When you're a designer you get so addicted to designing that you tend to do it too much. It usually leads to burnout and I know, because I've been there. Twice.

This episode talks about how to recognise burnout before it becomes a problem, and what to do about it.

Important notes from this episode

1. To be an effective designer you need to:
2. Be creative
3. Be open to new ideas and points of view
4. Be working at your maximum capacity
5. Be happy
6. You can't be working at your maximum if you're burned out and working too hard
7. That usually leads to burnout: Can't think of new ideas
8. Aren't enjoying your job
9. You're working long hours but getting nothing done
10. You don't feel as good as you used to
11. I've burned out once, and nearly burned out a second time.
12. The first time I was just doing too much work.
13. My entire life used to be designing things, from 9am to 10pm.
14. I used to come home from work and do nothing else.
15. I was the most productive in terms of volume of work that I'd ever been, but it didn't last long.
16. The second time I made a massive change to my life: I designed less and threw myself into a new hobby: jiu jitsu.
17. A bit about jiu jitsu - problem solving, but in a physical realm (problem solving with dire physical consequences)
18. As creatives we need space.
19. You need space for creativity to thrive.
20. You can't do your best work when you're frazzled and tired. When you work all the time you're frazzled and tired.
21. Create more space.
22. Do less. Read more.
23. As much as you love what you're doing, doing it less so you keep loving it.
24. Write more! That's helped me loads.