It is not that difficult for a freelance professional to get burned out. We push ourselves past the normal boundaries that we would normally set for ourselves. We do this for a number of reasons, to earn more money, to satisfy our clients, or to add to our portfolios. Like any person who works in any job, we have families, friends and outside influences that affect our moods. Unlike our counterparts who can take sick days, we often work through days of being ill, we often start working all too early in the morning or work far too late at night. We often do not take care of ourselves in our quest to be successful as a freelancer.
All too often we are taking short term gains for long term losses. Stop and think about the last time you spent a full day away from your computer. Think about the last time you spent a full day not worrying about how much you earned this week. Think about the last day that you did not check your emails looking for that next exciting assignment.
Many freelancers cannot remember any of these events either because we have not done them for so long or we simply have never done them. This is a bad precedent to set, not only for the message it sends to your clients, but for the toll that it takes on your health both mentally and physically.
Here is the predicament – Freelancers understand that they are in complete control of our earnings. Bills are not going to stop coming in because they need a day off. It is not always easy to save money, earnings can be sporadic if you do not have an established base of clients or several sources of “passive” income. But, the fact remains that you could be doing more harm than good if you fail to take some time off. Here are some of the challenges you could face as you start on the path to freelance burnout:
Quality of work suffers – Perhaps the first thing that you will notice is that the quality of your work begins to deteriorate. It might not be terrible, but you begin making sloppy mistakes like sending work to your clients that contain typographical errors. As the days go on and you continue pushing yourself, more mistakes occur. This is a bad precedent because as your work suffers, your reputation becomes tarnished. This could cost you work.
Deadlines start getting missed – This is a really bad path to get started on. Your work was always well ahead of deadline, you took pride in the fact that your work was always not just on time, but exceeded the expectations of your clients. Suddenly you find that you are struggling to meet deadlines and in fact, you are making excuses for missing those deadlines.
Easily distracted - It is becoming easier for you to become distracted from the tasks at hand. You find yourself spending more time on your computer but getting far less work done. Instead, you find that you are spending eight to ten hours a day online and in reality you are only working three or four of those hours.
Unmotivated - You are far less motivated than you were in the past. What used to be exciting is now becoming a real challenge for you. Rather than writing yet another blog post, another article or taking advantage of an easy client assignment, you simply want to surf the net and read. You have no desire to write as much as a single word.
It is time to evaluate
If you recognize any of these signs of burnout, it is time for you to evaluate what you are doing. What is the source of your lack of get up and go? Perhaps you have had major life changes and instead of dealing with them you buried yourself in work. Perhaps you were ill and in spite of that you worked as much as possible. There are any number of things that could have created this problem and only you can determine what those things are.
Getting back on track
It is going to be a challenge for you to get back on track, but it is something you are going to have to do. You may want to start by considering taking a day or two and just forgetting that your computer even exists. Get completely away from all of it. Forget about your earnings, forget about your blogs, ignore your emails. Do this for 24 to 48 hours and just allow yourself to completely clear your mind. If you have identified part of the problem as a personal issue, try to deal with it head on. In some cases, this is easier said than done, but perhaps you can just find a way to come to terms with it.
Summary
Do not risk your career as a successful freelancer by allowing yourself to become a victim of complete burnout. If you do this you may find yourself unemployed without prospects. If you allow this burnout to destroy your freelance business, you may not recover from it. Take action now to prevent complete burnout.
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About Doreen Martel
Well-rounded freelance writer who contributes to various blogs, paid to write sites and revenue sharing sites. Doreen is legally blind and has worked at home for more than 10 years. She uses the lessons learned from this experience to enhance her writing and share information with others.
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