Content Creation: How To Not Be Overwhelmed By The Work

Content Creation: How To Not Be Overwhelmed By The Work:

When I got into creating content, I had no idea how overwhelmed one could get in a short amount of time.

I have a back pile of recorded video that I could make into Vlogs at any moment. The fact that I stream during most of my free time, the work continues to pile up.

With this backlog of work, Anxiety tends to creep in a lot more than normal. This even bleeds into non – content creation work.

I get more stressed at my job, around my family, and even – alone. There are days where I can’t get to the things that I want to do. This sends me even further down the rabbit hole of stress.

Besides all the above, there are the projects that I am working on and I can’t be present with. The reason is I am thinking about the 100 other projects I am neglecting as I work on the current one.

Controlling The Uncontrollable:

As I say in all my blog posts, I would have it no other way. At the end of the day, I am creating. I am doing something that most people I know can’t say they do in their free time.

I wrote an article about how to control the uncontrollable in life. This article is an extension of that. Here are some of the things I do when feeling overwhelmed in my life.

If there is any ONE thing I can tell you before we begin, is to make sure to breathe.

I am not talking about shallow breathing – but full deep breaths. This is said time and time again in self-help advice. The reason is that it actually works. I find myself shallow breathing a million times throughout the day.

Once I put my focus into getting those full deep belly breaths – some of the stress goes away IMMEDIATELY.

Let’s begin…

Do Your Best To Cut Negative Self-Talk:

Image result for self talk

There are too many times in my day that my self-talk is absolute shit. The days that I take a step back and am mindful of this – my day turns around.

When I can turn my self-talk into positive (as I would be talking to a close friend), my day goes that much better.

Self-Talk should be a stress relief, not an inhibitor.

Our self-talk should be kind and real.

Ways Positive Self-Talk has helped me:

It helps me focus on one task at hand instead of many

Facing the reality of only being able to get so much done in a day

Figuring out what project is the best to do at the moment and executing on that without outside disruption

Understanding that having a bunch of projects is part of the content creation game. ENJOY THE PROCESS!

Understand Where You Are Spending Your Time:

I get asked a lot about how I put out so much content.

The reality is that EVERY MOMENT I get, I am trying to figure out how to prioritize my time to create.

I also have been utilizing the 5-Second Rule from Mel Robbins. In her book, she explains that we will never have the energy to do everything we want to. This is why we procrastinate so much. Mel explains that we need to shut our brains off when confronting the tasks at hand. To do this we only allow ourselves 5 Seconds when the thoughts arrive to procrastinate and then GO! Implementing this 5 Second Rule has helped me a ton.

By using this method, it helps combat the bullshit emotions that arise in our brain. When thinking about the workday ahead, stress will increase. Our brains will overestimate how much work we will actually do. In turn, this shoots our anxiety through the roof.

Heres a true story…

As you know (if you watch me on Mixer), Tuesdays are my day off. I have been working all day on Tuesdays for years. One morning at 6 AM on my way to the store, my brain started thinking how bad this 16-Hour day was going to be.

My anxiety got so high during that commute that I thought I was having a heart attack.

I managed to make it to the store and get it opened. After the store was open, I called my parents told them I thought I was having a heart attack. They got someone to cover for me and I went to the doctors.

I spent overnight in the hospital and got all the tests done.

The outcome? Nothing wrong at all. My heart health was in tip-top shape.

My brain and my emotions stressed my body out so much, I went to the hospital for a faux heart attack. This is the reality of what our emotions can do to our stress levels.

Our brain will overexaggerate every single situation we dread. We will feel depressed and hopeless unless we figure out how to overcome this.

How Does This Pertain To Content Creation?

We need to figure out where our time is being spent so we understand the workload.

What I do is use a Task Manager App on my phone named TickTick. I have a content creation checklist that I use every day. At the end of the day, I try to have as much done on that checklist as I can. This ensures that I am utilizing my time and that I can see the workload at a glance.

When I can see the projects in front of my face every day, it reduces anxiety and keeps my brain positive. You get that feeling of checking things off and a sense of accomplishment. If you don’t get to everything that’s ok. You will still feel a ton better because, after a week, you will see all you have accomplished.

Taking Time For Yourself – The Art Of Saying No:

Image result for saying no

Smartphones are probably the best invention to come out this century. They help with productivity and keep us connected to the world.

They also have us connected to everyone in our real lives.

This has changed the way people perceive others peoples time.

How many times does someone you know get pissed off at you for not answering their call the first time?

People make assumptions that, because we are not at work, that we always have time to respond to them.

DO NOT EVER FEEL BAD IF YOU ARE BUSY AND CANT RESPOND TO SOMEONE IMMEDIATELY!

I fall into this thinking a lot. The anxiety starts creeping in when I am busy producing some content and I get a call I don’t want to answer.

We need to start setting boundaries for ourselves. This helps to not feel overwhelmed by people that think we NEED to answer them.

Heres some things to help this:

Stop taking work calls during nonwork hours.

People have a window of 8 hours to reach you every day. If something is that important it can be handled within these hours. This helps to provide boundaries for not only yourself but the people calling as well.

Understand that most of these calls or messages are not urgent. There is nothing I can not stand more is when someone calls me to bullshit while I am busy. Especially if it could have been resolved with a text message.

Time is our most valuable asset. Start thinking about how to optimize your own time without being at the call of others.

Be real with people about your time.

The majority of people don’t care that you are “side hustling”. They look at it as a joke and that you have time to speak with them. Do NOT let these peoples expectations bleed into your own. Do you and let them know when you will get back to them.

A related story to this:

This past Saturday (August 4th) was my birthday. I run a family business with my parents. They were going to be away this weekend so they needed me to run some errands that morning for the business.

This was fine. I enjoy helping people especially when it pertains to our business.

It was also my birthday and I wanted to get a stream in before I headed out for some birthday shenanigans.

I got call after call after call. The only thing I wanted to do that morning was get up early and Go Live.

Usually, I would take these calls if they were important but I knew they were calling to wish me a Happy Birthday.

At that moment, I decided that that shit could wait. I was already devoting time to the business by helping run errands.

So, I streamed for about 3 hours and got back to everyone after.

Guess what happened…

…Nothing!

We talked and the people got in their birthday wishes. I got to stream uninterrupted and then got to chat with everyone calling. It was a Win-Win.

The Journey:

Image result for love the process

A major part of feeling overwhelmed when creating content is the fact of not loving the journey. We want results and we want them now.

Take it from me: This will stress you the fuck out.

Make sure when you get into creating you understand the audacity of what we are trying to do.

People (like myself) are out there every day doing tough work. We do this so we can come home and work on something we love.

For me, it’s streaming on Mixer.

Let me be clear on this: My side hustle is that one day I want to play video games for a living.

Read that sentence again because its absurd. It is also how lots of people are making a living today.

Why did I choose to stream?

Because it is something I can do every day that I love the process of doing it more than anything else.

I write, podcast, and stream. The only one of those I don’t get burnt out on is streaming. I would do it every second of every day for the rest of my life.

But I also understand that this is a long and hard road filled with grinding. There is nothing more I would like to work towards than partnership with Mixer.

Be Real:

When you look at the top of the top in whatever space you create in, you will stress yourself out by comparing.

You do not need to be at the top of a platform to enjoy it. I wrote about this in my article about the Steven Wilson concert I attended.

Steven Wilson does not sell as many records as say Drake but he has his niche. He makes a career doing what he loves with the following he has.

Make sure that your assumptions going into creating are real and not overblown.

Don’t Be Afraid To Take Breaks:

A big assumption of creating is that you need to be doing it every day.

Now, in the big picture of things, this is true. If you put out one piece of content a day and another puts out 5 pieces, as long as the talent is equal, the person doing 5 pieces will achieve success quicker.

In the real world, burnout is a real thing.

There are times when I Go Live that I am not 100%. On those days, I will stream for a shorter period of time or take the day off.

This allows me to recharge and put on a better show when I return.

Do not think it is the end of the world if you don’t produce something when you are burnt out. The outcome will be less than optimal.

If you took some time off and came back, your output would be better along with the finished product.

Always Moving Forward:

Image result for always moveforward

I preach Always Moving Forward a lot on this blog. It is because there are going to be so many different emotions we go through on this journey.

Regardless if we have a good or bad day, don’t quit altogether.

If your output is more one week than another that’s fine. As long as we continue to push the envelope forward we are doing the right thing.

I hope this helped you in some way if you are feeling stressed out with content creation. My DMs are always open if you ever need to discuss something more in depth.