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Avoiding Creative Burnout:
Stoking the creative fire without making an ash of yourself.
By Timothy J. Hantula
The fire-eating act of Creativity – to ingest the fuel of business and the flame of beauty and spit out an elegant plume of Graphic Design – carries with it the smoldering threat of failure. One hiccup and you’re toast. You have just burned out.
Creative burnout can happen to anyone. A process more like a virus than an injury, it slowly wears down your defenses and snuggles its way into your psyche. Perhaps it’s the penalty we pay for this cycle of addiction we like to call a career. Since we all can identify with aspects of some portion of the cycle, this article tries to do three things at once (not unlike my job):
1. Show how to recognize the warning signs of creative burnout,
2. Suggest how to dig yourself out of the rut, and
3. Encourage how to avoid it the next time.
Burnout can be defined as the loss of one’s ability to...
• generate novel and/or useful ideas and solutions to everyday problems.
• function confidently as a contributing member of a creative team.
• maintain faith in the creative process and yourself.
The concept of "faith" is most fragile in younger employees. The muscle of their enthusiasm contradicts their Achilles heel of inexperience. One direct hit to the ego sends young creatives spiraling down into the depths of depression. But, they’re not alone. Creative burnout can even singe the passion of idealists. Without a realistic inventory of the day-to-day demands of their chosen profession, idealists of any age can fall prey to creative burnout.
Uninspiring work environments can also contribute to creative burnout. However, there’s a fine line between "contributing to" and "causing" burnout. Since we live in an age where people seldom accept responsibility for their own situations, often the office is blamed for causing burnout. No doubt, a work environment that doesn’t nurture its creative team is less than ideal. But, just as your office can’t blame everything on you, you can’t blame everything on your office.
The 10 warning signs of impending doom
Are you now, or have you ever been, burnt out? Keep in mind, there’s a difference between being burnt and being bummed. To distinguish between the two, ask yourself how often you find yourself muttering these self-defeating phrases:
1. I’ve fallen into a series of formulaic solutions to creative challenges.
2. I’ve lost faith in the importance of my contribution to the process.
3. I am not enjoying my job.
4. All clients, and perhaps co-workers, are idiots.
5. Why bother? It isn’t worth the effort to support my own ideas.
6. I’m only in it for the money, and there’s not enough of it.
7. Gee, plagiarism seems like a really efficient way to work.
8. If I want it done right, I have to do it myself
(and I’m not sure I want it done right).
9. I’m adding this to the list of things I’m going to avoid at my next job.
10. My work sucks, and I’ll never come up with a good solution again.
© 1998, Timothy J. Hantula, All Rights Reserved.
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