Dealing With Burnout, Mental Exhaustion, And Low Creative Juices

Brian Hood (0:00)

This is the 6 Figure Creative Podcast, episode 198

Welcome to the 6 Figure Creative Podcast, where our mission is to help you turn your creative passions into a stable, reliable income. If you're in audio, video, design, photography, or really any other creative field, and you just want to learn from other successful creatives, you're in the right place.

Welcome back to another episode of the 6 Figure Creative Podcast. I'm your host, Brian Hood. And again, I'm joined here with my substitute co-host, Mr. No Energy, drowsy, kind of poopy feeling, I guess. I don't know, Mark Eckert. Is it the best intro ever?

Mark Eckert (0:37)

That's right. The slowest, the shittiest, the most tired you will ever see Mark Eckert here in the Flash.

What's happening, baby?

Brian Hood (0:44)

Oh, man. It's so funny because the topic today's episode is around this sort of hilarious dichotomy between how I feel right now and how Mark feels right now.

Mark Eckert (0:53)

I'm cutting you off, okay? Because this is how it really happened. Brian hit me up, and he's like, Hey, man, let's do a podcast. And he's like, I got all these great ideas. It's going to be great. It's going to help the whole community. It's going to be amazing. Then I showed up. I was in a trash mood, and Brian was like, dude, we should talk about how you're in a trash mood and how I'm in a great mood.

Brian Hood (1:11)

That's not even remotely how it happened, just for the record. Whatever.

Yeah, I mean, like, I just got back from vacation two weeks in Cancun. I talked about it on last week's episode, just on the intro of it. And then you're like, when was the last time you went on a vacation, Mark?

Mark Eckert (1:24)

I mean, it's been a couple months, for sure. Like, it's maybe six months.

Brian Hood (1:29)

I was gonna say, a couple, like, no one here, like, everyone's playing the world's tiniest mile in for you. It's been a couple months in my life.

Mark Eckert (1:34)

No, but, well, here's the thing. Wait a second. It's probably, like, six to eight months. The problem is, is that, yes, I did take time off from work, but where did I go?

I was, like, on a trip because I had to do something related to an extreme amount of work, or I was visiting my parents, and everybody knows that's not a vacation.

Brian Hood (1:54)

No, okay, so answer me. When was the last time you actually took a vacation? Which, by the way, for anyone listening right now, the topic of today is sort of kind of around the burnout conversation, losing creativity, not feeling motivated. So that's kind of the, like, framework here, but we're not saying the only solution is vacation. So let me just get that out of the way right now. But when was the last time you actually took a real vacation?

Mark Eckert (2:13)

I think it was New York in September. Yeah, New York in September.

Brian Hood (2:18)

No one on earth would think New York is a vacation, Mark.

Mark Eckert (2:21)

Oh, dude, no, that's where I get the most inspired. I'm so stoked. I love being in the city.

Brian Hood (2:25)

Yeah, I'll be there later this month, which is actually when me and my wife are going up there to see a few Broadway plays. Funny Girl and what's the other big one with Hamilton or something? Yeah.

Mark Eckert (2:34)

Cars? Yeah, okay.

Brian Hood (2:39)

Oh, going to see Howl's Moving Castle. No, so that was your vacation. So, okay, so all that to say, Mark has been through a lot of stuff, and you've been doing a lot since then, and you just went through like a home renovation, which is like a whole show of things.

Mark Eckert (2:51)

That's probably a big part of it.

Brian Hood (2:53)

And like you sent me a photo of your studio. Like again, you are at your assistant's house right now with that stupid cat behind you still. It's not your cat. Thankfully, it's not your cat.

And you're taking over his apartment to do this podcast because your quote home studio is still in shambles right now. So you can't even do anything.

Mark Eckert (3:09)

Yeah, I mean, like there's just so much going on. So it's my wife and I, the idea of us like being able to sleep a lot is just not a thing. Cause like every weekend also, she started this awesome vintage business.

Brian Hood (3:22)

Hey, I didn't know that.

Mark Eckert (3:23)