debmcgarryIf you’re a writer that tolls away on their computer for hours on end, hoping to meet your deadlines, you’re not alone.
As a creative person, we are often taught that working long hours is uncomfortable or even tortuous and that’s okay – it’s part of the job. It’s an unspoken belief that being an author or participating in any creative endeavour requires sweat and tears and little compensation when we’re all done.
So, where did we learn that we are meant to hustle hard as a prerequisite for work?
The Hustler
The hustle mentality is ingrained in our brains early on. We read about other writers pushing their way to success, agonizing over each word until a perfect manuscript appears… usually until the wee hours of the night. Only to hear the author wants to rewrite their blog, article or book…yet again.
It’s true that the first draft of anything is usually not a writer’s best work, but it’s important to realize why you feel exhausted and overwhelmed.
Most people describe overworking as a feeling that you ‘have’ to work long hours, because a regular 8-hour day is not enough (even if you are a ninja worker during those hours and get a ton of work completed).
Your Get Up and Go, Got Up and Went
Do you ever feel like you have to get up and hear the FIRST bird chirping in your neighbourhood to feel like you’re doing ‘enough’? You brag about waking up at the crack of dawn to answer emails and write blogs like your life depends on it.
In reality, you are not at risk of losing your life, you brain has just tried to take over.
If this is you, you may complain about having ‘too much to do,’ or ‘never enough time to get things done.’ It’s not everyday we hear that you should work less.
Overworking is congratulated throughout every industry and every level of business, so much so that if we haven’t yet joined the overworking bandwagon, we are somehow missing out. Read that again. We are missing out on working too much.
WHAT?
If you’re not questioning how you feel about working, it’s NOT time to judge yourself – quite the opposite. Now is the time to have massive compassion for yourself – because you are a good person, loveable and you have the best intentions for your writing craft.
But if you notice that you DO complain every day about having too much work to do, you hate your job, or want to improve your schedule, read on.
Note: This is not an article on time management. Even if you have a perfect schedule and follow it to a T, you can still feel overworked, exhausted and overwhelmed.
Let’s Talk About Burnout
So, let’s talk about burnout. Burnout is a feeling a person gets that shows up as exhaustion, overwhelm and a great need to drop to the couch and sleep it off. But the reason writers are so tired is misconstrued as a direct correlation to the hours they work. This is false. Burnout happens in our minds and then trickles down to our physical body.
So, what’s happening in our mind? Our brains have hundreds of thoughts running around daily that is a mix of good thoughts and bad thoughts. This is completely normal.
A negative thought about our work creates a negative emotion, which weighs us down and creates the continuous cycle of despair and repair.
Here is an example:
Dorene has been writing content for an organization for three years. She believes her manager is not using her skills to benefit the department she works in. So, her daily thoughts resemble something like this:
“My job sucks. I’m an accomplished writer but they have me writing social media posts.”
“My manager does not respect me and always criticizes my work.”
“I don’t get paid what I’m worth but I’m too afraid to ask for a raise.”
frustration. When we experience these feelings, most people act them out instead of allowing them to be in their bodies. The result is doing more to perpetuate the thoughts we started with and we remain in the cycle of burnout where we get stuck.
This hamster wheel can be stopped by recognizing that your burnout is created from your thoughts, not your schedule.
People often blame the overtime they work and the constant mental fatigue that plagues them. But if you love what you do and you take responsibility for your own actions, you won’t experience burnout. Your positive thoughts will inspire you to work the hours you want, when you want.
This new thinking on burnout was introduced to me about 6 months ago. I fought the concept for several months until I realized it was true. I didn’t just turn around and think nice, beautiful thoughts. I retrained my brain to think about my work life in a different light and eventually started to think more positively about work in general.
After 20 years working as a writer, I was trained to produce copious amounts of words in a short amount of time. It was normal to work long days and wake up and do it all over again.
I never questioned the overtime or being constantly tired. I could keep up with everyone else, that’s all that seemed to matter.
When I found out how to manage my mind, everything I was used to thinking turned on its heels. I started questioning everything from why I wanted to be a writer to what do I really want out of my work life?
What to do Now?
Are you feeling burned out and stuck in a rut? I can help you pull back the reigns on the exhaustion and hopelessness you feel.
DM me at deb@debmcgarry.com to sign-up for a Free Consult Call.