When Your Passion Projects Feel Like Chores — Creative burnout & Productivity
Creative fear: Will I be able to do what I love amidst so much competition? Why does it feel like a tough job?
Sometimes we start only to drop our passion project sooner.
The train of thought that ensues around this scenario varies: Will I be able to achieve valuable? I started but I couldn’t get the expected results. Why does this feel like a tough job?
Is it possible to lose interest in something you were once passionate about? I am not talking about people here. I am talking about your creative passions. The once exciting creative ventures seem like burdensome work now. I have been there many times.
I found it hard to enjoy my creative process in those initial days. You know when the zest for starting something new fades away. It felt like I was burning out, like I had experienced during my residency. I was facing creative burnout.
I was confused. How could I get burned out when I am doing something I love?
The reasons
I am trained to be productive for a long time.
Meeting the timelines. Achieving targets. Ticking off to-do lists. These have been the norm for a major part of my life.
As I started making time for my creative let-outs, I loved the process. I explored more. I learned more. I learned how this path could be so lucrative and rewarding. I became an unhealthy, productive creative.
I shifted from “I write because I love it.” to “ I write to seek rewards in terms of praise and money.”
And I was unaware of this mindset shift. (I told you, I am wired to hustle.)
The symptoms were a lot
- I had so much self-doubt about whether I was doing the right thing.
- I was procrastinating so much that I had a dozen pending creative projects.
- I suffered from idea stagnation.
- I fell into the trap of an unfair comparison game.
- I felt irritated.
All these symptoms boiled down to a fear that blocked me from getting into the creative flow.
I shut down my creative projects to self-reflect.
I realized that I had forgotten the essence of my creative practice: to be involved in something for myself that is slow, passionate, and intentional. That is why I started in the first place.
What went wrong?
Creating things uplifts your mood. I dove into exploring what went wrong when my creativity felt laborious. I found these to be the common culprits.
Productivity and creativity dilemma
Can you be productive and creative at the same time?
Let us understand the widely accepted definition of the two.
Productivity is related to getting things done within deadlines. It is simply how quickly and efficiently we achieve our goals.
Creativity is the tendency to generate or recognize ideas, alternatives, or possibilities that may be useful in solving problems, communicating with others, and entertaining ourselves and others. (Source: Human Motivation, book by Robert. E. Franken)
Creativity needs a lot of time and space to produce a valuable and novel outcome. Being ingrained in a productivity-oriented culture, most of us perceive that our creativity should be productive to be valuable. We bring deadlines to our creative projects. We use comparisons to test our creativity. We feel we are falling short in our “side hustle.” We feel inadequate and quit thinking,” Maybe this is not for me.”
We lose the sense of play and freedom that creativity brings to us while trying to be productive, which in turn leads to early burnout.
High expectations
Do this to quit your 9–5 job and earn a six-figure income.
People, particularly those who despise their jobs, find this appealing. They click the blog post or YouTube video, absorb what they consume, and set a standard that is too high for a beginner. We want what the writer or the influencer is having currently. We become oblivious to the truth that it has taken a substantial amount of time and effort for them to be where they are now.
Setting high expectations of quick money or quick success at the beginning leads to burnout.
Consumption-creation mismatch
I binge-watched YouTube videos on how to become a successful writer.
I was consuming so much information. Ideas other than what I was pursuing at that moment seemed luring. I suffered from shiny-object syndrome. I was left confused about what I actually wanted. It just did not feel right, and that made me uncomfortable.
Also, I was caught up in the unfair comparison game. I thought, “Why could I not be more like that person?”
I was doing all of this, without doing what I was supposed to do in the first place — creating. Writing.
This incongruity between producing less and consuming more is happening as a result of an effort to gain knowledge. But it causes you to compare yourself to others, gets you confused, and quickly burns you out.
How do you prevent creative burnout?
All that I tried and found to be working.
Be aware of the shiny-object syndrome
Expecting to gain something back from your creative projects is not a bad idea.
I would always encourage others to have their own “creative side hustle.” But we need to be cautious of the shiny-object syndrome. Especially those who have just started are more prone to this syndrome. To explain it in simple terms, it is the situation where a new idea seems so inviting while you are already doing something else. You might feel that your current project is not showing results. You might think that the other idea is more attractive and rewarding, but it is just a distraction.
The things that you need to keep in mind to stay away from this syndrome are:
- You will see the expected results in your creative venture only when you are consistent for a long period of time. Most experts advise us to keep doing what we are doing for at least a year or two.
- Plan your distractions. The major cause of falling into this syndrome is distraction. When the intention to make a quick online check becomes an hour-long scroll, it is easier to encounter shiny, sparkling objects. So, I always plan my online research. I set some time aside and do it with a notepad. Only relevant information goes in the note and all other shiny objects get saved for later. Even when I just go to social media for pleasure, my media feed tempts me with those shiny objects. I am so determined about the rule that anything new can wait until I complete the project at hand.
Choose to be intentionally productive.
Don’t take me wrong; you need productivity to succeed in your creative side hustle.
There is nothing wrong with wanting to build a business out of your creativity. But it shouldn’t be at the cost of yourself. Being productive helps you get your creative tasks done. Being intentionally productive makes it feel less exhausting. This means setting your productive intentions to be customized to your needs and resources. This can be like:
- Setting the amount of time that you can spend on your creative project. Mine is an hour a day. Most experts advise that an hour or two per day of consistent work can help you succeed.
- That time need not be at a single stretch. You could break into chunks if you want to or can’t make time. I make 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the evening.
- Embrace mono-tasking.
- Tailor your work in response to the unexpected deviations of your day-to-day life. Many times, our days do not go as planned. Instead of feeling guilty, get flexible and think creatively about how to handle the situation.
- Be aware of your sweet spot and act according to it. Here, the sweet spot is the time until you can work without a break. For example, I need a short break every 5 or 6 days.
Have some unstructured creative time.
The intentionally productive creative time is for boosting your creative side hustle.
Having unstructured creative time is for boosting yourself.
There is no need for precision. There is no pressure to share valuable work. It is an absolutely free time when you get in the flow and go with the groove. I paint. I read. I write short stories. I learn something new. I don’t plan anything for this time. I have unstructured time every day before bed. A few minutes on a busy day. An hour during those free days.
Most of my creative ideas spark in this unstructured creative time.
Use your hands.
Using your hands to create things prevents burnout.
It is just like how self-care is used in dealing with work burnout. Today, digital creativity has become the norm. But if you think about it, before the rise of technology, creations were mostly hands-on activities. Getting to our roots now and then can build our creative muscles. This can prevent burnout and boost your creative energy.
Austin Kleon, in his book Steal Like an Artist, advices having two separate workspaces. One is the digital space where your laptop, tablet, and mobile are. Another is your analogue space, where no electronics are allowed. This space is to be filled with either stationery or craft materials that require you to use only your hands and brain. We can start working in the analogue space and then move to the digital space to polish our work.
I find myself more calm and clear while doing this. Also, this is a good way to generate ideas for your creativity.
Challenge yourself with creative exercises.
I use my unstructured creative time to challenge myself sometimes.
My challenging creative activities are: writing two-line poems about the first object that catches my eye; painting something with shades of a single color; cooking a new recipe from scratch without referring to recipe videos or books; or even finding an activity to play with my kid.
Whenever I feel like I need a break, I do these fun, challenging exercises. I make sure that these exercises are far different from the creative genre that I am practicing every day.
This makes you feel refreshed for two reasons:
- You are experiencing a change of scene that is novel.
- There is no obligation, pressure to do the best or need to worry about the outcome.
- This feels like an exercise for your creative muscles.
Wrap up
If you feel that your creative practice is stalling and feels burdensome, you could have gotten into a creative burnout.
Things to remember in such situations:
- Save any shiny objects other than your current practice for later appraisal.
- Find your sweet spot in productivity and set intentions that cater to your creative practice.
- Have unstructured creative time just to explore.
- Use your hands to create and then go digital.
- Engage in some challenging creative exercises occasionally.
Hi. I am Shanjitha. I have been in a relationship with the creative process for so long. As a physician and a mom, I strive to create meaningful pieces. I am growing and evolving through my creative journey and want to share it with the world. This is my Substack blog and you can find me here sharing all my learnings and insights. Follow along to learn about creating, intentional living, and personal growth. I also share summaries of all the books that inspire me.
