Getting a Much-Needed Motivational Boost

I always thought that burnout was something I could only observe in other people, and never experience myself. I figured that if I found a job doing something that I liked and that I was reasonably good at, there wouldn’t be any difficulty in getting work done even if I wasn’t wholeheartedly into the task.

For the most part, that has been true in my professional life. I’ve worked jobs wherein writing was the main task, and while I’m no winner of the Pulitzer Prize or Nobel Prize for Literature, I can say that I have delivered satisfactory work for my employers and have contributed significantly to the goals and objectives of each project.

After almost five years of steady work with one employer, however, I suddenly find myself beginning to succumb to the burnout phenomenon. I suppose a combination of factors has led me to feel and recognize the signs — there’s no single cause that I could pinpoint as the reason for my slow spiral into this quicksand of sorts.

Some changes to my lifestyle and routine, and in some processes at work, have led me to become dissatisfied with my performance, unable to see the point in many exercises, and unhappy with the results of any efforts exerted.

Perhaps, after many years of performing the same role, I am wondering whether I (and my teammates who perform in the same capacity) are not worth a little credit or additional compensation for our efforts to help the small company we work for bring in excellent results. We prepare content that clients use directly on their websites, so our produced work must appeal to them and meet their quality standards. It can be easy to please some clients, while others take their sweet time nitpicking and combing through every single word in our content to weed out what they don’t like and to request for revisions and rewrites — with which we all comply until they are satisfied. Don’t you think that this kind of writing requires more skill, training and experience than, say, writers whose articles will never be seen or read by the clients and are simply used for driving traffic to sites?

This simple hope for even a modest raise has emerged due to new and pressing financial needs. A couple of years ago, my wages were enough to meet my needs, but times have changed. I now need to pay for school tuition and allowances for a growing little girl, as well as vet bills and dog food for a loving pup. Of course, there are investment opportunities that I would also like to get into so that I can gain more passive income. As it stands, even a little boost in my salary is very welcome.

Aside from the financial side of things, I also get a bit blue from realizing that my writing skills seem to have gotten blunt from years of writing for websites that require only the facts and the bare bones of a business, product or service. Initially, I was able to weave heaps of creativity into my articles and even got feedback from one client that my writing brought her to tears (she was a photographer and a piece I had written about a father and daughter on the latter’s wedding day moved her so much). Now, I find it hard to infuse the same enthusiasm, empathy and emotion into articles about pest control and garage floors and bail bonds.

The best thing I believe would get me out of my funk would be to get in touch with a career coach. I’ve heard how these coaches can help people get back on track with their career paths, personal development and motivation, so I am hoping that I will find the answers and inspiration I need to make the best of my situation and make positive changes for the future.