How to Avoid Burnout

I’m slowly but surely recovering from a nasty case of burnout. Challenges in my real life are the true catalyst. Unfortunately the effects have spilled over into the business side of things affecting my productivity. Although I have managed to stay pretty busy with current client projects, and even acquire a few new ones, staying focused hasn't been so easy. Operating my business in the midst of personal challenges has resulted in my dropping the ball in other areas of what I do for a living (i.e. personal writing projects). This blog and my social media networking relationships have suffered as a result of these distractions.

Whether burnout is the result of an overwhelming work schedule filled to the brim with client projects, or trying desperately to balance real life, personal challenges with non-stop business obligations, the results end up being pretty much the same: you feel like you’ve reached your limit and can’t possibly do one more thing. Burnout affects productivity which of course affects your bottom line. Prevention is most definitely the best cure in this case:

Try Setting Regular Office Hours

Before I decided to set regular office hours and established a daily work schedule, I felt like I was practically tethered to my computer 24/7 and quickly began resenting working from home. It was my own fault – since I wasn’t regulating my time, I spent a lot of it socializing on forums, and surfing the net while working here and there – it only FELT like I was working around the clock. Not very productive at all.

Everyone is different of course; but what works for me is setting aside a certain amount of time each day that’s strictly for work and setting aside specific times during the day for things like participating in social networking/commenting on blogs/forums and updates with my accountability partner. Personal errands and personal phone calls/visits occur at the end of my designated work day. I’m very easily distracted so I need these parameters in order to get the most out of my day, and these limits help keep me from feeling overwhelmed and becoming burned out.

Take at least One Day Off a Week

I highly suggest taking at least two days off away from work each week, but I know that when you first start building a business, long hours come with the territory. Still, you need to take time to do something you enjoy that’s completely unrelated to your work. Balance will keep you sane and help you avoid burn out. It’s important to have something fun to look forward to when you work hard.

Variety is the Spice of Life

It’s cliché, but true. I enjoy working on various projects – everything from web content, ebooks, resumes, professional bios, magazine articles, print marketing material, etc. The variety keeps things interesting and it’s much easier to come up with fresh ideas.

Don’t Spend Time on Clients/Projects You Don’t Enjoy

Yes, I’m advocating turning down work. Every job won’t be right for you; some clients aren’t on the up and up; as you become more experienced, you’ll find that some clients will no longer be able to afford your services. When I first started freelancing I took any and every job offer that came my way. That wasn’t always a smart move and there have been quite a few instances when the shrewdest business move would have been to politely and confidently decline the offer. When you work for yourself, you have the freedom and the right to work on what you want and work with who you want. Don’t feel guilty about it – I’d say it’s a fair trade for the work you put into becoming profitable.

Hard Times

This weekend I spent some time surfing the web reading some of my favorite blogs. I came across this post written about a year ago by a fed up, frustrated Naomi Dunford venting about how overwhelming life had become as her home life and work life had collided creating one big mess. I can relate.

An impressive beginning

When I first started freelancing, I was very fortunate to get clients quickly. They kept me busy and allowed me to support myself nicely without worrying about going back to the nine to five corporate grind. I carefully scheduled projects, send out contracts, invoices and collected money in a timely manner. I had all the energy in the world to work on my business, and life was good.

Things fall apart

But then the work started coming in too fast and I began having a really hard time balancing obligations to my business with obligations to my family. I dreaded checking my email each morning. I wondered what I’d gotten myself into. When you “fall” into something, there isn’t much time to plan for growth and day to day management.


I began wondering whether or not I was really cut out for this business. Thankfully I slept on it and realized a few days later that it was mostly the lack of sleep talking. Still, I was dealing with a serious situation and needed to figure out how to make it work. I decided to slow waaay down, take a few steps back and make a few important changes I wish I’d thought to make in the beginning. I’m working on creating systems that will help me become more organized, and receiving coaching to learn a new facet of commercial writing that will hopefully allow me to target my services more toward a certain specialty.

Starting over

Some might not think having a business grow quickly from zero to 60 in such a short time is a bad thing. I’m sure it works out just fine for some, but it can become a nightmare if you cannot manage the volume and fast changes.

There have been tons of responses to Naomi’s post dating all the way back from when it was first written to just a week ago. Those responses are proof that my experience is not unique, and not to give up. Even though I'm not actually starting all over again from scratch, I like knowing that I can start over if I need to. I love what I do and am determined not to go quietly.

TGIF: A Freelancer's Sigh of Relief

I have officially worked non-stop on projects seven days a week for the past three months. I am exhausted, nearing the dreaded freelancer burnout. So I have worked my hiney off this week in order to take this weekend off to rest, rejuvenate and gear up for a couple of new writing projects starting next week.

Dave Navarro has a great post on Freelance Switch discussing freelance burnout, "How to Keep the Freelancing Spark (Without Burning Out). I highly recommend it. As for me, I'm going to spend my weekend reading a book, working in my little vegetable garden and start knitting this ultra-cool fall afghan I don't think I can live without (it's been a while since I've picked up my needles so I hope I still remember how). Enjoy your weekend!:)