#thefreelancer | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

the-free-lancer · 4 days ago

Text

[TfL] 002: Prep. projects - avoiding burn-out

Time is the only resource you do not own. You can't buy it, create it or borrow it. - But everyone tries to steal it from you, while its the baseline of your life, making the it the most valuable resource you have.

Hey there, dear reader! Welcome back—it’s so good to see you here. How’s your week been?

Man, time really flies, doesn’t it?

I just posted my first blog entry, and here I am again, diving into the next. Truth be told, working on that first post took me a bit longer than expected. Suddenly, I found myself working on Sunday to smooth everything out. Oh, you’re giving me that look, aren’t you? The "Don’t overdo it, Alka! You promised to take care of yourself!" look.

Don’t worry—I haven’t forgotten my promise. In fact, today’s topic is a perfect follow-up:

Preparing Projects to avoid Burn-Out!

Or, as I like to call it: How to Not Fall Back Into Old Habits (aka, How to Keep My Sanity This Time, Lmao).

Grab your favourite drink, get comfy, we will get right in!

What the Artwork is About

This week’s artwork shows Kai standing at a desk, staring at a map. The background is shrouded in dark fog creeping ominously toward her, reaching like tendrils ready to pull her in. Her gaze is fixed on the map, which displays a miniature version of herself standing at a crossroads. Beyond the path, the terrain is obscured by mist—a symbol of the unknown.

The scene feels unsettling. The tools she usually relies on—her sword, her armour—are mere spectres, unreachable and devoid of substance. Above her head, a sword hangs precariously by a damaged rope, evoking the Sword of Damocles.

This artwork represents the daunting emotions that often come with preparing for something new. It’s an unnerving mix of anticipation, doubt, and the pressure of past failures whispering, "What if you mess up again?"

You can want things as much as humanly possible, but if you once have failed big time, you will be very wary of any upcoming event that feels similar to the ones before. You did not reach your designated goals at, or even lost the track at some point — and the fear of repeating the situation and having to go through these miserable feelings again, can be anything from motivating, scary to freezing you. Making you unable to move and progress.

Kai is not different from you and me in this regard. She tries to get a feeling, which of her tools would serve her on this journey and what she might have to expect, yet the sword hanging above her head is always there. Or is it truly?

- Why Preparation Can Feel Overwhelming -

As I reflected on preparing for this week's THEfreeLANCER (and the project in general!), I realized it felt exactly like Kai’s artwork: standing in front of something vast and unknown, unsure where to start.

For many creatives, the greatest challenges arise from the chaotic nature of our work and the absence of a clear structure. Without structure, it’s easy for to-do lists to spiral out of control. Occasionally, we even use work as a way to avoid dealing with our emotions—adding fuel to the fire. And yes, I am still calling me out on this, as this was a giant problem in my journey.

To prepare effectively and avoid burnout, it’s crucial to recognize the hurdles we face. These are the big trigger points that I identified during my reflection time and which I would like to focus on today. Surely, there are other issues that can intervene, but if we get me started on that, I will have to write a book. :'D

1. Not respecting your workforce & not keeping track of it

When I started my freelancing back in 2021 as a full-time job, I had a normal-ish work week. 9am to 5pm, with breaks - and only during the event months like Smaugust+Smaugtember, my schedule went up.

But somewhere between drawing dragons and getting excited about each new bid placed on my designs, this “exceptional circumstances” became the new “standard”.

The new “I managed that before, and empowered my work, so I must do it again. AT ALL TIMES."

My worst weeks consisted of:

Mo = 8am to 9am - martial art training; Working 9:30am to 8pm (10:30hrs)

Tu = Working 9am to 6:30pm - martial art training at 8:00pm; home at 10:30pm (9hrs30min)

Wed = Working 9am to 6:30pm - yoga at 7:00pm; home at 9:30pm (9hrs30min)

Thur = 8am to 9am - martial art training ; Working 9:30am to 5:30pm - martial art training at 6pm; Tai ji at 8:00pm; home at 10:30pm (8hrs30min)

Fri = Working 9am to 8pm (11hrs)

Sat = Working 10am to 8pm (10hrs)

Sunday = Meeting friends, doing chores, doing nothing - or working. (?)

Bringing work down to a total of 60,5hrs.

As I wrote in my last blog post, I used work to flee from my feelings and to bury my thoughts with it. I was reactive and a ping-pong-ball of my own emotional inner world. Having no real insight on how much you work, can rapidly evolve into a trap leading to "Ah, I have not done enough yesterday, I must work more today!" (Which was often enough not the case.)

And the worst sentence I ever told myself is this:

"I am doing what I love, so it is not work for me."

This sentence broke my neck, as it managed to annul any rational though in my head. I was doing what I loved to do and for what I had sacrifices so much. And during the time of anxiety and panic attacks rising, this was the golden joker card that every other realistic feeling of exhaustion and longing for off time fell prey to.

Please, by the love of whatever entity you pray to, do not mistake what you love for something that is not exhausting doing it. Creating is power draining. Managing your socials is power draining. Planing projects and preparing tasks is power draining. Delivering art of quality is draining.

You are blessed to do what you love, but do not sacrifice your humanly existence for it. ♥

2. The Inner CEO Problem

When you’re your own boss, that “boss” is with you 24/7. There’s no clocking out, no leaving work at the office. This constant mental presence can lead to overworking and unrealistic expectations. There is no option to flee from your boss because you are your boss. And that can become quite scary, let me tell you that.

… So what does your inner CEO want?

Your inner CEO wants to see results.

And while I say yours, I mean mine too! But it is so, so easy to fall into the trap of perceiving your work from the wrong perspective.

Allow me to explain that. There are 2 POVs when it comes to pictures, f.e. I say pictures because I am a visual artist and that is the substance I know stuff about.

POV a: you open your gallery and you count your artworks. Lets say you have uploaded 15 artworks in 12 months. Okay. That makes the result a "15".

POV b: you open your gallery, take a look at each of the 15 artworks, and remember that they all include (in *MY* case):

- research time

- sketch time

- sketch revision

- outline time

- base colouring time

- shading time

- lighting time

- polishing and post-processing time

- mock-up time

- writing a story to it time

- uploading time

- writing artist info text time

- promoting the artwork

- putting the artwork into groups

- answering comments time

And this is only the pathway on DeviantArt, without any other social media places that might require re-sizing, hashtag research, writing a different bio, making a video from it, blablabla.

In the case of commissions, extra-wishes or change-wishes might be a topic too.

I think you see what I want to highlight here, right?

15 artworks.

With each time with 15 single steps of various time frames.

That makes 225 WORK STEPS.

225 vs 15, that does feel differently, doesn't it?

It is not like you do not have things to show to your inner CEO,—

—but either your perspective might need a re-sharpening, and/or you might want to display your workforce more prominently.

And how to achieve that, we will discuss in the Solution Section.

3. Lack of Clear Structure & avoiding Tasks

Without a clear plan, we often default to doing what feels urgent, or simply would bring us fun at that moment—or worse, avoiding tasks altogether. This lack of priorities and structure will lead us eventually to postponing things that we do not like, but which might be urgent (f.e tax papers *caugh, caugh*).

This does not only rob us of the feeling of "Yes, I managed to work that off my list. In the bin, I say, and the bin on fire!!" — but also creates a constantly burning tab in our mental browser window.

Imagine you get handed a ball, the ball is your task, and with a half-hearted "I will do it later", you throw it behind you. The problem is, it does not land on the ground, but in the giant and wide open backpack of yours. Weighing you down, more and more, with each ball/task.

4. Too Many Tabs Open

When we don’t offload tasks to external systems — f.e dedicated notepads, notion workspaces, calendars, or simply the alarm clock on our phone, our brains run on overdrive. Trying to remember everything is very exhausting and even small things might pile up tremendously, sneakingly checking on your energy resources. It’s like keeping 20 browser tabs open at once—draining and inefficient.

To prove or disprove my claim, I tried something.

I took one information — a meeting that I will have on Saturday and which I got note of on Monday — and did actively not write it down, in my calendar / set no alarm notification. As I write this it is Thursday and let me tell you something.

I remembered that I have to remember the meeting, every single day — randomly during my working periods — at least 2 to 3 times per day. This might not sound like much, but it is a focus change. An interruption of my mind and my workflow. “I need to remember that I wanted to call my friend on Saturday morning! I can't forget that!”… Just thinking about how many times I thought about it stresses me out right here and now.

*Finally, makes the note on the calendar and sets a timer on the phone for 2hrs before the call shall happen*. Jeez. I think in my personal perspective, I fear or not being "cool enough" (lol), if I use these kind of helper tools.

- Steps to Plan Projects and prevent Burning Out -

Alright, now that we have discussed long and in depth what falling strips we might encounter, it is time to search for solutions. Small solutions, do not require you to invest, and are not overstimulating to your brain, especially on bad days. Alright?

Step 1: Create a Clear Vision with the SMART method

Start by defining your project goals using the SMART method.

Example:

Initial thought: "I want to create a set of stickers for the Easter event."

S = SPECIFIC

-> Create a set of eastern-themed, digital painted, dragon stickers.

M = MEASURABLE

-> Create 12 dragon stickers total.

A = ACHIEVABLE

-> Create 12 dragon stickers in a simple cell-shade style, instead of overly detailed painting style.

R = RELEVANT

Creating the 12 stickers digitally, will provide the option to easily transfer the designs onto other products as well, and grow my shop.

T = TIME-BOUND

I will create the set in 4 weeks, starting February 15th (+ 4 weeks is March 15th).

The deadline will be April 1st. This gives 2 weeks room of a time buffer in case of unforeseen events occurring. If no bad events happen, they can be printed between March 15th and April 1st.

So, how does our initial goal evolve?

From: “I want to create a set of stickers for the Easter event.”

To: “I will create a set of 12 cell-shaded, digitally produced, dragon stickers for the upcoming Easter event, between February 15th and March 15th. I will be printing them via a sticker-printer service and putting them in my shop before April 1st. I have 2 weeks of time buffer and the designs can be re-used to grow both my shop and my online-presence.”

And boom! There we have it. A clear, understandable, outlined project plan. Fits onto a napkin and can be done in under 5 minutes.

Step 2: Use Tools to Manage Time and Energy

Offload tasks from your brain is a critical skill you must learn. And yes, I call it a skill because so many people — and I am among them — have trouble setting up systems to avoid wasting time on these management tasks. Same as it is a skill to ask for help, it is now a skill to jump over your pride and paranoia, and get these tools to make your life easier.

I would rather not extend this too long, so here is my payment-free set up that I am currently using and that serves me well. (p.s: yes, there are fancier variants, but I felt often times overstimulated when programs had like twenty thousand options and buttons and bleh.)

I Use a 50-minute timer for focused work sessions (#extendedPomodoro technique) by simply using the windows clock/timer app.

💻Step 3: Create your "I got this fucking done"Book

(⬇️This is a glimpse of my notion template, as it could look like for you. Do not forget to duplicate my template, for your notion work space! - it is free, so don't miss it! ♥)

My personal favourite to battle my inner CEOs rage moments.

I talked about this in my previous blog post, but this journal is crucial to me. The different colours are connected to the different steps I have in each artwork, giving an easy, but more realistic display of how much work, all of this really is.

Whenever I get this moment of "OMG, I have not done enough!" I take a breath, open my journal book and simply sit there, letting all the completed tasks sink into my brain. If that is not enough, I check on my Clockify dashboard how many hours I have collected.

There will be days, when your inner CEO is on rampage, and both methods will only do so much. If the CEO is entirely on the loose, sit back, and reflect. Who might have triggered the CEO? Who might have fuelled the CEO with stupid side comments like 'Person XYZ has already completed their project, and you are still on it?!"

The inner CEO is a safety system that is out of control, but all they want to do, is to protect you from the negative feelings of being not enough / not doing enough and getting backlash for it. There might not even be a person around to judge you, but that is how safety systems work. They are calibrated on the past. And now we will work on teaching them, that we are not in danger any more and regulate them down to a realistic metric, one step at a time, okay?

Step 4: Set Boundaries with Yourself

Be honest about your work hours—and stick to them. Set yourself realistic plans and treat them like a working contract. I cannot tell you how much is enough for you. But I can remind you that your day, same as mine, has only 24 hrs, and a normal workday for a healthy person should not exceed 8hrs at max. We must stop normalizing 60hr work-weeks.

Recognize when you’ve done enough for the day, and connect that feeling to your energy levels. Guilt often stems from unrealistic expectations, so practice self-compassion.

Step 5: Prioritize Self-Care

Self-care is such a weird word because nobody can really pinpoint what self-care is. But I can just tell you what self-care is NOT. It is NOT buying endless things to reward you. It is NOT the hot bath with the shiny 10 bucks glitter bomb. Neither is it the next sketchbook nor the next Starbucks coffee.

Self-Care is caring for how you feel. How exhausted your body is. How anxious your mind is because of your untidy room. Caring for the emotional storm that is rampaging, maybe since yesterday because your family member triggered you with a very insensitive joke about something.

Especially for those who come from dark places... Self-Care is being the adult for your inner child/teen that nobody was for you back then.

You need nutritious, fresh, food. You have to get good sleep. You must practice good hygiene. And you should have a tidy room, fresh air and social events to connect.

This is a journey, so don't take me wrong on this one. Nobody - especially not me - expects you to do all of this tomorrow. Small steps, one at a time, remember? Deciding to go to bed early after an exhausting day and to perhaps go for a walk, instead of doom-scrolling when you experience unpleasant feelings. That is already self-care.

- Final Thoughts -

I think this blog is already long enough, and I wrote down what I wanted to share — so let me use the last space and just remember you about something:

Your worth, as a human, is not tied to your productivity.

Everyone, who is telling you so, is exploiting you.

You are a loveable, real, human being and your feelings are valid.

You deserve support and connection, regardless if you have a busy day being productive, or a lazy day doing nothing.

This is your life and nobody can take it from you, unless you let them.

Ghosts from the past included.

Don't forget your free resources made by me:

💻Notion template for your "I got this fucking done"-Journal

While I was working on the notion template for this week, I also started to work on a project planning helper. To be fair, I thought it might be a bit weak to only add the SMART system there, since there are plenty more things that I think could be relevant to make a good notion template of value. I decided to go with the idea of adding this to the big artist/creative dashboard I am working on for you. ♥ I hope you will still be happy with my Igtfd-Template and that you find it of value for your creative daily life!

Please leave feedback in the comment section, as this is important for me too, to figure out what exactly you like to receive, what helps you and what might need re-evaluation from my side!

Don't forget - its free!

----------------------

My nuggets, thank you for reading this week's episode of THEfreeLANCER! I hope I could provide you with something useful, and that my insights and my vulnerability has maybe empowered you to reflect on your situation with honesty. We are all forged by the events and experiences we go through in our life, and we sometimes mess up. That is okay. Let's try our best to make every day count and work towards a better life.

As always...

Stay healthy, be happy - and become the best version of yourself; one step at a time.

Alka, over and out~

Kai belongs to INZENTIA; INZENTIA belongs to JustAlka/Alka-Di-Kijarr and INZ-Rebellion.

#burnout #therapy #stress #artists on tumblr #digital art #digital illustration #drawing #fantasy #femaleoc #project #mentalhealthsupport #mental health #selfcare #mindfulness #freelancer #commission #time management

0 notes