When many people describe creative burnout, they describe feeling unmotivated, disengaged and as if their passion has gone. Life looks grey and dull, their senses are numbed. They have used up their well of creative energy, and it’s not coming back anytime soon. My experience with burnout has been very different.
You see, I’ve never had a problem with ideas. I have tonnes of them. Need ideas for a creative project? I’ll be on stage like Oprah Winfrey, throwing them out to anyone who wants one.
“You get an idea! And you. And YOU!”
My mind races at a hundred miles-an-hour, and my issue has always been how to stop and focus. I often think to myself, life would be much more straightforward if I had just one big goal. But I don’t. And that’s something that’s not going to change.
Currently, my ideal future looks like this:
I’m a well known director on the horror circuit. Every few years, I make something creatively and financially rewarding, and in-between, I shoot music videos and commercials, whilst keeping up my blog and obsession with writing about creativity.
Every couple of weeks, usually when my freelance diary isn’t looking quite as full as I’d like it to, I throw another idea into the mix.
“You know, I shot a few food videos recently. Maybe I can also become the go-to food videographer.”
“I think I’ve found a niche in the local music scene. Maybe I should diversify the blog and start an event night.”
“There’s still money to be made if I start my YouTube channel properly now, right? Right?”
So I end up with an already ambitious career plan, plagued with blink-and-you’ll-miss-them micro-ideas, which I usually throw out approximately two days after the initial “Eureka!” moment.
So of course, the logical conclusion to this head full of ideas is to become a master of productivity. You better believe it. I must have spent weeks of my life looking for the next productivity tip that was going to be the one.
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