Creatives rarely have a 9-5 schedule for their work, so it can be hard sometimes to find balance. How do you work hard doing what you love, but avoid hitting the dreaded wall of burnout? How do you follow your creative passion, but also look after your well-being? How do you balance your family around a career that you love? Today we discuss some effective ways to identify and avoid burnout, and look at how to stay motivated as a designer.

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Show Notes for This Episode:

[1.00] Why a lot of designers tend to get burnt out
[1.50] Lisa’s mental burn out
[2.35] Why other interests are crucial to preventing burn out
[3.20] Why designers can have the freedom to choose their downtime (but why this isn’t easy)
[4.00] Guilt about downtime
[5.00] We’re always connected to social media
[5.50] A good analogy for how our screens dictate our time/attention
[7.00] Social media can be a compulsion
[8.30] Why work ethic can be the catalyst to burn out
[9.00] A look into the 100 hour work weeks starting Design Cuts
[10.00] The 3 things which motivated me to work so hard
[11.40] The importance of finding a middle ground and balance
[12.20] The part family play in your work life
[13.15] Why we need to turn off our phones, and give our loved ones full attention
[14.20] Why it’s important to say ‘no’ to work
[15.30] Lisa working too much right now
[16.20] The importance of taking little steps
[17.00] Our addiction to checking metrics
[17.30] The feeling you have getting back from vacation
[18.25] Our best tips for relaxing and decompressing
[19.10] Ian’s top tips (exercise, family, cinema, and anti-technology)
[23.00] Tom’s tips to not be half-way with your downtime
[25.00] Lisa’s tips for relaxing (outside hobbies, mentally and physically avoiding work)
[27.00] On the other side of the coin – how do you find motivation?
[27.30] Lisa’s tips for finding motivation and inspiration (please excuse the background noise – South Africa can get windy!)
[28.00] Dustin’s tips for getting motivated (the power of building habits and accountability)
[31.00] How collaborations and masterminds can help you staying on track
[32.00] Ian’s current lack of motivation and drive (and how he will overcome it)
[33.45] Adjusting your work to fit your current mindset
[35.20] Finding focus
[36.00] Is your lack of motivation short term or long term?
[38.00] Why people don’t follow through on things
[38.50] Ian’s struggles with releasing his own course
[39.30] Why done is better than perfect
[40.50] Why collaborations can be key to getting stuff done
[42.00] How the ‘wrong’ work can demotivate us

“A must for every creative freelancer (or those aspiring to freelance). Thank you for being so… honest! Such a wealth of information from people I admire who have ‘been there and done that’. Listening to the podcast every week feels like I’m among friends. Can’t wait for more episodes!”AG_GD