Resource Roundup: Avoiding burnout at the busiest time of the year

This is the time when everyone seems to be going nuts with the recital, audition, and exam crunch. Here are some ideas from the productivity blogosphere about how to stay fresh:

If you didn't think things were busy enough, Everyday Wonderland has a list of 5 Ideas for Stressful Living to make things even worse. I presume that if you don't heed this advice you can avoid undue gnashing of teeth when navigating the peak season... (Thanks, Valerie)


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On the positive side, Slow Leadership has a list of 12 ways to prevent burnout. I like #11:

Keep a sense of humor. Your worries and fears are really funny, if you look at them from the outside. What’s the worst that could happen to you? You could die, but that would end all your worries for good. You could be fired, but if the job is driving you nuts that’s a benefit. Take a look around you. Who are the grimmest people you can see? The control-freaks, the over-achievers, the worry-warts, the pocket dictators. Who are the funniest to watch making idiots of themselves? The same list.

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We are artists. We must develop and move forward even though we're often jumping through hoops for others. Freelance Switch has a post about Staying on top of your game that has some insight on how to maintain your edge and continue your development even when you're in the thick of it:

When you work in a job where you are surrounded by others, or when studying your trade at university, you will feed off other people and naturally push yourself to compete. However as a freelancer, often working alone, you can easily fall into a vacuum where your current level of expertise feels good enough. Give in to this and your service may lose value over time. Unless you have a burning internal urge you may find it helps to put yourself into situations that force you to stay on top.

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Next, check out this list on Problogger of 5 ways to enhance your creativity, with ideas on how to keep the muse going. Also take a look at the 39 comments (so far) following the post with even move creativity hacks.


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Finally, you might want to try some of the books in Julia Cameron's celebrated The Artist's Way series, and learn to build a creativity process from the ground up that works for you and can weather the peak season.

(Photo by alexindigo)