Being a content creator is not an easy job and burn out is a very real issue in this industry. You just have to look at subreddits or even some creators twitter feeds to see them talking about how they’re going through a phase of burn out. Having to do the work of a small business as one person can be stressful. Here’s our six tips to manage and prevent burn out:
Don’t Work Too Much
A big source of burn out is working excessive hours. If you’re putting in hours at a 9 to 5 and then coming home and putting in as much or more into being a content creator, you’re going to burn out fast. Don’t try to do everything all at once. If you film content one day, save editing for the next. Use a scheduling tool to help you bulk schedule some things to social media and even your fan platforms.
Don’t Let Yourself Get Overwhelmed
If you feel yourself becoming overwhelmed with what you are doing, take a step back and leave it alone until you are feeling better. Becoming overwhelmed is going to cause mistakes in your work which will be more work for you in the long run. It’s okay to walk away and leave it for another day. You can even just leave it for a couple of hours and go for a walk, read a book or go play a video game you enjoy. I highly recommend Animal Crossing on Switch for this.
Set A Schedule
One thing I have done for myself is set a schedule for when I need to work on the blog, scheduling and other things I do for Unfiltrd. This has helped me immensely as I am mentally prepared to start working on my projects at 9am every day. If you use the Apple ecosystem utilize the focus features to help reduce distractions. It’s called “Focus” for a good reason. Setting up a focus on your phone to help minimize distractions can help you get more work done in a shorter period of time as you wont be disturbed by app notifications, calls and other messages that don’t require your immediate attention. Setting this during a time that you know you’re more productive will also go a long way. I do my best work in the morning, you may do your best in the afternoon or evening. Set a time that works best for you!
Take Breaks!
Whether you take a break in the middle of your scheduled work, or take a couple of days off, these breaks are very important to your mental health as well as the quality of your work. In photography and photo editing, professionals advise taking 10 to 15 minute breaks while editing a photo so that you can come back to it with fresh eyes and notice if anything needs to be touched up or if something is over processed. You can apply this concept to anything you’re working on. Fresh eyes and a fresh mindset will help you recognize mistakes or add strokes of brilliance. When I am writing particularly difficult blogs and hit a wall, I go grab a fresh cup of coffee and throw some tunes on. After a few minutes I come back, read through what I have and usually find a couple of spelling or grammar mistakes, and find ways to change the syntax of what I am writing to make it more succinct. Take a quick walk to get your blood circulating and produce some quick endorphins to help with your mind set as well. Exercise is a great way to help reduce burn out.
Set Priorities
When you’re establishing a schedule for yourself, give yourself a list of things to do in order of priority. For me when my work day starts, the first thing I do is check on our social media accounts; are there any comments or messages that need to be addressed? Did everything schedule properly? Is there anything I need to post or schedule for today? Once social media is checked, I open our blog site, and start on the daily blog. In my schedule I’ve given myself four hours to write, edit and schedule the blog. I can usually do this in two, but some days inspiration is a long time coming and I need the full four hours. Use your priorities to map out your day. Put your easy tasks that take the least amount of time first, your harder tasks that require more time next, and wrap up tasks for the day at the end. And don’t forget to take breaks when you need them!
Set Goals
Set some goals for yourself. And, as much as I hate to say it( because corporate America harps on these)… Set SMART goals for yourself. If you’ve ever worked in corporate America you will have heard this phrase before but for those of you not familiar let me elaborate for you. SMART Goals dont mean “ooh I think it’s smart for me to have this as a goal” well… kind of, SMART means Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Timely . Here’s an example of a SMART goal: I want to grow the Facebook page to 10,000 followers by the end of 2023 It’s Specific to our growth of social media . It’s Measurable because I can track the follower count on a daily/weekly basis It’s Achievable as the account is already pretty close to 1000 at the time of writing this goal. It’s Relevant to the rest of our goals with growing our social media accounts. And it’s Timely because I have set myself a deadline. Take this approach when you’re setting goals. Is it specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timely? Is your SMART goal to be self employed by this time next year, set micro goals that help you achieve your SMART Goals? When setting your smart goals, make sure that you’re setting up a place to track these as well. I have Metricool, which allows me to track our growth and engagement over time, but I also have an excel sheet where I track the weekly numbers myself. Doing this allows me to see which weeks are better, or worse and which post preform the best and which ones I should stop doing. Give yourself a way to track your success and see if your SMART goal is working for you or if adjustments need to be made.
There you have it, six ways I help myself prevent burn out that work for me and I hope will work for you too!! Did you find any of this useful? Would you like to see more content like this? Connect with us on social media or send us an email at Sara@unfiltrd.com
Take care of yourselves, see you tomorrow Sara Lyn Chacon, Unfiltrd Staff
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