This is one of those entries where I talk about something that happened to me, then relate it to a larger phenomenon so that you, the reader, can have something to reflect on too. Here’s the story:
Yesterday I vowed to finish retyping the edits to the fourth draft of my novel, which I’d been working on slowly over the past two weeks but wanted to finish ASAP in line with my self-imposed deadline of finishing the fifth draft by July 1st. However, accomplishing this mighty goal involved me typing out 140 pages worth of edits (give or take) in the 7 hours I’d set aside.
The math worked out to about 20 pages per hour. Challenge accepted.
SPOILERS: I Overexerted Myself Doing This Project
Looking back, I’m not sure why I was so determined to finish the retyping in one day. Maybe it was because I’d originally planned to finish last week but fell behind, or maybe it was because I’d really wanted to spend the next day (today) assembling and formatting the manuscript, and wanted to have all the typing done before I started. It was also Monday, and I had an overabundance of energy and determination to push through so I could start the week off right.
Regardless, I decided that this was the day to finish—no ifs, ands, or buts.
Everything started off fine—I kept a good pace, broke for lunch, took a walk, and got back into the retyping with fresh energy. I like to throw on headphones and listen to music while I type—the day’s selections included St. Vincent, the new Neko Case album (which is excellent), Futurecop, The Naked and Famous, and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. I try to choose albums that move with constant energy because I find that they push me forward and keep me focused while I work.
My Day Job-Free Work Schedule has me finishing for the day around 7:30 or 8:00, though that day I figured I’d be done by 8:30…then sometime after 8:30…then closer to 10:00. I was making progress, the music was blasting hard, but I still had a long way to go. I kept working without breaking for dinner, ignoring my persistent hunger because if I knew that if I took a break now, I wouldn’t going back to work at all.
In the end I finished the retyping, but it took me until 10:30 with barely a pause to use the bathroom during the final three hours. I felt exhausted and was starving, plus I’d developed a headache from listening to constant loud music. I ended up eating too much for dinner to satisfy my hunger, and the late meal combined with the mental stimulation kept me awake until nearly 1 a.m. even though my head was still pounding and I wanted sleep.
In short, it was a shitty night.
If I’d Set a More Reasonable Pace, This Wouldn’t Have Happened
Because I’d stayed up late, worked too long of a day, and eaten a late dinner, I slept extra late this morning, and even after I woke up I just didn’t feel like working. I did a lot of reading, took a longer walk then usual, and finally decided to work a half day starting at 3:30, which I started off by writing this entry.
Burnout’s very real and happens to everyone—but it’s easier to work through that burnout when an external force or deadline is pushing us to get out of bed, go to work, or finish a project even though we’re not feeling our best. These days since I’m not working a Day Job, without external pressures pushing me forward I find myself staying in tune with my body’s signals—which means that when I’m feeling exhausted, sleepy, or burned out, my overwhelming natural impulse is to avoid work and rest.
Though it runs contrary to literally EVERY IMPULSE I HAVE PUSHING ME FORWARD, it really is important to pace yourself and take regular breaks—and this includes limiting your workdays to a reasonable length. I seem to be doing just fine working 9-10 hours per day during the week, and I’ll use the remaining time to rest, read, or do something totally unrelated to work so that when the next day comes I can start off ready and eager to get back into motion.
Without that unwinding time (which I didn’t take last night…), I’ll start the next day groggy, unfocused, discouraged, and wanting to do anything but work, so that I lose even more time by avoiding the workday. Case in point: I worked for an extra 2 hours last night but missed 4 hours of worktime this morning because I was burned out, which equals a net loss of 2 working hours—d’oh!
The same wisdom applies to the Day Job life too—working too much overtime at my Day Job tends to take a negative toll on me over the long term, and even regular weeks of going to a Day Job followed by creative work in the evenings tend to leave me exhausted and bleary-eyed by Friday afternoon, which is why I set my Friday nights and all of my Saturdays aside as dedicated crash and recover time. My old Office Day Job Work Schedule also involved taking a two-hour dinner and relaxation break every night after work simply because I needed that time to unwind, since without that break I couldn’t gather the focus or motivation to get decent work done.
And let me just make this clear: taking a break doesn’t include checking email, scrolling through news, working on a side project, or doing chores. A real break has you stepping away from all that, letting your mind relax, and most importantly, not thinking about work of any kind.
Bottom Line: Don’t Be Like Me and Burn Yourself Out
Take your breaks when you need them, and don’t try to do too much—it may feel good in the moment, but it’ll drastically affect your ability to get work done over the long term. The one exception to this might be if you’re facing some crazy deadline or you only have a few workdays available for some reason and need to make the most of them. The rest of us who are playing the long-term game need to keep our energy up over days, weeks, months, and yes, even years, without getting burned out.
And with that in mind, I’m going to go take a water break.
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