Do You Juggle too Much?
Usually, I’m a pretty positive person. But yesterday, I had an ‘I suck’ moment. I had a meltdown during a difficult assignment and didn’t feel good about the work I’d done. I got stuck. I questioned my abilities. It was awful. It’s not always easy being a freelancer and having to go it alone. It’s been a while since I’ve taken any time off. Thinking back, if I’d looked at myself yesterday as an outsider I probably would’ve said, “She’s got burnout.”
I’ve had to give myself an awful lot of pep talks, lately. I think that’s a sign that something that needs to change.
My meltdown wasn’t pretty. But, there’s no crying in baseball… so, finally, I emailed the client and told them I was sending them what they should treat as a draft and asked them to come back to me with feedback to help me deliver what they wanted. Then I got out of the house for a few hours to clear my head.
I’ve been working a lot of hours in the past few weeks. I’ve also had about half a dozen things go wrong around the house so I’ve been feeling stressed. I don’t want to suck. Maybe I didn’t. Maybe I just felt burnt out. Maybe I did suck. I guess I’ll find out when the client replies to yesterday’s message.
I had trouble sleeping last night. Then this morning I looked at a very long to-do list and felt very overwhelmed. I decided to just break it down and do one thing at a time. So far it has helped.
-I wrote mini to-do list on a Post-It with most urgent projects. That way the to-do list is short, rather than long. One thing at a time!n
-Did a quick clean up my work area so I don’t feel so buried.
-Got food in my tummy and took my vitamins.
-Found something for the little one to do so I could work uninterrupted for a bit.
-Decided to try to have a positive attitude.
I did a press release for a new client first. I probably shouldn’t have even taken the job since I had so much on my plate this week but that’s another problem I have — not being able to say “No” to work. When I got started, I felt so apprehensive thatI toiled over it for about an hour longer than usual. Yesterday had left a lingering feeling of doubt. But…no revisions. They loved it and placed a new standing order. I don’t suck today. So far… :)
When I’m overworked it affects my eating, my sleeping, my family, my confidence, and my writing. Another client wrote today to point out an error I’d made that I probably wouldn’t have made if I weren’t so darned…overwhelmed. I decided that yesterday was a big red flag warning of freelance writer’s burnout for me. I’m going to work hard to get through this to-do list and then take a day off. Then, a 3-day weekend next weekend… away from the house AND away from the computer. I bet it’ll do me wonders. Do you recognize the signs of burnout in yourself? Please make sure you watch for it and act on it. I’m pretty sure that your health, your frame of mind, and your writing will all thank you for it.
P.S: On previewing this post I saw that Sharon Hurley Hall has a post from about 3 years ago here that’s highly relevant: How to Cope With Writer Burnout. Check it out.
Article by Dana Prince
Dana Prince is a writer, web marketing consultant, and prolific blogger. She’s so prolific that she’s actively seeking a 12-step program for blogoholics. (Really, she's only pretending to seek such a program. Mostly, she just likes to talk about her addiction.)
Dana has written 43 awesome articles for us at Get Paid to Write Online
Twitter: @danaprince | Facebook
{ 4 comments }
Boy do I ever know this feeling! In fact, I’ve been experiencing many of the same feelings you are for the past two weeks now. And I think you’re right, it has to be writer burnout. I say this because I also have a lot on my plate.
I’m happy to report that things are getting a little better for me now, though. What I decided to do was take short breaks between my clients’ projects. I’ll take a walk with my daughter, which helps tremendously because it allows me to clear my head. Some of the other things I do between clients are put laundry in the washer or take it out of the dryer and fold it, straighten up a room in the house, take a relaxing shower, load the dishwasher, and anything else that gets me away from my desk for a little bit. So far this method is working out well for me, so maybe you’d like to try it and see if it will work for you too. Of course a day off will also help, so I highly encourage you to do that as well.
I hope things get better for you.
Misti Sandefur, Christian Fiction Author wants you to read Tips for Staying Motivated When Writing for Many Clients
Twitter: shurleyhall
July 17, 2010 at 08:48
I know the feeling so well, Dana (which was one of the reasons I wrote that old post). Having some mental and physical down time is the best cure and that’s one reason why I have told all my clients that I won’t be available for a couple of weeks in August. I’ll still check email, probably, but on my schedule, and there’ll be at least three days where I won’t be online at all. I hope to come back feeling mentally refreshed. I hope you do too after your long weekend.
Twitter: Anklebuster
July 19, 2010 at 14:54
Dana, sounds like you’re doing all the right things to combat those inevitable feelings.
I stepped away from the rush this past weekend – no programming, no networking, wrote one fun post only – and went back to my favorite thing to do, which is make up games.
Now, it’s Monday, I’m refreshed, and I don’t feel like I have to get it all done RIGHT NOW.
Family is a great balancer, and I’m glad I have my wife and kids to be with on these glorious summer days.
Sleep is the other thing. If I’m feeling pressed, I’ll try to push on past bed-time. It NEVER works for me. So, I’m training myself to wind down when I start to nod off.
You gotta tell me if the vitamins really help – I’m on the fence about those
Take care! Keep taking “me” time.
Cheers,
Mitch
Mitchell Allen wants you to read Seven Hyper Links
Hi Dana,
I hope you’re feeling better and are back to your normal self. Burnout can be so bad sometimes that you can’t do anything but get away from everything for a while.
When I first started my writing career up until the past few months, I was putting in 70 hour weeks. I was working an office job during the day which took up 40 hours and then I was putting in an additional 30 hours on top.
No one was making me work those hours, by the way – writing is what I love, but the money from the office job (which is in the industry which my background is in) was too good to turn down.
I burnt out more than once. Like you said, it’s not a pretty sight.
A few months back I realised that it was becoming more of a common occurrence and I was determined to stop it happening again.
Over the past few weeks I’ve made sure that I organise my workload so that I can take at least 1 day off on the weekend and don’t work past midnight during the week (although it’s 12.10am now – but this doesn’t count as working, right?!).
Touch wood, with the exception of a little blip last Monday – I was trying to get one project finished before the deadline, ahead of the game on another and things just got a little bit too much. My concentration went completely – things have worked out.
Burnout really is something that freelance writers need to be wary of and no matter how cool, calm and collected you think you are, if you don’t look out for the signs, you can succumb to it just as much as the next person.
Dan Smith wants you to read What Made You Want To Go Freelance