What’s the Point of Content Creation If You’re Stressing About It?

How to improve your relationship with creation.

Tell me something…

Is your day job stressful?

Do you want to quit it and make content full-time? Maybe as a writer or video creator? Or just pursue a passion project?

If you’re not careful, you’ll be trading one hamster wheel for another. I realized the other day that I’m always stressing about the next upload, whether it be to Medium, my fiction writing, or YouTube.

I’m even stressing about unrelated projects I haven’t even started and don’t have time for right now (lol).

This is not healthy now, and it definitely won’t be a sustainable lifestyle in the long run.

People often talk about trading one pair of handcuffs for another in terms of changing jobs. My question is — what about being a freelancer?

I think freelancing sports its own spicy pair of golden handcuffs.

It can feel endlessly liberating to set your own hours finally.

But to use entrepreneur-speak, you’re also essentially trading a 40-hour workweek for “which 80 hours of the week do I want to work?”

Genuine passion and enterprising will carry you through that challenge. But it’s still a challenge nonetheless, and if you’re always stressed about it — what’s the point?

Hustling, grinding, having the “right mindset” — whatever you might call it. What’s the point if all you’re doing is hustling yourself down a deeper pit than your day job ever could?

I don’t get it. We’re so quick to shun “working for the man” without contemplating if working for ourselves is even something everyone is suited to do. I don’t think so.

It goes for myself, too — if I can’t even keep a reasonable upload schedule without hyperventilating, should I really be doing this at all?

So, I set an ultimatum for myself.

If I can’t do my side projects without stressing, I won’t try to go full-time with them. Even if they become successful, I’ll keep working a job, so I never have to stress about money coming in each month.

Do I want this? No, I’d hate to never allow my side projects to blossom fully.

But I won’t let my side projects eat me alive. Life is stressful as it is.

How Can You Make Sure Your Relationship With Content Creation Is Healthy?

We’re all living under different circumstances. But there are some things you can do to tame content creation:

❌ Don’t take on too many side hustles at once

This is probably fighting for the top 5 spots of why side hustlers are stressing out.

Not only is spreading your focus a detriment to progress — you may also actively be harming your main project. Just look at all the YouTubers who fell off their own YouTube channel after getting distracted with side projects.

✔️Actively show disdain for a “frequent schedule.”

This might just be the #1 reason creators lose their minds.

They look at their stats, stressing that they “haven’t uploaded in a while. I should post something soon.” (Of course, we think this without considering if we even have something worth sharing).

Sure, to have success, you need a certain level of consistency.

But cast aside the notion that pumping out commissions, content, client calls, or whatever it may be faster equals better.

Quality matters.

Quantity will improve your craft, but it’s not the guarantee that people acclaim it to be. Most content creators who get millions of views per piece eventually settled into an infrequent publishing schedule, taking weeks and months to produce stellar pieces.

Aim to create every day, but relieve the burden of having to publish daily.

✔️ Aim to improve each piece by 1%

How do you improve by 1% every time you create?

There are factors you can evaluate your piece by. For example, did you spend more time thinking about marketing? Did you write about a challenging topic?

The most important factor I look for is how much value I provide.

Did I make it more entertaining than usual?

Did I educate, inspire or share something of interest?

Did I try to give the world at least a sliver of new and original thought?

I think you feel when you half-assed something or not. At the same time, perfection is a false mistress. Take to heart that nothing ever published by you or anyone else will be perfect, and that’s okay.

Critique yourself until you’ve reached a minimum healthy 70% “done,” then let go.

❕ Whatever you do, don’t let content creation become more stressful than what you used to do

I ask again, what’s the point of quitting your job for something that’ll worsen your mental health more than your job ever could?

If you’re living in fear; if you’re dreading looking at your stats and what they’ll do to your self-image… what kind of life is that?

I know it’s your dream. Your escape.

But you shouldn’t sacrifice your sanity in an attempt to escape insanity. Remember that.

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