Am I on the Cusp of Burnout?
I’ll be honest, my newest project, No Questions Asked, is off to a rough start. I’ve missed deadlines, underestimated scope and progress has been painfully slow. Whenever I find myself in this state the first question I try to ask is: am I still passionate about the idea? Does it still excite me? And if it it does then why can’t I pull myself together long enough to get some s***t done. After some deep introspection I noticed 3 themes over the past few weeks.
1. I’ll start with the most obvious; I’m tired. While I’m not being overworked at my full time job, the fact is I have one and so productive week nights, for my side projects, can be a hit or miss when I’m in this mood. I’ve also slept in more than I have in the past year and watched more tv than necessary. I always attribute tiredness to burnout but I’m also starting to learn that burnout is much more than that. Either way, I’m exhausted.
2. I’m subconsciously overwhelmed by the amount of work this project requires. While it hasn’t deterred me from pursuing the project, it has definitely made me more anxious than normal and all I can think about is the number of things I need to do in a short span of time. And that kind of thinking is paralyzing because instead of pushing me to move faster it unfortunately slows me down.
3. I haven’t had a small win in a while. It wasn’t until I talked with a friend about being burnt out that this became a realization. I also didn’t realize how much that impacted my intrinsic motivation. I always thought that passion was enough, at least for me, but the reality is, the small wins help to keep the intrinsic fire burning bright.
Since I’ve made these observations I’ve decided to try 2 things: push the timeline and take a quick weekend break. While I’m not convinced I’ll be completely refreshed and ready to go after the break, I do hope it will at least give me a little gas in the tank to get the marketing website done. That way I can start gauging interest and hopefully work towards a small win.
Have you ever experienced burnout before? What have been your tell-tale signs?
Work hard. Play hard. ✌️
– Kim Goulbourne aka “Bourn”
(Originally posted on Chronic Creator)
Kim Goulbourne aka”Bourn” is a chronic creator, designer and coder. Currently working on No Questions Asked. Curator of Hashtags Unplugged and creator behind morebybourn.com, electionrewind.com, bitterrenter.nyc, foundermantras.com, sendthanks.to and hshtags.com.
