Cocktails, Tangents and Answers
Cocktails, Tangents and Answers is a marketing podcast that takes you on a ride with our team. We'll kick off every episode with a little chat, a cocktail recipe (sometimes basic, sometimes craft, sometimes bougie) before we get into a conversation to tackle some of the pressing marketing questions of the day. And of course, our brains take us on some of the most wonderful tangents. Come along for the ride!
Cocktails, Tangents and Answers
Burnout in Marketing: How to Stay Creative When You're Tapped Out
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
How to Deal With Burnout in Marketing
What if we told you that over 80% of marketers are dealing with burnout, and more than half feel overwhelmed, emotionally exhausted or undervalued? In this episode, we’re talking about why creative fatigue is hitting so hard… and how to fight back.
The Tia Mia is a modern riff on the Mai Tai that swaps the classic dark rum float for mezcal espadín, giving it smoky depth alongside funky Jamaican rum. Created in 2010 by bartender Ivy Mix for Julie Reiner’s Hawaiian-inspired New York bar Lani Kai, the Tia Mia was Mix’s first cocktail to hit a menu. Though Lani Kai closed after two years, the drink lived on, later becoming a staple at Leyenda in Brooklyn and featured in Mix’s book Spirits of Latin America.
Ingredients:
- 1 oz. mezcal espadín
- 1 oz. Jamaican rum
- 1/2 oz. orange curaçao
- 1/2 oz. orgeat
- 3/4 oz. fresh lime juice
- Garnish: mint sprig, lime wheel and edible orchid (optional)
Directions:
- Add all ingredients into a shaker with ice and shake until well chilled.
- Strain into a large rocks glass over crushed or pebbled ice.
- Garnish with lime wheel, mint sprig and orchid (optional).
Elevate your marketing with our blog's exclusive tips, tricks and FREE resources! 🤩 https://blog.antidote71.com/
We'd love to hear from you! Share your thoughts in the comments below, or join us on our social media platforms. 👇
LinkedIn: / antidote-71
Instagram: / antidote_71
Facebook: / antidote71agency
-
Hosts: Rich Mackey & Catelin Drey
Producer: Zac Hazen
About Antidote 71:
Think of us as your very own offsite, highly effective team of local marketing growth experts, from digital marketing to traditional (who you’d also happily grab a beer with). Antidote 71 is equal parts skill and personality. We’re super fun to hang out with (in our opinion) and exceptionally good at what we do. We love our work and care about the people we work with.
Learn more about us. 👉 https://antidote71.com/
Marketing Burnout Introduction and Stats
Speaker 1you feeling burnout zach uh, not yet okay, uh, today we're going to talk about what you do when you feel burnout and tapped out in marketing, um, and it's a big, big, big problem yeah.
Speaker 2I mean over 80 percent of marketers are dealing with burnout in some way and more than half feel overwhelmed, emotionally exhausted or undervalued. I think that's pretty. When I was doing my research and I came across that, I was pretty surprised, honestly. Yeah.
Speaker 1It's a little bit wild. So burnout is, I guess, what is it Like? We can talk about that a little bit before we get into our cocktail. The best thing I read is it's over reuse without refueling. So think about, like, if you take a car too far, it's going to die right. Like because you got to either charge it if you're electric or get gas. But it's really chronic exhaustion. So ups and downs in your like motivation and your passion, those are really normal, Like that happens for everybody in creative fields or in marketing. But when you start to feel like exhausted, um, you're mentally drained, physically hurt, like fatigue, not motivated, and it's chronic, it's consistent over a long time. That's burnout, Like just being like oh, I don't feel creative today, I'm going to take a nap. That's not burnout, that's just like pausing.
Speaker 2And it's definitely more. I feel like it's more common in a creative field to kind of like what we'll get into. But yeah, I think everyone in almost any career has experienced burnout at least once in their life, probably multiple times. And today we're going to definitely talk about it and talk about ways kind of you can combat it and also, I think, just taking a look at how it affects marketing as a whole, definitely in the marketing industry, because those are some high numbers 80% of marketers dealing with burnout.
Speaker 1Yeah, and I know we'll get into stats in a little bit, but I was also reading like 37% of people who experienced burnout in creative fields just want to quit, like they're ready to just give up and go do something else. And I admit like I've thought of that, where you think about like in our field, you just keep going, like nothing is ever really done. You just continue to improve and iterate and go, go, go, go go. And I feel for content creators too, because it's even worse right.
Speaker 1Like you just have to do so much. And sometimes I feel like I think back to my days in like college, working retail. When you are done at a retail store, you put everything away, you close up, you go home and you're done, like it doesn't follow you. You don't think about like, oh, how many sweaters am I going to sell tomorrow? Or you know what might my commission be three weeks from now? You know, oh, I've got to go find new clients to bring into the store tomorrow. You just don't like it's you're done, um, and I really envy that sometimes, where you've created something and it's finished and you can be proud of it and you move on yeah, and I think you kind of covered the content creation side of it.
Speaker 2I think there's just so many different mark strategies and marketing too, where, like, there's so many different routes you could take, that sometimes that gets overwhelming as well and you're kind of at a crossroads of where to go and that can cause that, cause it kind of a little bit of a burnout. But I feel like we're covering a lot in the intro and maybe we just need to get into the cocktail so that we can all right, so the cocktail is a tia mia yes and I know nothing about this cocktail, but it looks delicious, so a Tiamia right Interesting name.
Speaker 2It's actually a take on a Mai Tai, so Tiamia it's kind of you see where it's flipped around.
Speaker 1It's an anagram for Mai Tai, a very easy anagram. It also means my aunt in Spanish, so like your auntie.
Speaker 2I did not know that. So in 2010, I think we've covered this bartender before, but Julie Renner opened a Hawaiian-themed restaurant and bar, lani Kai, in New York City. They created the Tia Mia, an anagram of the Mai Tai kind of like. We said said for the drink list and uh, it's kind of been a favorite ever since, but yeah, it's kind of it's more focused on the mezcal side of things.
Speaker 1Yeah, it's interesting, so I'll um, I'll dive into that a little bit. So it's one ounce of mezcal espadine. I think that's just mezcal Like. I don't think it's anything special. Um, one ounce of jamaican rum.
Speaker 1uh, we have rum from st thomas here, because we went to st thomas and bought a bunch of rum and brought it in oh you can bring like I can't remember if it was like two or three bottles a person, but we had a bunch of people who didn't drink. So we're like you're bringing two bottles back and they're like, uh, okay, um, half an ounce of orange curacao. You could probably also use now I'm blanking on it Cointreau for that, if you wanted to.
Speaker 1A little orange flavor, a half an ounce of orgeat which is spelled like orgeat, but it's orgeat and then three quarters of an ounce of fresh lime juice. Squeeze it yourself, please. Garnish is a mint sprig, a lime wheel, and you can float an edible orchid in there if you want to. So everything goes into the shaker, except your garnishes, of course. Don't put the orchid in the shaker. Shake until chilled and your hand is cold. Strain into a large rocks glass over crushed or pebbled ice. Ooh, pebble ice is so good.
Speaker 2I feel like that's like a signature tiki thing.
The Tia Mia Cocktail Recipe
Speaker 1So fun fact, you can go to almost any fast food restaurant that has pebble ice and you can buy a bucket of ice if you're having a party or something. Yeah, it's possible. I think they still do it, but who knows. Anyway, it goes in there, should look really beautiful, garnished with the lime wheel, mint sprig and then that orchid if you want to, and it's a great tropical drink. I know summer's kind of winding down, like it sort of almost feels like it's gone because the weather got cooler. But this is a great one, very nice.
Speaker 2Yeah, honestly, by the time this goes out, it'll probably be more of a fall time, right.
Speaker 1So put a pin in this one until spring, like next July. This will be a great drink for you at the pool, are you a?
Speaker 2fan of mezcal.
Speaker 1Rich, I love mezcal. So what's really funny is I don't generally like smoky things Like smoked almonds not interested. Smoked salmon, not interested. Love salmon, love almonds, not the smoked, but mezcal it's got that spicy smoke to it.
Speaker 2It's just, I don't know, and maybe it's because it's booze, I have no idea. I love mezcal, I, and I love smoky things too, like I love scotch. I love barbecue all that stuff.
Speaker 1So See, and I like um Carolina barbecue the most, which is less smoky and more like vinegar and mustardy like that yellow pork and Carolina gold sauce. Yep, carolina gold. Love me some Carolina gold. All right. So that's the recipe, that's the intro, that's our takes on barbecue sauce. Shall we take a quick break and then get into it with some stats? Let's do it all right. So we're back and zach, you had a big stat at the beginning. Was it 80 percent of marketers?
Speaker 2yes, so 80 percent of marketers have felt or feeling burnout of some kind like within the last year. So yeah and crazy that's crazy.
Speaker 1Like it's, I mean, and it's, but it's like it makes sense, right, like we're moving faster, we're doing more, we have all. Like we're moving faster, we're doing more, we have all these tools we're always on. So I miss the days like, cause I'm old, in the early two thousands, or even in the nine 1990s. Like I mean, I got at my first cell phone in like 1997 or 1998. Like, no, it was. Yeah, no, that was that would probably be it. I had a work one before that which was exciting, but that was when I worked for Parks and Rec and had to be on call.
Speaker 1But when I was at agencies in the late 90s, early 2000s, you had a desktop computer, not even a laptop. You had a desk phone. You had no smartphone. Most of us didn't actually have cell phones. And if we did, you paid per minute, you paid per text. So nobody wanted to reimburse that, so they didn't use it for work. So when you left at 5 o'clock you were done until the next day. Now we would also work till like 7 or 8 at night to get stuff done, because we couldn't just take it home, take a break and then kick it up like later in the evening. But I kind of miss those days and I feel like burnout was a lot lower because you were forced to take those breaks and rest.
Speaker 2We're forced to take those breaks and rest.
Speaker 1But yeah, and with content creators we kind of mentioned, over half of creators feel uninspired almost all the time.
Speaker 2Yeah, I mean, it's just like kind of any creative field, right, I think, especially with like content creation and like content marketing. Especially from like my experience, it's really easy to get caught up, kind of how I was saying in the intro, and a lot of different algorithm shifts, strategies, like okay, like I have to post, you know like very consistently, what am I going to post, without it being you know the same thing over and over again, Like how can I make things interesting and different? And when you go down that rabbit hole or you get stuck, it's just so easy to start feeling like ugh, Like not like you're beating your head against a wall, but kind of like you're beating your head against a wall trying to figure out.
Speaker 2you know where to go from, like there, so I definitely know what you're talking about.
Speaker 1Well, and in the early days of like Facebook and Twitter so there wasn't advertising, there wasn't like the algorithms were very basic and it was really about like what are you doing today? Like I mean, people would literally tweet like I'm eating the best sandwich ever. I mean, people still do, I guess. But like that was really common. It was kind of this they called it microblogging for a reason because it was sort of documenting your day as you go through. But now it's like so intense and also like everybody wants video right, and video is harder to create than just I'm eating a sandwich.
Speaker 2You know I'm going to the mall. There's so many platforms now too, like in this, like I said, with the algorithm shifting like you just have to be so on top of everything, just to you know compete in. You know previous episode mentioned here. But the attention economy it's so so very prevalent like, especially like now. I think it's just there's so many factors that lead to it.
Speaker 1And it extends out like beyond just social and content, which I mean everybody's kind of talking about. But you look at like you're doing TV ads Okay, where's that going to go? Like, cause, you know, networks were one thing. There were like four networks, that's all we had. And then there was cable and there were like 10 or 15 cable channels and then there were like 200, and then it's satellite, and now you've got you still have all that, but you've also got streaming and everything is getting diluted. So the impact you have just continues to drop and that can be deflating. Right, like you just like are like God, I just why do I do this?
Signs of Burnout in Marketing
Speaker 2Yeah, you can have those moments of success where you feel like you figured it out and then the next week it's just like well, that same thing is no longer relevant. Or like a month later, the strategy that worked for you so well, like recently, isn't working as well as it is, like now. You have to adapt and so, like I said, it's just a lot of shifting. A lot of a lot of factors lead into it, and marketing is such a creative field and it's constantly shifting. That it's. You're bound to run into some kind of uh feeling of being overwhelmed and, interestingly enough, a stat that I have is over 58% of marketers say they felt overwhelmed in the past year, which is crazy.
Speaker 1So that's definitely a factor I feel like 58% of marketers will say they felt overwhelmed, like in the last 24 hours these days. Like that's a pretty common one. I think the other one that kind of hits here is when your work shifts. So I will like going to go like full confession here. I will admit that I have moments where I'm just like what are we even doing anymore? Because, like I've worked on huge campaigns for big companies, we've gone to LA, we've shot with celebrities, we've done all this stuff which was really fun and exciting and stressful in its own way, but it's got that like there's just that innate excitement to those kinds of things. I mean, you're staying in Santa Monica on the beach, you're driving to a Hollywood studio every day. You know it's just amazing and you know we don't do that type of work here.
Speaker 1Obviously, we work with smaller clients I mean, some of them are pretty big but also we focus on lead gen, which gets you into this more cerebral place and you start doing less and less of the big thinking, creative um, and you do kind of think like what happened? Is this all there is um, and that's one of those things that I'm challenged with and I have. I do have a professional coach that I work with I don't know if you even knew that and we're kind of working through that and where the root of you know, my it's not really burnout yet, but it's sort of this precursor to burnout and I want to nip it because I want to keep doing this for a while, so.
Speaker 2Well, and B2B marketing isn't exactly glamorous, right Like? I wouldn't say, like you know, it's like you said we're not staying on the beach in Santa Monica to get anything done. We aren't. But I think that's another good point, right Like? You also really need to like enjoy what you're doing to avoid like being burnt out. I mean, obviously not everything you're going to be doing. 24 seven is supposed to be fun, but, um, I think something to remember also is just finding those moments and those small wins that, when you can, maybe you're not making like a huge, like impact, but even those small wins where you're doing something productive and also, just, you know, accomplishing something towards the bigger goal is something that can really help and has helped me in the past, because when I look at things from a big picture standpoint, it's a lot more overwhelming when I say, okay, I got this done. You know, I got this one thing done or I had this big win on the social posts. Like, small wins are really big.
Speaker 1Yeah, they are. I want to take a step back and just like Small wins are really big yeah they are. I want to take a step back and just like we've talked a little bit about burnout, but let's talk about exactly what it is and how it's defined, oh for sure. So like, how do you know you're getting burnout? You know, I just said one thing where I'm kind of like, you know, a little bit like numb to it, like I don't even know, and that's one of them emotional numbness.
Speaker 1You feel kind of detached, you kind of don't really care. You're emotionally numb to the creative work and other aspects of your life. You're just sort of like going through the motion, this lack of motivation. You don't want to start and complete tasks because you just don't feel like it. Fatigue is a big one. Just you're mentally and emotionally drained, even if you rest, so that whole thing, and I'm sure you've done this before. You're like, oh, I'm just going to go take like a 30 minute nap and I'll be re-energized, and you wake up from the nap way more tired than you went into the nap.
Speaker 1Like it happens, your performance starts to struggle, like your performance is decreased. You're struggling to complete tasks Maybe you're getting in trouble or you're getting reprimanded, things like that and then avoidance, just nope, I'm going to be over here. I'm not going to work on this today. You just don't want to do creative things or you don't want to go to the places where you've been creative before. So those are really key indicators and again, one or two of those here and there. You know I talked about you know it's a precursor to burnout Totally fine there. You know I talked about. You know it's a precursor to burnout um, totally fine, you'll ebb and flow. But if you got kind of all of those, or most of those, consistently multiple days in a row, you're.
Speaker 2You're definitely on the road to burnout, and that's something that you need to like, identify for sure and kind of combat, and there's ways that you can do that.
Speaker 2We've talked about one celebrating the small wins. Yep, um, I don't know about you rich, but I think, like some one of the main like things that I realize I catch when I'm starting to feel burnt out is if things are like taking me like longer than I want them to be, because like I'll get stuck on one thing and it's just like, oh, I'm so frustrated like why is this one thing like taking me so long? But then, like I take a step back and I think about it and I'm like, maybe like I'm not as excited about this project as I have been in like other projects, but again, like I think everyone's experienced that in some form, some form, especially in marketing.
Self-Care and Setting Boundaries
Speaker 1Yeah, you see that with writers a lot right Like they're working on something and they're just like, I'm not into this writers a lot right, like they're working on something and they're just like I'm not into this, I don't want to do this, or they just avoid doing things until that. The procrastination in writing and in creative can oftentimes be that you're at least a bit burned out, so you're pushing off and avoiding those things that aren't that interesting. And then, yeah, sometimes you take a lot longer on something. That is sometimes you're stretching it out because you want to, and sometimes it's just because why?
Speaker 2is this so hard? Exactly yes, and it's like when I like encounter those, I just have to remind myself okay, like just get it done, like you can always go back and like make it better if you need to. Like sometimes getting things done is better than like you know. We've talked about it before 100 hundred percent done is better than you know. I can't remember the saying.
Speaker 1Done is better than perfect.
Speaker 2Done is better than perfect and yeah, I think that's important to remember with stuff like that too.
Speaker 1It is, I mean, and I think on a sort of scale like what I would ask you, like, as you know, the owner of the agency and your boss's boss, I guess, is you know, hey, zach, like, are you more or less than 50% of the time? Do you feel like you're working on things that suck? Because we're all going to do things that suck. If it's 20, 30% of your job, that's pretty normal. Like none of us have this like knock it out of the park. 100% of what we do is super exciting every day, all day. Like that would be exhausting in and of itself. But if you start to get below that 50%, where less than half of what you're doing is stuff you're excited about or feel good about, that's when I start to think okay, let's, we need to have a reset, we need to get back to that 70 to 80%.
Speaker 2How do we do that? And you discussed that in your team spotlight with Caitlin too. Like I think I think that's a pretty good example, right, Like she wasn't exactly thrilled with what she was doing and you kind of sensed that. So you went out and you know, talk to her, and now she's in a really good spot really a half and half hers was at the time.
Speaker 1And which half do you hate? Which half do you love? And having a being like, are you gonna fire me or make me half time? And it's like no, I'm gonna take away what you hate and we're gonna go find somebody who loves that. Because there are people who do love like schedules and lists and keeping people on track and they get energy from that um 100, I think, dovetailing on yours.
Speaker 1One of my my things that I found is look at your past work. So you know, like taking a step back and reflecting is great, but something in the past got you into this. It gave you life, it gave you energy. Remind yourself why you're doing this and what a good feeling feels like and what is good, and then kind of see if you can apply that to what you're doing today or if you need to make a hard reset. Maybe you've evolved down a path that you don't want to go down. Well, was that old work down a completely different path? And do you need to make a hard change? Because some people do, but that's a big one, especially if you're if you're artistic so I do photography. We don't really talk about it. I haven't shot anything new since I moved to Omaha in 2017. So I am now on an eight year photography drought and I mean, and I used to schedule trips I would go like out into the desert in.
Speaker 1California and spend a day just driving around, walking around and shooting, yeah, and I go back like I have my art all over the house too, like if there's a photo in our house it's probably mine and I see them and I'm like God, that was so great. But it's like I don't have time to go do that and I need to kind of figure that out. But that's like one of those things I've been I mean, that's a chronic burnout Eight years.
Speaker 2Well, maybe you just haven't been inspired either.
Speaker 1You know, like nothing's really caught your eye in Omaha either you know, like nothing's really caught your eye in omaha, yeah, I mean, and and part of that is like change your location right, which can be a good thing for any burnout, like go somewhere else, um, and that's probably true like if I went out through the sand hills would I find things I wanted to shoot, maybe?
Speaker 2well and you bring up scheduling a trip just for it. Maybe that's something you need to do like. Maybe you just mute those non-urgent like things in your block, some like block some time out for it and just make the time to do it, especially if it's something that's really important to you. You know, like I think I think, like when I was talking about like uh, not feeling like I'm not able to like do something as efficiently as I want to, something that's helped is just muting the rest of the world for a couple of like an hour or two and just making like that deep work time. Time blocking is really good.
Speaker 2I wish I would do that more honestly on my calendar is just marking off times where I'm specifically doing one thing. That way I'm not jumping between so many different things. I think reducing my cognitive load, kind of by grouping those similar tasks instead of switching, like I said, would be really big. But yeah, I think I don't know like hearing you talk about that stuff is kind of getting me like thinking what are some things I can do?
Speaker 1yeah, it happens next, but yep, and, and that's why we have little icons in Slack. Right, we have the little brain icon or even a do not disturb if somebody's out, but the brain icon means only bother me if this is an emergency and you absolutely need me right now because I am deep in doing something and I do not want to be distracted. And I think turning off those notifications, the um, the do not disturb feature that Macs have, like you, there's a focus one where it's only going to push through, like urgent emergency things, um, that can be helpful. And we have the flip side too, right, that's like like the green light or whatever it is that we have in Slack. That's like hey, you can like reach out to me, like, I want to chat. I'm feeling a little lonely in my remote work and I think that those, those are really good. And you have a mood for the difference of those, right, like, sometimes it might be good for you to take a break and just chat with Riley for a little while.
Speaker 1And that's going to get you motivated to get back into it. And sometimes you're like I need everybody to just shut up and close out the world and I have to do this out the world and I have to do this.
Speaker 2I think my biggest issue is I'm in between so many things sometimes in my head where I like I'll run into something and I'm like, oh, I want to fix that, or I want to think of like a through, a strategy for that, but I need to be doing this and wait, maybe I can do this. So just really having that narrow view of I'm going to be doing this at this time would probably be super, super helpful for me.
Speaker 1Yeah, I'm curious if you resonate with this metaphor. So somebody asked me at one point like when, why I have trouble sleeping, why I have trouble focusing sometimes, and I said you know my brain, especially when I go to bed, it is like I have 500 movies running at the same time but each one is just a little sliver of the screen. But I want to watch all of them and I want to go through all of them. And I said it's hard to shut off that noise. And I found a couple of things that do like melatonin, doesn't like NyQuil, doesn't Z-Quil doesn't.
Speaker 2Oh my gosh, as someone, as someone with like ADHD, like melatonin for some reason, like it actually like increases my heart rate a little bit, some reason like it actually like increases my heart rate a little bit, Like I don't know if it's because I'm like psyching myself out for before sleep, but that's also why I'm like in between so many tasks it's like ah, yeah, but that would be it.
Speaker 1I think, um, that gets kind of my like. My next point about like how to help yourself with burnout Um, and this is, you know, some people are like, oh, this is so cheesy, cheesy, but self-care, um, rest, refuel, reconnect with yourself, with people, um, try to move in some way, get up and walk around. You don't have to be like, you know run a marathon or do a mile.
Speaker 2Just yeah, you used to go for hikes with your dog in the middle of the day well, I spend like 15 minutes every day like just walking Misa, like it's that mental break that I need. I know it'll be in the afternoon and it's consistent. So whenever I'm like really feeling like, oh, I need to go out and walk, like just go walk with Misa.
Speaker 1And when it's not 105 degrees outside, it's much nicer to do that, so oh, yeah, the weather's getting really nice, so it's been like really enjoyable.
Speaker 2but yeah, I think one of the first things that I ever like said when I worked here, I made like this infographic on like how I kind of like how my content creation framework was, and one of the things was, like you know, take a break when you're doing it, or like take a walk, because when you're coming up with like content, ideas, like it's really easy to get deep into things and get stuck with kind of that same writer's block feeling, and if you're not really making rest a part of your workflow, it's really easy to get stuck on one idea or two ideas and not be able to move on from that and if someone who's trying to come up with a lot of ideas all the time like rest and like walking Misa and making sure I take mental breaks is super important.
Speaker 1Yeah, and I think you know taking breaks is just key and working from home so like, do things away from your desk, Don't eat lunch at your desk. You shouldn't do that in the office either but have some sort of a routine that breaks up your day. So one of the things that I used to do and I need to get back to it, because I do eat at my desk but I'm usually playing like a video game or something on my computer to take a mental break into something else, at least during lunch. But I used to watch a show. Like I would have one hour show which is about 45 minutes. I'd make my lunch, I would go sit in the living room, I would watch that show. It would get done at one o'clock or a little before and that would be my break. So I'm completely putting myself in a whole other world. I think that's a huge one.
Speaker 2I listen to podcasts while I work because it's just like if I'm not watching something, then listening to something is really easy because you know you can still have your like focus on the screen that you like. You know your work screen, but podcasts and music, those are really good.
Speaker 1Yep. So I think the other point on self-care is um, say no. I think this is hard for a lot of people. Um, shonda Rhimes book, the year of yes, what was my favorite chapter was her, the chapter that surprised me.
Speaker 1Saying yes to saying no and like basically giving yourself permission to see when you're being overused, overworked, abused. And saying no, I think, especially if you're freelancing or a small agency or something, you kind of want to take every project because money right, you just we have to. We need the money. We've all been there and having the luxury of being very choosy about your projects is a great place to get to. But you do have to look at your balancing that financial gain and your mental well-being.
Speaker 1Is it a bad client? Are they mean? Are they just going to dictate to you what you want to do and that's going to make your burnout worse? Or are they like somebody who's going to energize you, they're going to give you that creative freedom? It's going to be more of a. You know they'll respect your expertise and all of that. And I think the first time you kind of do that rejection and you say no to somebody, it just gets easier after that. But saying no. And even you, like you know, hey, can you chat saying no? Not right now. I'm deep in something like you, like you know, hey, can you chat saying no? Not right now.
Imposter Syndrome and Finding Perspective
Speaker 2I'm deep in something like it's important to do that, just to keep yourself sane. Totally agree. I know we're getting a little tight on time. But one thing I wanted to cover before we kind of close this is the actual angle of feeling undervalued or feeling like you have imposter syndrome, which leads to burnout.
Speaker 2So I think marketers so this is a stat that I found, 80% of marketers have felt like some form of imposter syndrome at some point in their careers, and I think that's pretty common and understandable. With how many different strategies, best practices that are flying around, I mean, we keep bringing up how much the industry shifts, but that is a major impact on you feel like you need to know everything, but the reality is there's no way you're going to know everything in the world of marketing, and so that definitely like feeling like oh, like I really like don't know what I'm doing, kind of thing. Like there's just so many people out there putting out good insights on LinkedIn and I feel like I'm nowhere at their level. I felt like that before, like early in my career, and I think it's just super common right, like we're all comparing ourselves to others and that's social media for you.
Speaker 1And that's also a good reason to go look at your past work. Compare yourself to yourself. Have you improved? Is it going forward?
Speaker 1All of that, yeah, I think that's a huge one, and there's a reason that like fake it till you make it is a phrase, or fake it till you feel it. I mean, I've had imposter syndrome a few times, but I've also, from a marketing standpoint, been a little more arrogant about my skills and what I can do and basically like, oh, I can figure that out. Like, oh, we've never done that before, but I can figure that out. But if you tell a client we've never done that before, or a potential employer, they're like I want somebody who has. And you'd be like, oh yeah, you know, that's 100% doable. Blah, blah, blah. And then you're like frantically searching for how do I do this? But I've also been really self-taught for a long time, so I just have that confidence of that piece.
Speaker 1But I definitely get imposter syndrome, moreover, with like the CEO role or things like that, where I'm like you know, am I actually good at leading this company? Like I don't know, like that's that's where I get it, versus you know, you ask me like hey, can we geofence 42 locations in random places around the country and blah, blah, blah and what would that cost? And it's like, yeah, we can do that, I'll let you know what it'll cost and then we go figure out how to do it. Or I call riley and I'm like riley, draw some hexagons on this map. Here's what we need to do.
Speaker 2Well, for me, the way I think about it right is, I think, my biggest.
Speaker 2The biggest time I kind of said this like briefly, but the biggest time where I feel imposter syndrome is when I'm comparing myself to others on LinkedIn, because there's so many like content creators and content marketing, like people that are doing really cool things, and I'm like, oh, I need to do that, like that's such a good idea.
Speaker 2And I think something that's important to remember is where I started versus where I am now. When I think of it that way, I'm like wow, like I have come a lot farther than like I've ever probably expected that I would, and having that proof of impact in my head is really important, and I would recommend that, if you're feeling that way, like compare yourself to where you started to where you are now and keep something like maybe it's a document, maybe it's a new note keep track of the small wins and victories and the impact that you're making, and also just recognize that like self-doubt is also a sign that you're exploring something new and learning, so it's not necessarily something you need to be like, oh I suck, like I'm not good at this, like no like you're not good at this yet, like, reframe that thought into a positive thought and just be kind to yourself honestly.
Speaker 2Everyone needs. Everyone needs to be kind to themselves.
Reflect and Seek Help
Speaker 1You know, who never has self-doubt? Narcissists? True, like, having self-doubt is very healthy, 100%. So I think the last point I know we got to wrap this up and I get that but the last point is, like, reflect a little bit, like think about what's driving your burnout. Is it overworked? Are you just getting boring, pedantic projects that you're just like churning out the same thing over and over? Are your clients too difficult? So nothing is fun? And honestly, get some help. You can actually talk to a therapist about this, because burnout in life and burnout in work are very, very similar. You can also get a leadership coach or a work coach, like those exist. It's sort of a.
Speaker 2It is a form of therapy, but it's a little bit different like do you have any like perspective or hey, like I'm feeling like a little bit like like I need to like be better at this. Like you know, you can get some good like materials for like training and stuff like that too. There's always like an avenue, that, where you can go for help I think therapy, talking to other people or co-workers for sure, like I think it's important to remember those things.
Speaker 1Yep, I agree. All right, I think that is the episode. So hopefully anybody who's feeling burnout can like get in there. But if you figure out why, that's your first step to fixing it. And if you need help with that, you know, ask somebody, reach out. So, zach, if you're ever burnout, you can reach out to me anytime you want to and be like hey, I'm just not feeling it, oh, a hundred percent. You want to, and be like hey, I'm just not feeling it, oh, 100%, 100%.
Speaker 2As always, you can find our agency at editout71.com and all of our socials are there as well. If you have a question about burnout, maybe talk to a therapist, but we can also help you with anything else marketing related. You can head our way. You can head over to ctapodcastlife to shoot us an email. Even better, leave us a voice message. I would definitely put it in the episode. Go to our hotline at 402-718-9971 to do that. Your question will make it into a future episode of our podcast and in terms of what episode is going to be next week, I think you know this is probably going to be at the end of Q3.
Speaker 1So your guess is as good as ours at the moment, but it's going to be a great episode, so.
