From the article: Burnout is a Huge Issue
Burnout is something that most people experience at some point in their careers. This is especially true for highly motivated, creative people - like most Web designers. How did you overcome burnout? These suggestions from other readers might help the next time you experience burnout. How do You Fight It
get a broader perspective
- Talk to a peer or friend who is working on a different project. Ask questions about the project. Learn something new. It could inspire some new ideas and refresh your motivation for your own project.
- —Guest FC
Bite the Bullet
- On the walk suggested by everyone else pick your most unsavory, most off-put task and come up with three steps you need to take to get this task started or restarted. Once you're there and doing it, it's not nearly as horrible as you imagined... and getting it done and out of your hair is a great feeling.
- —Guest MacDibbs
Burnout!
- In the current economy more so more! I lean on nature - go for a walk or if I am not able to spend that much time during the day, I just step out and take deep breaths!
- —Guest Vidhya S
3 Steps to Reduce Stress and Burnout
- Three tips in reducing stress in your life Are you racing around your life putting out one fire after another wondering why your angry and tired all the time? Is stress a major pressure point in your life? Consider taking a few minutes to re-evaluate your life. 1. Priorities I believe in the Golden Rule, which means to love God with all your body, mind and soul and your neighbor as your self. That means to me that I must love myself and take care of myself first before I can really take care of others. My priorities look like this: God/Prayer Food/Nutrition Sleep/Rest 2. Boundaries Honoring our self and honoring other people as separate from us is an aspect of boundaries. Separateness is an important aspect of human identity. We are to be connected to others without losing our identity and individuality. We are to master the art of "being me without losing you." Without boundaries people are needy and demand a lot of attention. When there are unclear boundaries in any relatio
- —Guest Grace Allison
Client Burn-Out
- The tougher burn-out to overcome is in dealing with clients. Those who don't pay, those who constantly want more enhancements and think it should be included in their original deal. And mainly those clients who simply have no clue as to what you are doing for them and couldn't care less. And let's not forget the ones who have screwed up their PC for the umpteenth time and call at 9 PM on a Sunday evening wanting you to spend an hour talking them through how to reboot Vista! Argh!
- —Guest najrellim
Take a Break
- Get up and outside when its nice. Clear the cobwebs. I go over and visit my granddaughter. She is always a smile generator. Go visit someone. But get completely away from the desk. If you are close to it, everytime a thought pops up, you will be running to go do it. That is a worse than just sitting at the desk.
- —Guest tcertain
Do or learn something new!
- Take a break of a day or two and do or learn something new. It doesn't have to be directly related to your work and it doesn't have to be a college course either. Pick up a magazine you would normally never even look at, or do something you would normally not do, like volunteer a day at a food pantry, or learn how to surf. Exposing my brain to all the different things available in this world always helps me to get out of that burnout rut!
- —Guest Marita
Fighting burnout
- I work out of my house and as well as fighting burnout you also have the problem of no one is around. It is somewhat lonely and you have no one to bounce ideas off of. To fight burnout I get up and stretch and often take my dogs for a walk. WE live in a rural area so it is peaceful and quiet. No cars roaring up and down the road and right now the fall colors are beautiful. Some people say you should join groups,, Chambers, BNI, etc., I have found those groups expensive and very hard to break into - meaning that the people in those groups have their friends and are not open to forming relationships with new people. But I do have a few clients that I try and meet with on a regular basis - out of my house and at a Caribou or Starbucks. Don't know if that helps with the burnout issues or the getting out of the house aspect.
- —Guest Bandit
Don't give up, just take a break
- I agree with Ms. Kyrnin's comment -- don't give up your dream, or at least, don't give up too quickly. There have been times in my life where I've been at a crossroads and I find that it helps to just tell myself that I'm stepping away for a while and I'll re-evaluate after I've had a break. During the break, don't pressure yourself to come to an early decision, but instead think of it as a time where new ideas and a fresh perspective will germinate, if you give it time. One time I decided that I needed to do something completely different -- I realized that what I thought I wanted just wasn't achievable. Another time, I found that the time off allowed me to take my dream in a new direction -- one that's really worked out well for me. It was the same dream, but in a different medium (I transitioned from print to the web).
- —Guest SusanH
Guide to U.S. Government Information
- I try to take a short 1-2 day weekend trip. Point Reyes or Fr. Bragg usually does the trick.
- —Guest Robert Longley
