Burnout - it sucks.

It’s the worst feeling you can encounter as a creator

You feel completely drained, have no interest to do anything and forcing yourself only makes it worse.

If you haven’t encountered it - chances are you will.

77% of workers and 61% of creators have reported burnout.

But what if I told you you can avoid it easily?

And it only takes a few small changes.

Let me show you ;)

I encountered burnout in December 2022.

I was

• engaging up to 6 hours a day

• using all my free time to work

• forcing myself to write more

And of course, I burned out.

How does it really happen?

It’s not because you work too much.

It’s because you’re not making work fun.

I was turning engaging and writing into a chore. I hated it.

I was forcing myself… and that made me despise it.

And it was all for nothing. I was encountering slow growth and thought I had to do even more.

But one day I found out that wasn’t the case. I got a DM from someone telling me I had been shadowbanned.

Engaging too much wasn’t just draining…it was also working against me.

A) I was writing the same boring comments that wouldn’t stand out

B) Writing too many (of the same) comments got me shadowbanned

And now I was stuck.

What would I do?

So I stopped engaging almost completely besides a few comments and replies to my Tweets.

I just chilled out, ignored my numbers and contemplated.

Now, this sucked because my motto had always been “engage like a madman” (I even made a meme about it)

But that wouldn’t work anymore.

It was also in the middle of the new authentic movement (talked about that last week)

So, after not just deep thinking but also observing skyrocketing accounts, I found out what I would do.

• Spaces

• Showing personality

• Writing content I actually like

• Stopping work when I feel done

• Only engage when I actually want to

• Stopped hyperfocusing on my Growth

I decided - if I can’t enjoy myself I’m doing it wrong.

So this was my new motto.

My shadowban lifted and I started to engage again.

This time - replies out of genuine interest, not Growth.

And later on - Meme-Replies

This meant less than half of my original time spent on Twitter, but…

I got twice the results

See, I was writing way less replies, but way better replies.

Volume is not better than Quality in this case.

50 average, boring replies that fit in won’t get nearly the results as 10 unique replies out of genuine interest.

If you do too much of something, it’ll end up backfiring and you’ll hate it.

Do it because you want to, not because you feel like you have to.

That will already take a burden of you and - ultimately - make the quality of your work way better!

So - back to me.

I was now focusing on

• making spaces

• personality content

• posting more memes

and it started to work amazingly!

Over the next month, I

• made 7-8 spaces

• grew to 1000 followers

• became known for my memes

• made my first money through MEMES!

and it was all because I decided to choose to do what I truly wanted.

But after that month, I chilled out and revised my strategy again.

Why?

A) I was growing and having fun, but I didn’t feel fulfilled

B) I wanted to pursue my passion again

So, I decided to stop my Growth tactics and started working on both Twitter and my passion daily.

And this ended up working out incredibly!

Because…I found the principle to completely avoid burnout (while having fun), and it’s simple:

Balance creative and analytical work

Now what does this mean?

I’m gonna use myself as an example again.

Last year in June, before I even started Twitter, I was only working on my videos daily, for many hours.

It was fun but the videos weren’t great - I wasn’t living up to my full creative potential.

And then I started Twitter.

For the first two months, I balanced working on videos with writing on Twitter - and it kinda worked.

But then I became addicted to Twitter Growth and only focused on that.

And of course - I burned out.

Now, in January to February - I was pretty much just doing the same as before:

Balancing working on videos (creative work) with writing and engaging (analytical work).

I would do my 3 hours of Deep Work and engage, but once I felt done…

I stopped and worked on videos.

Now I could easily work up to 6 hours a day while enjoying myself

I also employed a bunch of smaller tactics and changes.

I’ve been doing it for 2 months now and it’s never failed me!

So - I wanna help you do the same!

Here are:

10 ways to easily avoid Burnout

1. Find your “creative” and “think” work

And a crucial note for this one:

This work needs to be meaningful.

If it isn’t, doing it will also just be forcing yourself.

When you feel satisfied during it and happy when you finish, those are great signs ;)

Think Work

For Twitter writers, the “think” part is already done.

But in general, it can be

• a writing habit

• analyzing data or content

• coding, scripting, giving advice

and it’s important to note:

This work SHOULD NOT be draining.

I have a blast both writing on Twitter and making videos.

This is YOUR way of working.

If you can’t enjoy it - who will?

Burnout really came from hating my work.

You gotta do what you truly want!

So don’t prioritize

• growing the fastest

• offering the most value

• making the most money

but prioritize genuine interest and fun.

This is your journey after all ;)

Creative Work

Now, creative work is pretty easy to decide.

Your intuition will always guide you to one thing.

We’ve talked about this in the first post

But this doesn’t even have to be your passion - It could be pottery, cooking or whatever for all I know😂 

If you wanna do it with content, there are many possibilities.

• skits

• music

• memes

• filmmaking

• video-making

• photo-editing

• writing nonfiction

just make that the creative joy of your life.

The key is to truly do what you want to.

With that, you develop a unique voice and way of doing creative work.

It’s extremely fulfilling and rewarding!

Now, once you have this creative-think balance, you’re already better off than most people.

Because

A) Your creative work is gonna have a stronger ground and more nuance.

B) Your think work is gonna be more unique and creative, thus making it funner and stand out more.

So find that balance for yourself!

2. Be quick and efficient.

Ever since I’ve started trying in school, I have a lot less free time.

This is a good and bad thing.

A) I’m forced to be creative, focused and work deep.

B) I have less flexibility in my day.

It’s actually improved my work quality but made my days a lot more busy.

How do you solve this?

Good planning and full force.

Here are some great ways to do it:

• wake up early (deep work before the rest of the day)

• write down ideas the evening before

• choose execution over perfectionism

• don’t allow yourself too much leeway

• listen to your intuition

and generally, be quick and proactive.

The faster you are with your action, the better all of this will work.

You won’t even have time to do stuff that drains you.

Which means:

3. Do everything 100%

If you’re writing, only write

If you’re making videos, only make videos.

if you’re watching entertainment, only watch entertainment.

This is a simple but difficult task.

And exactly what I did.

During that time, I used to scroll down the timeline for many hours, writing half-assed comments.

Now in 2-3 hours, I

• write Tweets

• → write my newsletter

• —> engage for a while

and DONE.

Same with videos

• get idea

• → record

• —> edit it

• —-> process

and DONE.

Go through all the steps with pure focus on those.

You’ll limit yourself - which ironically will give you more freedom.

If I wasn’t a quick executor, I’d never have enough time to

• write on Twitter

• do all my work for school

• edit my skits and videos

• go to the gym 5x a week

and ironically, doing everything will full force will AVOID BURNOUT!

“But doesn’t more effort mean it’s more draining?”

Actually, NO!

I’ve had busy days for the last 2 months and I’ve never felt better.

See, if you balance

• working

• being creative

• moving your body

• watching/reading some content

then you’ll never struggle with being too busy.

Work-life balance isn’t as important as Work-Creativity-Exercise-Learning-Relaxation Balance

Start doing everything 100% in life and I can guarantee you’ll feel better than ever before.

4. Work towards an ultimate goal (or purpose)

Now, figuring out your life purpose is a difficult and long process.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, think:

What’s a goal I wholeheartedly want that deeply inspires me.

And I mean really deep desire, what you want to give the world.

And along with that, imagine what your life would be like.

Being free to work and life wherever you want, having a stunning apartment, living in the wilderness or in the mountains, pursuing your passion as a career.

I bet you’ll feel some deep happiness for at least one of these ideas ;)

That’s how it should be!

A strong vision of your highest goals has powerful effects!

Become genuinely inspired and you’ll

A) Have a way to guide your actions and thinking towards it

B) Turn your work into effortless fun

I can use this example on my brother Tym and me

He has a grocery store job just to finance our journey well (books, courses, etc)

Obviously, that job isn’t deep and meaningful, but financing your journey is gonna have good effects long-term.

And for me, I started trying in school again even if I don’t find it meaningful either.

Because I see that I’ve still got ages to go and school can have some advantages on your organization and thinking.

In general, working towards an ultimate purpose means taking actions that aren’t rewarding or fun short term but highly effective long-term.

For most people, it’s gonna be better to take a step back and do this strategically.

Find out how you can apply this to your own journey!

5. Put yourself out there daily (do personal Growth)

Now, what does this have to do with solving burnout?

The answer is simple: With experience and lessons, you never struggle with creating content or being refreshed at work.

If you’ve ever had a crazy day/experience or story in general, you know this:

The most important lessons, insights and content comes from struggle and discomfort.

If you don’t understand this, see it this way:

What’s gonna teach you French better?

1: Memorizing vocabulary and Grammar for 4 years.

2: Living in Paris, being forced to adapt French.

It’s the same with Growth.

Theory is important, but it’s not gonna do much without practice.

In self-improvement, you tend to hear a lot and know it…but do you really embody it?

I’m not judging you - this is my biggest struggle😂 

Putting yourself out there and doing behavior change is difficult.

You’ll always encounter that inner resistance.

But…you don’t have to do it all at once.

While a crazy and completely uncomfortable experience can be an amazing teacher (like for me, participating in a talent show), it’s better to take small steps.

The key is to apply whatever you have in minuscule ways.

The more you do that, the better your mind is gonna become in general.

Now, if you grow every day, you’ll have no problem getting original ideas daily.

See, content is about synthesizing experiences, content you consumed and personal opinions.

Personal Growth has insane effects on your content!

6. Allow yourself to think

This is an easy but highly effective method.

If you

• meditate

• take walks

• contemplate

daily, you’ll never become overwhelmed by your thoughts.

Allow yourself some room to think daily.

I recommend doing it in the evenings because your mind is already in a relaxed state.

In that state, your most high-quality and meaningful thoughts arise.

People underestimate just how powerful this is!

You’ll get creative ideas and clarity that simply isn’t possible normally.

Just this led me to start my most effective “tactic” - engaging with memes.

And in general, it’ll make you create content that no one else makes.

Spend at least 30 minutes a day doing nothing and just thinking!

7. Don’t try to be more than you are

And this is a hard truth to face

If you still have the desire to

• listen to music

• eat sweets or snacks

• watch entertainment

• hang out with your friends

then you haven’t outgrown it.

And that’s alright!

I tried to rush this and stopped doing everything by force.

• ignored my friends

• stopped watching content

• tried to do a permanent dopamine detox

but it just ended up failing and made me feel miserable.

So, don’t rush it.

Grow from your stage.

8. Listen to your Intuition and “Muse”

“What are those words”

I used to be confused when I heard them too 😂

Your INTUITION is that will inside you that wants to do something no matter the risks.

It’s way more powerful than your “logical brain” (processes 40-50 bits a second) because it’s the force of the subconscious mind (11 million bits per second).

When you listen to it and take action even with risks, it’ll satisfy you to insane levels.

And your MUSE is that creative voice that’s passionate about a certain thing.

Especially Creators know how that force feels. When you listen to it, you’ll be extremely fulfilled.

I can tell you:

I’ve been listening to both of them for years now.

Listening to my Intuition made me

• dance in a talent show

• start Twitter in the first place

• hold 2 speeches as school president candidate

and listening to my muse made me start making videos 5 years ago :)

And I can tell you:

If you’re unhappy in life, it’s most likely because you don’t listen to them.

I’ve seen a direct correlation between my happiness and how much I listen to them.

So now the question:

How do you listen to your Intuition and Muse?

And…it’s pretty easy!

Well at least simple.

Your Intuition is just that force in your body.

You can say Yes and No, but if your body doesn’t agree with full force, it’s not right.

When you have a chance to do something, observe:

Is your body both extremely excited and your mind scared?

If yes, it means your Intuition says “FUCK YES” and you should listen.

And if it isn’t a “FUCK YES”, it’s a “No”

If you wanna test if it’s a “Fuck yes”, do the following:

If you have an Intuition and you question it with your logical mind…does it keep returning or do you get this bad feeling?

If you get a bad feeling, it was probably what you call BAD intuition.

This intuition comes from your Ego, not deepest desires.

Now - for the MUSE.

It’s also simple!

If you create content and get an idea that excites you, DO IT!

And for that, drop perfectionism and be quick.

If you hesitate or take too long, it’s gonna get boring and might even suck.

So, the key really is - Be quick and efficient.

Do what your body wants to - even if you completely fail.

That’s gonna be so worth it!

9. Find and Use hidden windows of time

This has been another big one for me.

You won’t always have time to do your work/tasks.

Or you’ll have to sacrifice valuable time on useless tasks.

So the key is: Use whatever free time you have.

My favorite method is BATCH-CREATING

And while I don’t batch-create as much as I did then, I still do it a lot!

When I return from school, I instantly start cooking a can of tea so me and my brother don’t have to make it tomorrow😂 

Batch-creating really is the best way to do your “think” work.

• Tweets

• home(work)

• short-form videos

Applying batches is already gonna save HOURS daily.

And the next method is:

Use sudden free time.

In school, we have this big room with free internet where you can hang out when you have a free lesson or just chill during breaks.

Most people use this to play games, watch Anime or go to some store nearby.

I use this time to

• engage

• work on videos

• make new videos with my best friend

and it’s a lot more fun ;)

You don’t really know how much 90 minutes can entail until you put full focus on work.

• speedrun (home)work

• get through a workout

And I can guarantee, you have at least a couple of these time windows in your day.

So if I can teach you 2 tactics here, it’s Batch-Create and Use sudden free time!

10. Don’t force anything.

Now, don’t confuse forcing yourself with discipline.

Discipline means

• pushing one rep further

• getting through tough days

but in general, Discipline means you actually want to do it.

Discipline is there to overcome inner resistance and keep you persistent.

Forcing yourself isn’t that.

Forcing yourself is doing work you don’t care about at all just to get a benefit that you could get in other ways.

Here’s an example to make it clear:

Some guy wants to become rich and quickly.

So he starts working 14 hours a day to get his money quickly.

Sure, he might succeed, but he’ll probably end up hating the process and most likely, burning out.

Now, do you want to rush and hate the process or do this long-term (even if it means less cash)?

If you’re type 2 (like me), I want you to notice this in your life:

Are you

• working your job

• hanging out with people

• creating content (writing on Twitter)

out of genuine interest - or force?

If yes, I want you to do the following mindset shift:

Do you have to do it - or do you want to do it?

This is powerful.

I’ve been applying the “want to/get to” mindset in my life and it’s made me so much less stressed.

You probably know at least a few people who say

• “I need to do my work”

• “I need to start exercising”

and all these sorts of phrases.

They only make your life harder.

See life as your own journey, THEN apply discipline :)

So, that’s the finish line!