How to Prevent Burnout and Rediscover Joy in Content Creation

This week Audrey and Terrah sit down to talk about how to avoid burnout and find joy in creating again. In this episode you'll hear about;
- The signs of burnout
- How to find a balance as a business owner
- Boundaries to set with content creation
- Self care practices to implement 

Transcript

Burnout and Music-TikTok Conflict Exploration

Speaker 1 0:00

Have you ever wondered what goes into your favorite brand's digital marketing strategy ? I'm Tara , the founder of TJ Creative .

Speaker 2 0:05

Agency and I'm Audrey , the creative marketing director of TJ Creative Agency . Whether you're an influencer , a business owner , a content creator or just an overall creative person , we'll teach you how to create the perfect social media strategy and build your brand online . All right , welcome back to social sessions , everybody , I hope you are having a great day . We are going to be talking about burnout today and kind of , in addition to burnout , we're going to be talking about how to keep that creativity flowing , because I know , especially when you get burnt out , especially when you get like hyper critical , it's hard to find joy in making content , which is honestly the sad part , because a lot of us obviously start content creation because we love doing it right , we love the act of making content and being able to like , have a medium to express our creativity , and when you start to feel burnt out , you start to lose that joy . So I wanted to talk about both of those things this week .

Speaker 2 1:04

Um , especially like on top of like coming out of January , where we're feeling super motivated , right , it's easy for that motivation to turn into burnout , so wanted to talk about that . Obviously , we have our little update of the week . I'm going to let Tara take over . We kind of have two things that we're going to have updates about . I'm going to have Tara take over this first section .

Speaker 1 1:28

All right . So this is news that came out yesterday . I mean , it hit a little a few days prior to , but yesterday is when everybody started talking about it and that's the universal is pulling all their music from Tik Tok due to legal conflict of some sort . We're not we're not really sure or clear on that . Um , it has affected some of our accounts . It will affect some of our accounts that we're working with . So , um , we're just going to be navigating those waters this week and try to figure out what we do from here , what that means , um , creatively , as we're talking about creativity Um , but yeah , what are your thoughts on it ?

Speaker 2 2:07

I'm just I honestly think it'll come back . I'm reading a little bit about it . Let's see why did universal music leave Tik Tok ? Um oh , it says okay . So here's what it says Universal said that Tik Tok , which is owned by the Chinese company bite dance , had not adequately addressed universal's concerns over AI generated music on the platform and that it would not agree to what universal considered a satisfactory royalty rate . So it's a little bit . The royalty rate is honestly kind of what I thought this was . I thought it was a financial dispute where they could not have a as to like a money thing .

Speaker 2 2:43

The AI thing actually is interesting and I think is a valid reason to pull , because you're kind of . I don't know if this is actually true , but it appears that they're protecting their artists in the sense of like we've talked about this before , right , and it it's harder and harder to tell what is AI generated and what is not , and this is something that I think is really important to me , and I think that's I think that's a really important thing to me . I know what is AI generated and what is not , and this is something that I think is going to be huge on all platforms . So I think universal is just like the first one to kind of take a stance to get it against it . But it's interesting because Drake is one of their artists . So Drake's song has got pulled and if you remember , like last summer there was that huge AI song that everybody thought was an actual Drake song . So it makes sense in that sense . I wouldn't be surprised if TikTok made some changes and they did come to a conclusion .

Speaker 1 3:40

There's one part I read that TikTok's TikTok's statement to the universal group . They said that it's sad and disappointing that universal music group has put their own greed above the interest of their artists and songwriters . Despite universal's false narrative and rhetoric , this is the fact is that they have chosen to walk away from the powerful support of a platform with well over billion users that serves as a free , promotional and discovery vehicle for their talent .

Speaker 2 4:04

So that's what I was going to say is that it is interesting because record labels push TikTok success so much . Right , it's how so many artists are being discovered you even think of , like Jack Harlow really blew up , Tate McCray really blew up , Sabrina Carpenter , Like all of these artists have had these huge moments in the last like three years , three and a half years that have really come from TikTok . So it's . But I also understand the AI side . I'm . There's a quote in here from Universal that says , ultimately , TikTok is trying to build a music based business without paying fair value for the music . So honestly , it seems like they don't see eye to eye at all . I can , I can see honestly , I kind of see universal side a little bit more it depends .

Speaker 2 4:56

Yeah , I mean if they're protecting the artist , not necessarily themselves , but if it's for protection of the artist , then and even even honestly , even if they don't think they're getting paid adequate money , they're not wrong , like TikTok is building this entire app based off of other people's music , and if they're not paying for that , then I get it .

Speaker 1 5:20

There's got to be some like royalties .

Speaker 2 5:22

Yeah , so I think I don't know .

Speaker 1 5:25

There's creators that take right , like songs and then read just like a DJ and like , reinvent them and then but it still belongs to the right- I think I'm I am intrigued by it .

Speaker 2 5:40

I think it it changed . I mean , just as much as it changes for TikTok , the app , I think it changes for the music industry too . Like I think it has a really big effect . I think they both were like mutually beneficial to each other , right . So I honestly think something's going to have to work its way out , because I don't think either , at this point in time , can really afford to not have the other .

Speaker 1 6:06

Yeah , like they need each other .

Speaker 2 6:07

Yeah .

Speaker 1 6:08

I wonder what Instagram , what the reels in YouTube , you know , like , what their agreement is with those platforms ? What makes TikTok different ?

Speaker 2 6:16

I will say I feel like we've seen Instagram is stricter , even in terms of like businesses using like big sounds like that they don't want to use for like commercial type of things . I don't know , maybe they just pay out royalties better , I'm not sure . The other thing that I wanted to talk about , which I found kind of interesting , is there was a survey center Pew Research Center surveyed 5,733 adults , and this happened May through September of last year , so it's pretty recent , and it's just about like who's on what platform . So the highest one was YouTube , which is not incredibly surprising . 83% of US adults reported that they were using YouTube , which again checks out because we've talked about this , it's the second largest search engine , so it kind of operates a little bit more like that than it does a social media platform .

Speaker 2 7:17

The second one , though , was Facebook , and I know a lot of people love to shit on Facebook , but 68% of US adults said they use Facebook . 47% said they use Instagram , but inside of that stat there was 78% of 18 to 29 year olds say they use Instagram . So essentially just saying that it gears a little bit younger than other platforms . It does surprise me that they cut that off at 29 . I don't know what it is past 29 , but I would think , like the 30s range is really really high as well , because , honestly , when I think of Instagram , I think of it very much as a millennial app , more than Gen Z .

Speaker 2 8:01

It's great , yeah , then 27 to 35% , so a range said that they use Pinterest , tiktok , linkedin , whatsapp and Snapchat , so obviously much lower than the other ones , but they are also kind of more niche apps , right , so that's not incredibly surprising . I will say they found that TikTok had a 12% increase since 2021 and a third of US adults say that they use TikTok , so it is growing the same way that we've seen every other platform grow , right ? It's not like they come about and then everybody is using it and then , really similar to Instagram , 62% of 18 to 29 year olds say they use TikTok . So , again , gears a little bit younger , which we knew . I just thought those were interesting stats and , because they were pretty recent , I wanted to talk to you about them .

Speaker 1 8:58

That's actually interesting too , because yesterday I was searching Paxton is on the cusp of Gen Z and Alpha , which not really sure on how they got that word , but I was trying to understand because that's something too like that we as social media managers or experts need to pay attention to is where people are paying attention right , and that generation is going to be the next generation of buyers who are going to market too , so where what is their home app Like ?

Speaker 2 9:31

and it is TikTok Like I can just through visual Above that I don't even know if that's true . I was just watching a podcast this morning and they were talking about Gen Alpha uses Snapchat more than anything else . Like they communicate through Snapchat more than like regular texts . They're texting back and forth through Snapchat , and I had heard they were talking about how , like Gen Alpha is like , yeah , I only use iMessage to talk to my parents . Like , nobody else uses iMessage , so I know , which is clear .

Speaker 1 10:01

Well , the reason I say that is I just try to look at kids like Paxton , what he's looking at and what he is paying attention to and what they are all like the boys , when they're here , like what are you guys watching and looking ? And I don't see them on Instagram ever . Facebook , like it's definitely TikTok snap . So it's gonna be interesting to see like how that grows or where they end up . What platform ends up being that ?

Speaker 2 10:27

I can call I'm also . It is interesting because , like , obviously they're younger , but I almost wonder if some of these apps are just for younger generations . So , like , maybe by the time this Gen Alpha gets older , they will be on other platforms and they'll like leave TikTok behind or leave Snapchat behind . And maybe that's just the nature of these platforms , is that they're for the younger generations .

Speaker 1 10:51

That could be too . I can't imagine them building another one for the next generation , whatever they're gonna call that .

Speaker 2 10:58

I was gonna say we say that now , but we've seen platforms like come and go , Like Vine was so big when I was in high school and then obviously that shut down . Even Be Real . I feel like Be Real is on its way out . This wasn't an update , but I did see that they have like a celebrity feed . Now I believe that was the update . Be Real announced that they have like a celebrity feed in hopes to get more people to come back to the app , because it looks like I'm assuming they've had a little bit of a drop off . Like honestly , if you use Be Real , like let me know at the listeners Cause I deleted mine . I probably had mine for like three weeks , but I only have like two friends that use it regularly now .

Speaker 1 11:42

Yeah , it seems defeating . I looked at that other one , Lemonade Remember that one which was like niche specific , oh yeah dude , I still get .

Speaker 2 11:50

I get notifications from them all the time on my work phone . I think I made three total posts and I just haven't used it again .

Speaker 1 11:59

Well , I went to go look on it just to see , like , okay , what makes it different . If it was gonna hone in on like I like it to know what kind of concept of like this is where you'll find like the best stuff at Zara this week . Like I feel like somebody needs to do that . Like be like an updated resource of what's fashion is out .

Speaker 1 12:18

And it's like that , rather than having to search for it but be more like specific . But it was really frustrating cause you can't search like . You can search somebody's name but that might not be their username , and then it just didn't . It's not . It wasn't flowing . I was like I'm deleting it again . That was fun . I took a trip down that road and I got it .

Speaker 2 12:41

Yeah , it's just not . I don't know . I think it's also like for us at least we're on social so much that maybe we reach that burnout quicker , that we're like no , I'm not , I'm not engaging with that at the moment .

Speaker 1 12:55

Yeah , no .

Setting Boundaries and Preventing Burnout

Speaker 2 12:57

Speaking of burnout , as I said , that's our topic of the week , so I wanted to just we'll start with like a brief overview . Right , like the signs of burnout . I'm sure a lot of you know what it is , but it's really like you're not feeling motivated , you're feeling really exhausted by just doing the same things that you do every week . You're not feeling very creative , you feel like you're out of ideas . And also one thing that when I was kind of Googling this and seeing like because obviously other people can feel burnout in ways that you don't One that kept coming up was unhealthy comparison , which I thought was interesting and I mean very true . Like I think when you are feeling burnt out , you compare yourself to speaking specifically about content creation . You start comparing yourself to like every piece of content . You see , why doesn't mine look like that ? Like whatever ? You just get hyper critical .

Speaker 1 13:56

Yeah , I agree on that .

Speaker 2 13:57

I'm sure that all of us , I'm sure everybody listening has dealt with burnout . I think it's very common . So that's why I wanted to talk a little bit about , like , how to find a balance and prevent yourself from feeling that burnout . And the first thing I know we have talked about this ad nauseum on this podcast but it is to set clear boundaries . And I wanna kind of talk through a few different boundaries that you can really set . The first one is obviously working times , which I have talked to you guys about a million times . But set times in which you are working . Maybe that's nine to five , maybe it is , especially if you're like freelance or you have some flexibility . What did you say ?

Speaker 1 14:42

Territime .

Speaker 2 14:43

Yeah , I was going to say .

Speaker 1 14:47

If you're on Territime and you work from 4pm to 2am .

Speaker 2 14:53

Like you , just whatever works for you . I don't think that's amazing for boundaries in general . I feel like it probably throws off your sleep pretty bad , which is a boundary in and of itself , but just finding the times that work for you , if you have that flexibility in your job or your freelancer or whatever , maybe for you that's . I remember when we talked to Mel of Manuka Sunday she was talking about her kind of boundaries . Her working hours were typically like right when she wakes up , she was like maybe seven to like 10 or 11 . And then she'd like go do a workout or go do whatever kind of taking a page under the Spanish book of a siesta you take that little break in the middle of the day . And then she said she would like come back and work . I kind of find myself doing that a lot too , is I will work pretty good in the morning and then at like one or two I'll take like an hour to two hour break and then I come back and finish everything like in the evening . I feel like I need that kind of break , not all the time , but just finding that routine that works for you and being like sticking to those work hours , because it's really easy , especially in social media , for you to be like scrolling while you're like laying in bed and you're like , oh , this is an idea for this client and this is a blah , blah , blah , or just getting critical of like , oh , I need to implement this . Or you can just feel like you're constantly working and that's really where the burnout comes . So , setting those working hours like for me it typically is about nine to five give or take , those are really my work hours .

Speaker 2 16:27

But one thing that I think I do pretty well is when I'm done working , I'm done . I am not touching it . For the rest , I will see , honestly , like honest to God , I will see a text from a client that came in at like 6 pm . No , no , I'll get back to you in the morning . It's not like it sounds crazy because I know we work in social media , but it's not that deep . It's like if it's something that's like , hey , this absolutely could not be put up today , or blah , blah , blah , like I need this taken down immediately , sure , I will archive a post . That doesn't happen very often , but most of the time if a client is texting you at six or 7 pm , they don't need an answer right now because they're not going to act on it right then . Anyways , like it's really not that deep , it's marketing . You guys , we're not putting off fires , we work in marketing . I love it . I love it . So that's one thing .

Speaker 1 17:21

You actually did a podcast early on and it maybe was by what's her name that we really like . I have her book upstairs Scal . She talks about Scal .

Speaker 2 17:33

Yes .

Speaker 1 17:34

Where she talks about a lot about those boundaries .

Speaker 2 17:36

Yeah .

Speaker 1 17:37

And now I think , too , what happens as an owner , or for me . As an owner , I get so attached to like the needs and wanting to like be able to fulfill the pain points and not you know what I mean Like not offend them or lose them , or I want them to know , like the value that we have and that we're here and we're going to help and we're like committed and like all these things . But it does over time has been proven to that has brought me no value . It's actually hurt us . It can hurt you in the long .

Speaker 2 18:14

I think in that sense , it's hard when our communication is text because it feels so casual . So that's why , like even in a , like an email , people usually don't expect you to respond to an email at 9pm , which is why , honestly , like that's the one of the beauties about having a work phone is that they know it's my work phone , they know that , like outside of working hours , I'm probably not using this and they have that expectation . And with emails , they don't expect me to get back immediately because that's not typically how emails are used . So I think just that's what I mean is by having these working hours , like setting it , those boundaries with yourself but also with your clients , right , like this is hey , this is when you can get ahold of me . If you text me after that , if you email me after that , you can expect a response in the next morning . I think the next thing that you can really do to like set those boundaries is have a working space .

Speaker 2 19:19

Now , I typically work at my desk or I work at the kitchen island . When I work at home , I never work from my bed really ever . Unless I'm sick , I'm never working from my bed and I usually don't work from the couch either , but having those spots it really does train your brain that , like this , is the place where I am supposed to be productive . So there's actually a lot of research about why you should not work from your brain and the overarching thing is that working from your bed decreases sleep quality , decreases work productivity , decreases energy levels and , honestly , just overall quality of life , because it trains your brain when you're in bed to like be stimulated right To be working , to be productive , and then when you go to go to sleep , your brain's still working because you've trained it that this is a space in which you should be thinking and stimulated . Yep .

Speaker 1 20:14

That makes a lot of sense .

Speaker 2 20:16

So I mean , I think I don't have an office in my apartment , right Like that's just not something I have . So that's why I will either work at my desk or the kitchen island . But additionally I think Tara and I were talking about this earlier I think working outside of the house is really helpful . Now , that's not necessary , it's not feasible for a lot of us to do every single day , but it's another place that I think can kind of train you to work and almost like forced discipline . I was talking to Tara earlier yesterday . I was just like not in the mood to be creative , I did not want to make content , and then I went and worked at a coffee shop and I got it done so much faster than I would have if I stayed home .

Speaker 1 20:55

Yeah .

Speaker 2 20:58

So that's another thing that you can do is leave the house , but having those areas that are designated for working and being productive and creating . Another one that I am obsessed with I do every single day is utilizing Do Not Disturb on your phone . Oh my God , there's nothing I love more than Do Not Disturb . My phone's on Do Not Disturb 99% of the time , but ever since Apple has come out with that update of the work mode sleep mode , focus mode , personal , whatever I have it on work mode all the time during work hours , obviously I have it on Do Not Disturb at night .

Speaker 2 21:40

I saw this interview of Julia Fox actually that she was saying she's like my phone's on Do Not Disturb all the time because I get to decide when I want to answer texts . I get to decide when you take my energy , which is honestly , so true and genuinely how I operate . I've said this for years . I use my texts similarly to how I email people . I check them like three times a day . Have it on Do Not Disturb . I do not want to be having constant conversation . I do not want you to be constantly taking my energy from me , so I get to allow when I want to read your text .

Speaker 1 22:17

I think it's I mean , I've utilized it a lot too and it does stop that inbound stuff that can throw you off without a creativity , just by sound or sleep Well especially when you're creative .

Speaker 2 22:31

This goes for everything , but when you're creative , you're very much in flow , right ? So being distracted can totally throw you off , and I remember hearing this in college so I looked it up . There's actually , on average , once you get distracted , if you're doing a task and you get distracted , it takes , on average , 23 minutes and 15 seconds for you to get back into a focused mindset and back on task . That's a long time 23 minutes . So if you get distracted , every time you get a text , every time you get an email , every time you get a notification , you aren't getting anything done .

Speaker 2 23:11

The last thing that in terms of like boundaries , this is my favorite way to work and I have been doing this since I was in college , like I've always done this .

Speaker 2 23:20

It's called the Pomodoro Technique .

Speaker 2 23:23

It's really my favorite way to like balance work and just like chilling , and it works really well if you work from home as well .

Speaker 2 23:31

But essentially it's breaking up your time into 25 minutes of focused work and then a five minute break , and then you get a 15 to 30 minute break after you do like four consecutive circuits of that , essentially . So I typically I'll do it usually like 30 minutes on , five minutes off , but during that five minutes I make it a point to stand up . So sometimes I'll like put a load of laundry and I'll unload the dishwasher , or sometimes it's like I just stand up and I check my texts , because I don't like look at them throughout the whole time . So if I'm expecting a response from somebody , I'll check my texts then and get back . But I do that and that ends up being what like two and a half hours , and then you'll get like a 15 to 30 minute break , or maybe you take your lunch break or something like that . But I find that to be very helpful because it's also like 30 minutes of really focused work sounds so much more digestible than like oh my God , I have to sit at this desk for eight hours .

Speaker 1 24:32

Yeah , it does yeah .

Speaker 2 24:34

So

Exploring Boundaries and Diversifying Creativity

Speaker 2 24:35

that's . And then I also think like standing up is just like that stimulation , the kind of gets bored and gets antsy when they sit for a long time . So that's why I , personally , that's not necessary , you don't have to stand up during your breaks , but I like to because I get to really antsy . So those are like the main boundaries I wanted to talk about right , you can implement . You can implement all of them , you can pick and choose what you want to implement , but I do think having those boundaries are kind of an act of self care and an act of prevention in terms of burnout .

Speaker 2 25:10

Now , another thing that I think is really like a more exciting way to keep from burning out is to kind of diversify the content that you are creating , like , try different mediums in order to bring back some of your creativity . I hear so many influencers talk about this , where they'll say like , oh , I started on , let's say , instagram , for example . I started on Instagram and I kind of got burnt out . I got bored because I was doing the same thing over and over again , and now I'm doing TikTok and YouTube and I'm loving it . Like it just uses different areas of your brain , you know .

Speaker 1 25:53

Yeah , it does .

Speaker 2 25:54

So it just gets you to you know , think a little bit differently and kind of in that same tune . It allows you to be a beginner again and when you are a beginner there's you typically have so much more motivation to learn new things and there's so many more opportunities for creativity , like everybody knows that feeling when you . That's the reason that everybody starts something so strong right . Like you get a new hobby or you are trying to learn something new , like the world is your oyster . There's so many options , there's so much to learn that you are excited about it . So , using that same kind of idea with your creativity and either maybe it's learning a new software , maybe it's learning you know you want to like like we talked about lighting last week maybe for you it's learning more with , like , studio lighting and being able to play and try with that . That it's maybe a little bit more exciting .

Speaker 1 26:50

Yeah , I believe that to me so true , like even when you're editing or learning different editing techniques , overlays or how to cut or matching beats or like there's so many different techniques to all of these platforms and when you can , when you do switch it up , you have to push yourself and challenge yourself to try these things so you can explore . That's why I always tell clients too is like sometimes everybody is has the idea of what that perfect content looks like , but like you develop your own style of content through trying like all the different things and learning all the different techniques and styles or whatever .

Speaker 2 27:28

Yeah , I think and I also think having there's there's two different mentalities , with being a beginner right , and I'm really guilty of this . I always say I don't like to try new things because I get really mad that I'm not good at something immediately , like it's my competitive nature , like I think when people are a little bit competitive and a little bit of a perfectionist , like that's why I say I don't do new hobbies , because I just get pissed off Like I'm not great .

Speaker 1 27:53

So you were . I feel like you're notorious for new hobbies , Like you just started a new workout job and then like you work baking cakes and like it depends Like , yeah , the baking cakes was like new , new , but like a new workout job , I'm like it's not that new .

Speaker 2 28:10

I've been weight training for like seven years , you know what I mean . Like I've , but like new , new things , like especially creative things , I get like pissed off . Like if I tried to like paint or I went to go draw or I went to like do pottery or something , if I'm not good at it , out the gate I'm pissed , I'm pissed . So I think having that perspective of like letting yourself play and don't expect perfection and just be like enjoying it for what it is , enjoying it for the activity in which it is and not necessarily the outcome that you're trying to get , if that makes sense , yeah , I feel like photography is something that you've mentioned you want to get better at .

Speaker 1 28:48

Yeah , learn all that side of things . What do you think like , what do you intend to do , or what would you find yourself like ? How could you challenge yourself in that way , I don't know Like .

Speaker 2 29:00

I yeah , I mean I need a camera to get started . I used to do it a lot . I , I like used to do a lot of photography for my blog back in the day and then , obviously , like in school , I did photography . So I don't like I know about it . I just it's one of those things where I'm like the muscle is not being used on a regular basis .

Speaker 2 29:19

So I would like to . I want to get more into like like I'm , like I'm like I'm like . I want to get more into like studio photography . I don't really care so much about like people People , yeah , like I'm I , that doesn't interest me , but like product photography I always found really interesting .

Prioritizing Self-Care and Setting Boundaries

Speaker 1 29:35

I always thought she could also be a hand model I would use my hands .

Speaker 2 29:41

I used to get my nails done regularly and ever since I started boxing I don't get them done all the time . Like my hands , I feel like are in so many of our clients photos .

Speaker 1 29:51

They are . If you see a hand , it's odds .

Speaker 2 29:53

It's probably my hand .

Speaker 2 29:56

Anyways it was it used to be . She's aged , my hands have aged . Um , literally get the hand filler . Anyways , okay , now moving on to . We talked about boundaries , we talked about trying new things .

Speaker 2 30:12

I think another thing is setting aside time for self care . So , prioritizing self care , because obviously , if you are not taking care of yourself , it leads to burnout in every aspect of your life , which then obviously impacts your content and your creativity . So , on the topic of self care , prioritizing self care , this is something I don't know where I heard this , but I really liked this idea , and it's just make a list of the things that you feel happy doing , that you feel inspired doing , that you feel relaxed doing . Keep that on your phone , right , and it could be . It could be something so small too . It could be like I feel good when I go on a walk . I feel good when I talk to my mom on the phone . I feel good , um , you know , when I take a bath , when I am playing with my dog , when I take my dog to the dog park . It could be like it doesn't have to be anything big and it doesn't have to cost money either , right , it could be these really small things , but just make a list of the things that you enjoy doing , that make you feel happy , make you feel inspired , everything like that and then , once you have that list , make it a priority to do one to three of those things every week .

Speaker 2 31:27

So , honestly , like for me , it is like I feel relaxed when I'm reading . I know that . I feel good when I like getting the sun and I go on a walk . I feel good usually when I talk to my friends or I talk to my mom or talk to someone . I feel good when I work out . Yesterday I was , like so overstimulated and overwhelmed Like I was saying earlier , I feel like I've just been back to back and have not had a moment to breathe for the last two weeks that yesterday I went to my workout and it's like I left and I was like I feel so good because I couldn't think about anything else , I was just focused on my body and like being present for 40 minutes that it made me feel good , right . So having that list to pull from and just prioritizing doing a handful of those things a week , I think is really helpful .

Speaker 1 32:16

I agree with that .

Speaker 2 32:17

What are some things that you think would be on your list ?

Speaker 1 32:22

I mean girl .

Speaker 2 32:24

there is no time for Tara , something I've you can't say that on a podcast where we're talking about how you need to make time for yourself .

Speaker 1 32:35

I know , I know when you put this episode I was like man , maybe this is a sign . I get a lot of signs that I'm supposed to be doing a lot of these things . Yeah , it's definitely always been a challenge for me and something that I have to actually like . It will get away from me if I don't pay attention to it . I definitely think turning my phone off or like getting rid of it out of my sight can help me also , like go into Pilates , those types of things , anything that you mentioned . If I would just do it , it really does . It's like a reset . It's like when I snowboard or something like when you're just hyper focused on that one thing and there's nothing else . It's such a state of relaxation that it like gives you that burst of creativity .

Speaker 2 33:26

Yeah , and even like for some people like my dad is always one of those people he always loves going on drives , Like that's how he would clear his head . Or like for some people it's like dancing to their favorite song , Just things that make you . Again , doesn't have to take long . That's three minutes . Your favorite song is probably three minutes long and it's just finding those things that you know make you happy , right . And then prioritizing some of that , Because at the end of the day , like not to get too into like the spirituality of things , but at the end of the day , who gives a shit about your career ? Like , if you're unhappy , who gives a shit about how much money you're making if you're not happy ? So like prioritizing those things that do make you happy . A is it trumps all of it , right , Like your happiness and your health should really take priority over all of it . But like it only elevates your career and your monetization because it gives you the energy to do those things .

Speaker 1 34:21

I feel like I see it all the time right From like high performers they all say like it's consistent across the board . You know what I mean ? Ice cream . So are like , but they're doing it not for the act , but just like the discipline . And then the reward is just excel , like focus and energy and creativity .

Speaker 2 34:41

Yeah yeah , it's just , and a lot of that has to do with , like , time management . But , like I said , I think all of us can make time for one to three things that make us happy a week , especially when it's little things like that like calling my mom . Okay , 30 minutes A workout , 40 minutes Dancing to my favorite song , three minutes . We're at a total of an hour and 15 minutes a week , you guys .

Speaker 1 35:04

Yeah , this is bad .

Speaker 2 35:06

So like it's really not that much time . The other thing that I was thinking in terms of self care is really creating time for yourself in the morning and in the evening . And I think when people think about like morning routines and evening routines we have seen so much on social media of like I get up and I go for a run and then I make my breakfast and I have my coffee and I write my journal and then I read and it's like girl , that took you two hours , I don't have two hours in the morning . There's a way to have a morning routine that you can still make time for yourself and it doesn't take that long . Like honestly , it could be as simple as getting up 15 minutes earlier and like having your coffee outside and just like sitting there and that's 15 minutes . You guys Like something like that and I really I think the importance of that is that it sets you up for just like you're at a good base . Like I talked about this on my podcast , my personal podcast , last week .

Speaker 2 36:07

But I am typically the type of person that I wake up and I immediately think about my to-do list , and I've always been this way and I've been struggling with it a lot recently .

Speaker 2 36:15

Like I'm a little bit robotic in the sense of like I have a list for everything and I just need to like check things off right . So I'm like that when I wake up , I immediately wake up and I think about okay , this is the stuff I have to do for work , this is the stuff I have to do for personal . I have to be here at this time . I have to be here at this time . How am I gonna like start ? I'm starting to like organize my day and I usually will journal in the morning , I will do some sort of movement or I will read . I will typically do two of those three things every morning and it's really just to get me out of that state . To get me out of that like over-stimulated state and just like chill and be present . And then , once I'm there , I think then I'm able to like perform in the best way .

Speaker 1 37:02

Yeah , we can see that .

Speaker 2 37:05

And I think a lot of people overlook their evening routines too . And I think that is just as important , because if you like aren't able to relax or calm down in the evening , it's going to take you longer to like fall asleep and you're probably gonna get less sleep or less adequate sleep , which obviously just rolls over to the next morning and kind of ruins your next day , and it's just an endless vicious cycle . Like sleep really is so important and if you aren't rested enough , if you don't sleep enough , there's so many , so many studies that's like it fucks up everything else . So having that some sort of a routine , something that calms you down , makes you rested in the evenings , like again , it doesn't have to be anything insane Like it could be reading , it could be watching an episode of your favorite show , it could be like that sleepy girl mocktail has been trending for the last like month , like things like that .

Speaker 2 38:05

It can be like I have these shower steamers that I don't use all the time , but like I know , but when you yeah , it's like the aromatherapy of like a lavender or something like that that calms you down , that doesn't take you any extra time , you're showering anyways . It's just like popping whatever this steamer in your shower , things like that , just to get you like in the mindset of winding down . I think is so important because , like I said , sleep is so crucial , like I'm realizing that throughout this entire episode my passion of like health and wellness is coming through immensely , but like it really is just like if you don't sleep , you're not getting , you're not doing anything , like everything else kind of crumbles when you don't get enough sleep .

Speaker 1 38:53

It does , it can change a lot of things .

Speaker 2 38:57

Yeah , and , like I said , I think there's so many like arguments of like I don't have the time . Like I said , throw a shower steamer in there , wake up 15 minutes earlier . That's really not costing you anything .

Speaker 1 39:11

True , true that .

Speaker 2 39:13

Lastly , I wanted to kind of pivot into like how to . We talked a lot about preventing burnout , which I think is going to entail like keep some of that joy in creation . But I also wanted to talk about how to just keep that joy in creation , as it is like things you can do right now that can kind of make you continue to feel excited about making things again . And the first thing is just to be mindful when you're creating content . Right , be clear with , like what you want to create , just being more I don't know like , for what I was thinking about was like see your ideas through . Right , a lot of us get these ideas and we're like , oh my gosh , we're so excited about this .

Speaker 2 40:01

And then maybe we start it and it's not forming to be exactly how we want , or we've seen someone else do something similar and our version isn't looking as good as there . So we stop halfway through Like I know I'm guilty of that Like I'll start a graphic or I'll start a video and then I'm like , oh my God , I hate this . I'm halfway through , but it's like see it through , because sometimes It'll change and it may not . I mean , that's , I think , where a lot of the creativity or the creative ideas will come from , is like You're starting something . You're like , oh shit , I hate this . Let me like pivot a little bit and then Maybe it turns into something completely different than what you originally were Seeing for this project . But it's better . You know what I mean . And like you never would have gotten to that point if you quit .

Speaker 1 40:47

That's true . Yeah , so I've been recording this that are trying

Tips for Content Creation and Self-Celebration

Speaker 1 40:53

to do . I have this video in my mind like there was a video we did of this kid that had gotten baneers that had a pretty decent teeth , right .

Speaker 1 41:00

Yeah and Feedback was obviously like bro , just whiten your teeth , bro , you just need braces . Why did you do that ? You ruined them . You look ugly or you look better . Yeah , like the comments are insane . So the idea . But he did a testimonial where he he replied , before any of this happened , like I got this done because I was doing teeth whitening . I would Spend hundreds of dollars on it , it would be painful and then it would go I drink coffee and it'd be gone .

Speaker 1 41:30

Yeah so I wanted these comments like pop up right and I've like gotten to where I like it's . It's gonna be a lot more time consuming to learn that technique of having that , and I kind of want them to have the sound Effect of like , yeah , right , but Do I know how to do that ? No , so I'm gonna have to figure that out and it's gonna take me probably a full day of just like Navigating how to do that .

Speaker 2 41:56

Yeah , but it is just like you , you had an idea and it's like see it through , try it to the best of your Abilities and then you can adjust it as you go . But like don't quit things halfway because it's not looking exactly how you pictured it . Yeah , you know , I also think staying really present when you're creating is really helpful and I know that's easier said than done but focusing on like what you're doing right now , not so much like what I want to do in the future , you know , like focusing on the one video that you're making , not the seven others that you need to make that day , you know just being present and giving your energy to the one piece of content that you're making and then Pivot and then make the next one . But like you don't need to be thinking so big picture . You don't need to be thinking about everything that you need to make all of the campaigns in the future when you're just working on one video .

Speaker 2 42:51

Yeah , another thing I think we like overlook a lot unfollow the people that make you criticize your own work . There's and I think take that with a grain of salt , because sometimes you see people and it you criticize your own work because you're like I want to get to that level and it's inspiring in that way , right where it's like oh , like I could have done better With this and I didn't do as good because I didn't try as hard . Something like that , like that's different . There's a lot of times you'll just see people where you're like this makes me feel like shit , like I Don't , and that's okay . Like , normalize on following people . There's no beef there . It's not because I don't like you , but it's because I don't like the way I feel when I'm viewing this right . So , normalize on following people . If there's an account that you're like , every time I see this , their work is amazing . I think it's great , but every time I see this , it makes me feel bad about what I'm creating . Unfollow them .

Speaker 1 43:48

You can always refollow if you .

Speaker 2 43:49

Yeah , it's not like a permanent thing . The last thing that I really wanted to address is that you need to start celebrating the little milestones right , like maybe you're not exactly where you want to be with your content or you're Creating , but celebrate the things that you have done . Celebrate when you learn a new technique , like Tara was just talking about . Celebrate when you maybe reach a few more people on a real than you normally do . Celebrate when your comments are overwhelmingly positive , even if it's only three comments .

Speaker 2 44:24

Celebrate the fact that there's three people that loved what you just made . Instead , like it's so easy for us to be like , oh , I wish I would have had 15 comments . Or I wish I like learn that technique a little faster . Or I wish that the reach was double the amount that it got . Like celebrate the little things right . Celebrate the fact that there were people that liked your video , that you did reach a bigger audience than you're used to , that you did Learn a new technique . Like start to find enjoyment in celebration in that , versus being like it's not enough . Did you have any other tips ?

Speaker 1 45:06

No , this is really helpful . I'm gonna go Figure some stuff out . I'm gonna get everything you taught me today on . Okay , well , that is it for this episode .

Speaker 2 45:15

I did want to remind you guys . I should have reminded you at the beginning of the episode and maybe I'll cut this and put it at the beginning Of the episode , but we are on YouTube now . You can watch all of these episodes on YouTube if you prefer doing that . I like to have videos . I love to have interviews on when I'm working as like background noise . So if that's you , you can head over to YouTube . It's TJ creative agency and all of the podcasts are gonna be there , and I would also , while you're there , love it if you rate and review the podcast or , if you are watching on YouTube , subscribed and like the video . And until then , you guys , we will talk to you next week .