Between Hustle Culture, Work-From-Home, and other trends and changes in the work and business culture, we’ve seen a large rise in burnout within the community and so we’ve become very interested in hosting conversations around how folks can avoid or overcome burnout.
Adam Stern
The best way for me to avoid burnout is to not get sucked into bad musical ventures.
Avoid people just doing gigs as an excuse to party.
Avoid people who can’t handle the business end of “music business.”
Avoid people who have a superficial understanding of the music they’re playing. Read More>>
Jackie Celske
I didn’t. Not at first anyway. I hit burnout so hard it literally took me out.
In July of 2023, I unexpectedly had a stress-induced seizure in my office. I had given everything to a job and career that was breaking me, and I had no idea what to do next. After having just spent over $200K out-of-pocket on an experimental immunotherapy treatment for an issue with my immune system, this was a huge step in the wrong direction. I remember feeling helpless and without any sort of Plan B. Read More>>
Matthew Goldston
From an early age, I’ve always been surrounded by music. I’ve grew up watching my father play the piano. My father was a pastor/musician, and little did I know that the gift of musicianship would be passed on to me. I started playing the piano at his church at the age of 11. By the time I was in high school (freshman year), Read More>>
Sam Chaoel
Burnout always comes when you’re doing too much with too little rest and time for yourself. I’ve been dealing with burnout for a while now creatively so I’ve been giving myself a break and taking this time to rest before I drive back into my creative outlets. Forcing myself to create feels like a chore when burnout hits, it’s like I have no interest in creating and being a person who makes art and having it imbedded it into my career, is hard to feel myself go through that. Read More>>
Bill Sebald
I came up in hustle culture. I worked in marketing agencies that ingrained the “work hard, play hard” mentality. My days were spent working 8–10 hours for someone else, and my nights were filled with side projects until midnight or later. I juggled multiple tasks at once, convinced that high productivity meant constant motion. Read More>>
Exa Huang
In this industry, burnout is a common occurrence due to the intense and concentrated shooting schedules. My approach to dealing with it isn’t to sit in a room waiting for things that need time to process and react. Instead, I usually ensure I have two projects running simultaneously. This way, when one project hits a bottleneck, I can ‘clear my mind’ by switching to the other project. Read More>>
Jennifer Bird
Spending time in nature is a key part of my life. Moments for reflection and mental reset are crucial for maintaining balance and preventing burnout.
I also plan weekend hikes throughout the year. I find a lot of inspiration in nature and love observing different lighting conditions, listening to the natural ambiance of a new hiking destination, and simply being present. Read More>>
William Smelser
When you are fully immersing yourself in your work, regardless of what it is, burnout is unavoidable. I think even the most obsessive people can hit a wall. Having many different hats is what keeps me from hitting this point. I view my work like multiple little house plants laid out in front of me. Each is labeled: film, music, gym, work, etc. Any good plant owner knows its not good to overwater a plant. Rotten roots, wilted leaves and so on. Read More>>
Hannah Paukstis
After a few tumultuous years in my professional journey, I’d say that I now excel at preventing burnout. But that was not always the case!
My career journey began at a nonprofit in Washington DC (in the field that I actually wanted to be in!) Over my 9 years at that nonprofit, I gained invaluable experience and forged connections with colleagues that I will always treasure. But as time went on, my professional success often felt like it was at the expense of my mental and emotional well-being. Read More>>
