up that pace. I was wearing down physically and mentally. Something had to give and I chose to work from home in my own studio.
I suppose I had to put myself through that grind to see if I could sustain a freelance career. But I would never want to go through that again.
These days I try to keep a healthy balance between work and down time. I always make time for exercise and to enjoy time with family and friends. It brings a freshness to my work when I return to the drawing table/computer. Do yourself, your family and your clients a favor and make sure to recharge your battery and keep yourself healthy!

Came across this article today on the inter-tubes, discussing the 12 stages of burnout. I found it very serendipitous given its timing 🙂

Hope folks find it useful.

http://99u.com/workbook/25941/the-12-stages-of-burnout

This has always been a bit of a challenge for me. I have “workaholic” tendencies, so I am always loading myself with too much, between my day job designing toys and my freelance in the evenings and on Fridays-Saturdays. Just recently though, my wife (and business partner) has decided to take a larger role in helping me schedule and balance my time. It has been a huge help. She’s always wanted to help, I don’t know why I haven’t taken advantage of her organizational skills earlier. She and I review new projects and schedule the projects together in my scheduling software. This has helped me not try to squeeze “just one more project” onto days that I am already working 10+ hours. After I finish a large year-long client project in a couple months, we are also planning on dividing out my extra time between a few marketing, freelance, and personal project interests. I am excited about the next few months leading up to that!