Often the key to having massive impact is the ability to keep going when others would have burned out. Below, you’ll find some brilliant entrepreneurs and creatives sharing how they’ve overcome or avoided burnout.

Amanda Pasciolla

Since college, I’ve had a deep desire to start a business. My notebooks were full of ideas, yet, for years, I struggled to move from thought to action. I remember hearing the term “wantrepreneur” and thinking, that’s me. I wanted it badly but wasn’t making it a reality. I read countless self-help books, listened to podcasts, and researched ideas—yet I was stuck. Life in my corporate job consumed me, and I was never putting my ideas into motion. Read more>>

Alistair Hawkes

My wellness journey around burnout involves self-discipline. In 1992 I met a medical doctor, a neuroscientist from Argentina who also has extensive knowledge and training in ancient wisdom systems such as Taoism, Sufism, Buddhism, and Toltec traditions. When I met her she began to mentor me in simple movement practices that involve conscious and intentional movement, imagery, and mindfulness, that align and recover energy. Read more>>

Monique Duell

I wrote a book called Caregiver C.P.R. In it, I chronicled how I navigate through caregiver burnout. Avoiding it isn’t as black and white as it seems because each journey caring for a vulnerable loved one is different. What is required for me to avoid burnout may or may not work for another. For me, it took counseling, prayer and recognizing that this false sense of strength that we’re often expected to have as flawed humans is futile. The Bible says, “Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might”, not our own. This tells me that I don’t have the physical stamina to keep going without the proper physical and spiritual nourishment, rest and community engagement. Fact is, we need each other to get along in this world. We all have something to contribute to the betterment of one another. Read more>>

Joie Judge

Burnout is so common in creative, physically demanding jobs like mine. Clients often tell me to “work my magic” or give me “creative freedom,” and I realized that to stay present, inspired, and creative with my clients—while also being a content creator, a girlfriend, a friend, a sister, a daughter—I needed structure. My calendar has become my biggest ally. Read more>>

Nattawadee Ngamsom

It’s hard to get productive these days since we all are having a repetitive loop, the same routine every day. So, the easiest way to avoid burnout, I tried adding some new excitement by setting short- and long-term goals, something measurable enough that I can enjoy the process of reaching them. Together with traveling to new places, it doesn’t even have to be just traveling, you could also just go to a new café, having new places to enjoy your morning coffee, exploring the new neighborhoods, doesn’t it sound fun already? Read more>>

Ayah Kajouk

I grew up in Hungary but spent most of my adult life in London. When I moved to England with my family, I chose to study Electrical Engineering. My English wasn’t great, so maths and physics were my safe bets—no language barrier there! After university, I managed to land a software engineering job in Goldman Sachs, one of the biggest investment banks in the world. While I was thrilled to have this career opportunity and financial stability for me & my family, I was also a bit lost. I didn’t really know what I truly wanted to do with my life. Read more>>

Hannah Winn

Something I often do to avoid burnout is setting up photoshoots that are just for me! This typically means free labor on my end, but the payout is more than worth it. Getting the freedom to control every aspect of a session is not something I often experience unless I plan a creative session like this. Recently, I planned a couples session that was a pumpkin carving date night. I could have done this with paying clients, but having the control in my hands made this session something I looked forward to rather than viewing it as work. Read more>>

 Francis Holmes

At several important junctures on my journey, burnout has showed up, usually fairly close to a major point of success, after relentlessly pushing for what seems like a very long time often when things are actually going well and there’s light at the end of the tunnel so to speak, burnout has on occasion snuck in and tested determination and resilience, knocking the wind out and leaving me feeling completely flat and negative about everything and everyone, it can ruin everything if you let it. Read more>>

Carlos Del Rio

Burnout for me wasn’t just a chapter; it was the whole book at one point. Imagine being a full-time grad student, buried in assignments and late-night readings for a master’s program, while also working full-time as a therapist for children on the autism spectrum. And if that sounds like enough of a load, add a global pandemic to the mix, with all its restrictions, anxieties, and constant uncertainty. My days were spent helping kids navigate their own challenges, many of them with severe needs, all while trying to hold it together myself. Read more>>

Jennifer L. Wright

I have always known I wanted to be a writer. From the moment I could hold a pencil, it seemed like storytelling was an innate part of who I was. And, because of that, I have been writing stories for as long as I can remember, first in my career as a journalist and now as a published novelist. Often, I’d get asked about writer’s block or burnout, but I never really understood the question. As long as the stories were coming–and they always did–I was going to write. Read more>>