How to Avoid Burn Out and Be More Creative

Don’t write if it’s a chore.

It’s been a week since my writer’s block, and I already feel empowered.

Empowered not because of how much I’ve written but because I’m writing more every day.

I had a heart-to-heart over iMessage with my partner Soumith the other night. We were talking about our work styles. Neither of us has taken too many weekends off in 2020 for StarCasts, and honestly, we don’t care.

As he wisely told me, it doesn’t feel like work when you’re enjoying it.

And that’s how you should view your writing.

Writing is not fun when it’s enforced. In fact, nothing is ever fun when it’s enforced. Rules are meant to be broken, whether it’s running a red light (not encouraged) or breaking your diet.

It’s my mission to write an article every day, and I’m still at it because it’s amusing.

Think about how joyful it is to read a piece that speaks to you on some level. I’ll never forget that feeling while reading Robert Gryn’s journey bootstrapping Codewise to become the second-fastest growing venture in Europe. I teared up while reading his story.

He was young and inexperienced. He learned more about himself while embarking on the perilous path of entrepreneurship. I was reading a story that spoke directly to me about my goals. It’s almost as if the writer was in my head, screaming my dreams in front of the masses.

Imagine being the one who’s writing that piece.

Imagine being Robert Gryn: reciting everything you’ve learned in your life on the Web. Before he even clicked Publish, the process of writing itself must’ve fulfilled him. He probably learned more about himself while writing the piece than when not. It takes a sophisticated level of self-reflection to tell your life story as lucidly as he did.

I am by no means an expert on music, but that’s why I love to write about music, for example.

I only passively listened to the Red Hot Chili Peppers in fall 2015, when I was a freshman in college. I was on the college debate team at the time. It was one of the coolest experiences in undergrad, driving around the Mid-Atlantic with my friends while debating philosophy and politics.

I’ll never forget that one time we were driving from Johns Hopkins back to D.C., listening to Snow for the first time in my life. I never felt more connected to a song — at that point in my life — until then. But I wasn’t aware of anything about the band.

It wasn’t until two weeks ago, when I snagged Scar Tissue on my e-book, that I learned more about the Chilis. I didn’t know that they almost failed multiple times. I didn’t know about the struggles they went through until now.

They’re humans just like you and me. There’s nothing different about Anthony Kiedis. He was just a man doing what he loves, making music, and rock fans just so happened to fall in love with his art. He didn’t make music to become famous. He did it because he’s passionate.

There’s nothing different about you writing your next article than Anthony Kiedis writing Under The Bridge. You and he are the same: You’re both making art that you fell in love with.

Fame and celebrity are only the symptoms, not the cause of great artwork.

The more I wrote and read about the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the more I learned about them. I didn’t tell myself that I had to write an article about the Chilis. I did it because I wanted to.

And that’s how you should pursue your writing. Do it because you want to.