Creative careers come with specific pain points that don’t affect other professionals. If you’re a freelance graphic designer, brand designer, or web designer, you understand how easily burnout can creep into your work life.

 

It’s possible to live in the freedom and flexibility that a career as a creative freelancer promises without suffering from burnout. But it’s tricky to master – especially if you’re constantly checking your bank balance in a panic.

 

Let’s dive into our ultimate guide to avoiding burnout as a freelance designer. But before we do, in our free $12k Client Attraction Masterclass, we show you how to attract high-ticket clients to your design business so you can work less, stress less, and make more money. Be sure to join us!

 

Psychology Classifies Burnout in 3 Ways

Before you can defeat an enemy, you need to understand its nature. If burnout is your enemy, you need to understand how it’s defined. Here’s a basic burnout primer, from Fortune Magazine:

• Overload burnout — too much to do in too little time, not enough mental breaks
• Under-challenge burnout — lack of intellectual stimulation and low motivation
• Neglect burnout — losing your sense of purpose, feeling unhappy

 

Burnout has some typical characteristics and is easily confused with clinical depression and other mental health concerns. Although burnout isn’t a medical condition, it can lead to mental health complications if temporary feelings become chronic or prolonged.

 

If you are suffering from any form of burnout, your symptoms might include:

• Feelings of complete exhaustion
• Low motivation
• Difficulty with initiating work or social interactions
• Lower-than-normal output during activities/work
• Mental fatigue
• Feelings of cynicism or “lostness”
• Constant feelings of stress or panic

 

It doesn’t matter what kind of burnout you are suffering from. If you are feeling the debilitating effects of any of the symptoms listed above, or you’ve experienced them in the past and fear they could return if you aren’t vigilant, then we’ve got good news. There are practical, actionable steps to keep burnout away.

Your Burnout Toolkit Needs These 23 Helpful Ideas

Let’s jump right into it. If burnout hasn’t developed to a chronic condition requiring medical assessment, there are practical steps you can take. Burnout is avoided by taking action. Don’t delay. Many of these tips are immediately actionable, today!

 

Even if you aren’t feeling burned out now, you’ve felt its creep before. Pick a few of these positive, proactive steps and put them into place today to prevent burnout from forming later.

 

1. Outsource

This will relieve stress and help you to grow your business at the same time. Let go of something you don’t enjoy doing and watch the stress fade away. Think about using a virtual assistant or a sub-contractor to relieve your workload.

 

2. Change What You’re Working On Often

Creatives tend to thrive on the intensity of diversity. Mix it up. Don’t settle into one large project for days or weeks. Bring in some small projects that you can work on a little bit each day, to break everything up and cross-pollinate your enthusiasm.

 

3. Move to a New Environment

Working remotely from coffeeshops was a creative’s realm, once upon a time. Take back your territory! Who said you need to work in an office all day every day? Or at a desk? Change the scenery and enjoy the vibes.

 

4. Take Some Time Off

Are you planning regular breaks in your freelancing schedule? If you maximize all of your time for working, you’re going to burnout. It’s inevitable. If you don’t plan downtime, no one else is going to do it for you.

 

Start with daily breaks, then evening (phone is off) boundaries, then long weekend breaks, and finally a splashy annual trip (or two) to reward your hard work.

 

5. Refocus Your Attention on What Inspires You

Maybe your business has grown up around you. You were the creative. You decided to freelance. But now you have more clients and more pressure. And you need to run the small business that’s sprung up!

 

How can you delegate the things that drain your energy and focus part of your workday and your workflow on the things you love to do? Here’s one of our past blogs that will point you in a focused direction you’ll love: How to Find Your Niche as a Designer

6. Get More Sleep

Need we say more? Without fuel, the tank’s going to burnout. Think about all those great sleeping tips you’ve heard about on business podcasts recently.

 

Pick 3 you know will help your situation and put them into practice tonight. Things like leaving your phone in another room overnight, having a relaxing bath before getting into bed, and reading a book to ease into sleep.

 

7. Eat Better and Exercise Every Day

Eat optimally and responsibly. If you’re existing on junk, eventually your body will give you “junk energy” back. You’ll burnout from lack of quality fuel. Pay attention to a balanced diet. Simplify it, if you need more time in your day. But make it healthy. And stop to go for a walk, a run, or a workout every day.

8. Pick up a Fascinating Side Project

Maybe you’re losing your moxie because you’re doing so much client work you can’t think of anything else. Rev things up by returning to your first loves. Start a side project that is soothing, or challenging, or intriguing, or generous. The point is, it’ll give you something to think about when you’re at the grind with client work and building your small business.

 

9. Don’t Work at Your Desk All Day

Change it up! Take advantage of more comfortable seating. Take it on the road with a laptop at a coffeeshop. Move around. Changing the scenery frequently will charge you up and prevent the boredom that comes with environmental burnout.

10. Think About the Big Picture Frequently

The small stuff takes up more headspace than it should! Take a bit of time to think about your goals and your progress towards them.

 

You can do this daily, as motivational inspiration, weekly as an accountability check-in with a peer, or periodically through your work-year. Here’s an Aventive Academy blog post for some big picture inspiration: 10 Tips to Boost Your Confidence as a Designer.

 

11. Book a Conference or Put a New Networking Event on Your Calendar

What can you do to always have something on your calendar to look forward to? Pick things that are a win-win. A conference that will teach you new skills. Or a community event that will let you meet professionals in your area. Register and prioritize your “field trip day” when it arrives.

 

12. Build Your Community

Think about who brings you the energy, the peace, the comfort, the inspiration, the motivation, the challenging pushes you need. Who are those people? Focus on the top 3 in your life.

 

Now, plan to connect with each of them more. If you typically see them once a month, make a plan to up the game and go for a coffee or a walk every-other week, for example. Or maybe it’s a phone call.

 

Maybe you even need a standing long-weekend plan twice a year with someone you need to see who lives far away? You’re in charge, so make a plan and carry it out.

13. Put Time in Your Schedule to Mull Things Over

How often do you put aside an hour or two to daydream? Or to just listen to some music? Maybe to go for a really long walk by the water? Look at next week’s schedule and add regular times where your brain’s creativity can thrive and hash out the project challenges your facing.

 

14. Make Sure You Allow Prep Time for Every Project

If you’re working on projects without allowing for sufficient preparation, research, thoughtful creative processes, proofing, and other necessary steps, you’re inviting a scenario of constant stress into your life.

 

Be logical about your time scheduling. How long does a project need? The size of the client’s invoice will let you know approximately how many hours you need to set aside, so time requirements don’t unnecessarily stress you.

 

15. Eliminate Avoidable Stress Points

Every day, every project, every job has components that we intuitively know we could improve. Look for those stress points and take the time to eliminate them once and for all.

 

Maybe devote one day a week, every Tuesday for example, to creating standardization, automation, delegation, and efficiency into your workflow. It might take a day to set up, but it’ll save you time forever after!

 

 

16. Reduce Distractions

What can you do to simplify your environment, your processes, your thoughts, your schedule? The simpler your life flows, the less stressful it’s likely to be. Think “do I need this?” and “is this helping me or just in my way?” Be ruthless, get rid of what you don’t need. Set up communication methods that prioritize your ability to focus.

 

17. Book With a Good Therapist

If you’ve never tried therapy before, think about using it as “preventative healthiness.” Before you burn out, learn about the signs. Find a therapist who understands the pressures of the creative life and freelancing.

 

Think of therapy as “professional development” and become the very best designer you can be. Find out how to show up fully for your own sake and for your clients, colleagues, and family, too!

 

18. Practice Mindfulness

Whether your practice is meditation, reading, prayer, chanting, yoga poses, a bracing cold shower, do it! Bring yourself back to the present. Seek the peace of knowing that today is here, and it can be either calm or intense. You can choose what it becomes, before it starts.

19. Refuse to Compare Yourself to Other Designers

Comparison breeds dissatisfaction and jealousy. Refuse to do it. Social media is begging you to look at every post and every picture and ask: Am I as good? Am I doing that, too? Am I losing out?

 

Conquer impossible levels of self-defeat with personal mantras that focus on your complete sufficiency for your own life (and remember that everyone else is just like you, no different at all, with good days and bad).

 

 

20. Don’t Overcommit

You’re one person. If you are tempted to say yes to another client project, have a plan. Either book ahead, to book out and feel positive about your revenue flow. Or think about how to delegate, so the work isn’t weighing you down.

 

You might be able to supervise a sub-contractor’s work without having to do it yourself on the weekend or evenings! You might not make as much money on those additional projects, but you’ll be increasing your client base and business size in a sustainable and practical way.

 

21. Notice if You Are Overthinking and Use it as a Trigger for Positive Change

Learn what launches your tendency to over-think. When does your mind race? Do you feel the stress at bedtime? Do you feel panic over how to get graphic design clients?

 

Learn to identify your triggers and then reverse-engineer behaviors you can choose to implement when your trigger is tripped. Know what your “go to” actions will be in times of stress, to help the stress slip away quickly.

22. Put Aside What You’re Doing for Today

Give yourself a day off. Not feeling well? Try sleeping it off. Grouchy? Do something special. Bored? Pick up something more exciting to do today. Depression looming? Get outside for an afternoon. Clients be damned. They’ll be there tomorrow. Give yourself today to recalibrate your mojo.

 

23. Listen to Music

Music is a proven stress reliever, and we all know the lift a song can bring to our mood. Everyone has a different working style, so put into action the one that helps you most. Occasional background music, constant loud music, silence, changing music throughout the day. Whatever works for you. Let music bring its balm to your working world.

Are you the type of person who loves tidy lists? Did you notice that we had 23 tips for avoiding burnout, not 20 or 25? That’s because we love all of our hints and didn’t want to leave any out!

 

But, for fun, let’s add #24 and #25, for all of those detail-oriented creatives who really wish they had a handy list of twenty-five hints 😊

 

Bonus #24:  Always consider the healing properties of good chocolate (we recommend 70%+ dark cocoa for its health benefits and bittersweetness)

 

Bonus #25:  Find someone who makes you belly laugh and get some chuckles going (a good friend, a fun interaction with your pet, a YouTube stand-up show…)

Is Burnout the End for You and Your Freelance Career?

Our society is changing. We travel the world for work. We vacation in distant places. We move quickly and, yet, our brains still process information with the same hardware elements!

 

We may have more information, more resources, even more wealth, but we can’t really calibrate our brains, emotions, and physical energy to expand. We need to be wise.

 

Now, when it comes to becoming a full time freelance graphic designer, it’s not about working harder, it’s about working smarter.

 

Here are the pressures we’re all up against. Check out how the pressures listed particularly affect creative minds and industries, like ours:

• Societal changes, including speed of communications
• Social comparisons, particularly in social media & peer interactions
• Frequent career changes
• Rapid pace of innovation, including essential technology
• Complex methods of real-time communication in work & family life
• Pressures of economic fluctuations
• Globalization of customer-base & industry competition
• Workplace reality of blended cultures through remote teamwork
• Ever-changing cultural trends & essential industry knowledge

 

There are so many places to lose your way. So many ways to lose focus, motivation, or a sense of forward-motion.

 

Know that we’re all in the same situation. Creatives and administration-types. Engineers, doctors, lawyers, and journalists. Retail workers, factory technicians, freelance brand designers. We’re all in fast-moving waters, trying to stay afloat.

 

The name of the game is: effective stress management.

 

Be the one that shows others the way. Don’t allow the fast-moving current to drag you under. Go back to our list of burnout avoidance tips often. Write down your favorite approaches, so you’ll remember them. Or cut-n-paste them onto your phone’s notes. Remind yourself how to keep burn-out away from your career and your freelance business.

 

Managing stress gives you a competitive business edge. Reach out today and tell us about your success at reducing stress and keeping burnout out of your creative work life!