We recently connected with Ezra Schaefer and have shared our conversation below.
Ezra, so great to have you with us today. There are so many topics we want to ask you about, but perhaps the one we can start with is burnout. How have you overcome or avoided burnout?
For me, the antidote to burnout is feeling a sense of wonder and awe. When I’m burnt out, it feels like a combination of dread, monotony, pessimism, and exhaustion. If I am feeling negative or critical about something, it probably means I need to take some time away from it to recharge my mind and refresh my perspective. I do this by trying to find people, places, and things that fill me with a sense of wonder. Things that make me curious, things that I can be immersed in, and things that help me find gratitude. I personally love to travel and experience different cultures and landscapes, and I’ve done quite a bit of solo travel in the past couple of years. However, I don’t think finding awe and wonder needs to involve a grand scheme or an elaborate, expensive trip somewhere. I find awe and wonder in everyday life, too. Immersing myself in a book, feeling deep connections to people, and finding small everyday things to be grateful for – a hot shower, an iced coffee on a sunny day, buying flowers for no particular occasion. Stuff like that.
I think rest and relaxation is the first step to overcoming burnout. But the next step after that is always finding what rejuvenates my curiosity and excitement in the world. Finding new things that add fuel to the fire of my creative passions.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I have been working as a designer and creative director for the past 12 years, mostly in the advertising, marketing, and tech spaces. My very first job as an art director was for a women-owned and operated mezcal brand, where I got to immerse myself in branding and packaging. So for a while, I considered that to be my specialty. Now, most of my work lives in digital spaces, but my experience spans all mediums and forms of design – brand identity, digital and social content, animation, out-of-home and print, and UI/UX. My first love will always be branding and packaging, though!
Currently, I am the Head of Design for a mid-sized agency, and I am loving being in a leadership role, versus previous roles where I was more hands-on with projects. I love that it is more people-focused, which is funny because I am a MASSIVE introvert! But I love getting to help and guide people. I love organizing, mentoring, and interacting with all types of personalities, I also care greatly about my team. I always try to put their best interests and well-being first.
When I have the time, I also greatly enjoy being involved in mental health communities and doing volunteering, advocacy work, and research. I’m trained as a crisis counselor and have volunteered for suicide hotlines. I also have done a bit of community organizing and have assisted researchers.
Creativity and mental health – and especially mental health for creatives – are both extremely important to me.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Time management, active listening, and being kind to everyone.
Learn how to manage your time. You can recover almost anything else if it is lost – material items, relationships, money. You cannot recover lost time. Your time is precious, it is important, and it is worth people paying you for it! Keep a calendar or schedule going, whether it be digital or analog. Start and end meetings on time, and keep them on topic. Respect other people’s time by striving to be punctual. Don’t commit to things if you already have a lot going on. And if you do commit to something, always follow through if you can. Having good time management can save you from exhausting yourself.
Listening to people is crucial to knowing how to approach a project creatively. Goals, insights, values, and missions are all good to know and understand before offering solutions. People like to feel heard and understood, and I think it’s an important skill to retaining clients as a freelancer.
Lastly, it literally pays to be kind to people. Nobody likes working with assholes.
What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?
Now that I’m in more of a leadership role in my career trajectory, my skillset has expanded a lot. Learning not to take things personally, knowing my boundaries, and being consistent, patient, and an efficient manager have all been areas of growth for me. Creatively, I’ve been learning much more about the production side of the industry and understanding the day-to-day management of it. Expanding my skillset to creatively direct video content has been an opportunity that has been challenging, fun, and definitely out of my comfort zone.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ezraschaefer.design/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ezraloren/
