Hello and welcome back to Indie Author Weekly! This is the podcast for indie authors, aspiring authors, and curious bookworms who want the inside scoop, tips and motivation, and behind-the-scenes journey of writing and self-publishing books. I’m your host, Sagan Morrow: a productivity strategist and author of polyamorous romcoms.
Now, have you ever wondered how to cope with burnout? Well, that’s exactly what we’re discussing on today’s episode of Indie Author Weekly!
For our new and returning listeners, you can now get all Indie Author Weekly podcast episodes plus book and writing updates delivered directly to your inbox each week at SaganMorrow.com/behindthescenes—link is in the show notes.
Now let’s get into this episode of the Indie Author Weekly podcast. Today, I want to share 5 steps for coping with burnout.
I recently hosted a webinar for Editors Canada on this topic, and I wanted to share an overview of my tips here, because this stuff is so important and can be so powerful when we begin to deal with burnout. Consider this your burnout assessment!
I don’t know about you, but around this time of year, I find that I get more energy and I’m more eager and enthusiastic to take immediate action on my ambitions… and as a result, sometimes, I bite off more than I can chew! That’s when we want to be careful that we’re taking care of ourselves and NOT falling into the trap of burnout.
Burnout is a really serious problem that can be so challenging in any aspect of your life or business—as an author, as a reader, or for anyone—so this is totally relevant to talk about here on the podcast. And, again, I often find that I’m particularly susceptible to it at this time of year… you might find that for yourself, too.
Our burnout assessment that I’m sharing with you today is something you do much more in-depth in my signature program, Productivity Powerhouse. If you want to learn more about managing your energy really effectively to avoid burnout and take back control of your own time, then you can do exactly that at SaganMorrow.com/powerhouse.
By the way, since I’ve just done a COMPLETE overhaul to make that program better than ever, it’s currently available for a limited time at a super special early bird price! Get in there now so you don’t miss out.
Okay, let’s get into our basic 5-step overview of the burnout assessment:
Step 1: Identify when the burnout began.
Usually burnout begins long before we realize it, but there’s some value in taking a step back and pinpointing when it all started. Was it around a time that you took on a new commitment? What was different about this commitment? Was it simply that your plate was already full and this extra addition toppled everything over?
You need to understand when your burnout truly began if you are to work backwards and deal with it.
Step 2: Ask yourself what triggered the feeling of burnout.
There’s a difference between when you started getting burned out, and when you actually REALIZED that you were starting to get burned out. Often it can take days or even weeks before we realize what’s happening, if we aren’t paying attention to the signs of burnout!
So: what was it that tipped you over and made you understand that what’s going on is burnout? What were you doing or thinking about when it happened? What was the trigger?
Step 3: Be honest with yourself about what needs to change for you to stop feeling burned out.
Analyze what’s working and what isn’t. Check in with yourself about what you can let go of or delegate, and think critically about what will happen if you do let go of it or delegate it (I bet the world won’t end if you do).
If you are burned out, something DOES need to change. And it’s up to you to identify what you can change—and to make that change—because no one else can do that for you. This goes back to energy management, which I teach all about in Productivity Powerhouse: so, what fills your cup, and what drains your cup? How can you make changes in your personal or professional life to do more of what fills your cup, and less of what drains your cup?
Again, you can get more on all of this at SaganMorrow.com/powerhouse.
Step 4: Make note of your personal symptoms of burnout.
Signs of burnout tend to be fairly universal, such as producing lower-quality work, feeling chronically tired (but not necessarily in a sleepy sort of way), and having difficulty concentrating/focusing on your work and actually getting work done.
Nonetheless, it’s worth paying close attention to your personal signs of burnout, because they often show up before the universal signs. These might include changes in your sleeping or eating patterns, or finding yourself caught in a cycle of a particular set of negative thought patterns, for example.
When you know what the signs of burnout are, you can be quicker to recognize them in the future, and thus deal with the burnout early on BEFORE it becomes a big problem.
Step 5: Identify & implement strategies to prevent burnout from happening again in the future.
So you’ve figured out when the burnout started, the root cause of it, what made you realize you were burned out, what needs to change for you to move past the burnout, and what your signs and symptoms of burnout are.
That’s great! But you know what? None of that is going to be helpful unless you actually DO something to prevent this from happening again in the future.
You need to be able to take action and change the way you do things if you are to really manage burnout. The assessment component is critical, but so is the action component!
Check in with yourself and put a solid foundation and strategy into place so you can be empowered for managing burnout in the future.
Again, this is what you learn all about in my signature program, Productivity Powerhouse. If you want to learn more about managing your energy really effectively to avoid burnout and take back control of your own time, then let’s get started and do exactly that! Join now at SaganMorrow.com/powerhouse. Remember, it’s currently available for a limited time at a super special early bird rate! Get in there now so you don’t miss out. It won’t ever be this low of a price again.
To recap, your 5 steps for coping with burnout include:
- Identify when the burnout began
- Ask yourself what triggered the feelings of burnout
- Be honest with yourself about what needs to change for you to stop feeling burned out
- Make note of your personal signs & symptoms of burnout
- Identify & implement strategies to prevent burnout from happening again in the future
Burnout is really hard, and the most important thing you can do—right now—is to be kind to yourself. You won’t make things better by forcing yourself to continue working if you’re too burned out to produce high quality work, meet your deadlines, follow through on commitments, and so on. Effectively resolving burnout is healthy and important and good for you, for your loved ones, for your clients or customers, and for your communities.
So, regardless of whether you’re a 9 to 5-er, an author, a solopreneur, or something else—take care of yourself. You deserve to be free of burnout. I hope that today’s quick overview for handling burnout gives you a few ideas for how to navigate and assess this in your own life.
And that, my friend, is a wrap for today’s episode of Indie Author Weekly! Access the show notes for this episode, including all links and additional resources, at SaganMorrow.com/podcast.
Thank you so much for tuning in. Please take 2 minutes to rate and review Indie Author Weekly on Apple Podcasts—I really appreciate your support.
Until next week, this is Sagan Morrow, signing off the Indie Author Weekly podcast.