Three types of freelance burnout [Issue 008]
First thing’s first, you can burnout making $20k, $200k, or $2M. So it’s not specifically the amount of money you make that causes burnout.
I like to think of burnout like a car engine. While my father knows cars inside and out, I don’t actually know much about the inner working of a car engine. But I think the analogy still works since we’re talking metaphors and not mechanics ;)
tl;dr
You have to listen to your body because burnout looks different for everybody and there’s more than one way for it to creep up on you.
Here are the 3 Types of Burnout (as it relates to car engines)
1. Going long times without maintenance
Car: You could drive your car under normal circumstances, but if you go too long without taking it in for maintenance, something is going to break.
You: This looks like working normal day rate jobs and maybe weekend jobs… nothing crazy strenuous, but you’re not taking intentional days off for “maintenance.”
If don’t give yourself time off to decompress, the pressure will build and you will eventually break.
The tricky part of this type is it’s a slow build. And you might not feel like you need a break because your work hasn’t been stressful. So the burnout will be hard to detect or see coming.
2. Going too hard
Car: You could drive your car really hard (accelerating super fast, taking sharp turns, going off road) until something breaks from pure force.
You: This looks like double or triple booking, saying yes to projects with deadlines that are unrealistic… leading you to lost sleep, skipping meals, and high stress.
This one is easier to see coming. It’s more in your face. But in the pursuit of more money, you might be tempted to keep saying yes to everything. Beware that this type of burnout can take a long time to recover from.
3. Improper use
Car: If you drive 45 mph in 1st drive or drive with the parking break on, this will cause burnout in those parts of the car.
You: This looks like using the wrong tools or techniques for the job.
If you find yourself doing incredibly repetitive tasks or if things are taking you way longer than you thought something should take, ask a friend if you’re doing it right.
A small example of this is when I got my first design job out of school. I was tasked with redesigning a multi-page brochure. After a looong time had passed and my manager heard me clacking away of my keyboard, he said, “Austin, you should have all the copy for the brochure in the main folder… you don’t need to re-type everything.” I didn’t want to look dumb and ask where the doc was, so I was just going to re-type something like 15 pages of text 🤦‍♂️ I was driving in first gear when I could have practically transported to the end of that task with copy/paste.
This is a small example, but there are often faster, smarter ways we can work to help us hit deadlines without stress. And when we spend too much time trying to go fast in first gear, we risk burning out… or worse yet, thinking we’re no good and not cut out for this line of work.
Don’t be afraid of asking how you can work smarter. It could be the difference of burnout and peaceful creativity.
Your experience with burnout is going to look different than mine and different than the next freelancer, so you’ve got to learn to listen to your own body.
The best kind of life is one where you’re fully engaged in what you’re doing. And burnout makes it difficult to be fully engaged in anything. Your body is literally trying to shut down. So give it the “car maintenance” it needs to keep driving smoothly.
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