Two years ago, when I became a full-time writer, I went full throttle on several creative projects.
• I joined multiple courses.
• I wrote prolifically to populate my website.
• I dusted a three-year-old manuscript and started working on it.
• I started writing an article a day on Medium.
• I commenced a weekly publication.
• And a weekly newsletter.
“I am not working,” I told myself. “I have no excuse to slack. My output should be double or triple as before.”
On the contrary, my productivity dropped.
And I experienced a full-scale burnout.
While working on a paid job, I never had to worry about my productivity. Even when I was working on tight deadlines.
Even though I was working over ten hours a day and still couldn’t finish the tasks I had assigned to myself.
I over-committed and became obsessed with productivity.
I was continually stressed, exhausted, and feeling non-creative.
I was finally free to pursue my dreams, and I was nose-diving into a disaster.
Looking back, I see the problem wasn’t with the amount of work; it was with my approach.
Somewhere along the way, I stopped thinking about productivity as the vehicle and made it the goal.
I’d lost sight of the purpose and meaning behind the work I was doing.
Every hour blocked off on my calendar, every task I added to my to-do list, and every project I started, tightened the grip on my heart and mind.
As I looked around myself, I found I wasn’t alone.
Every creator was going through the same.
Thankfully, I came out of this excruciating state.
I wrote my journey from a stressed and anxious for a relaxed productive writer in my new book “Become A Productive Writer. In the hope that it can help you to become relaxed and productive.
