Hello, my beautiful, angel-faced, fellow marketers. How are we all feeling?
I ask this question because I just came across a concerning headline that read:
SEVENTY PERCENT? Yikes.
I knew burnout rates in our industry were bad, but I didn't quite realise how bad.
Seven in 10 professionals across the media, marketing and creative sectors have reported experiencing burnout in the past 12 months, the 2024 Mentally Healthy Survey has revealed.
Constant deadlines, the need to have our creative brains constantly turned on, and balancing multiple clients and campaigns can be enough to make the sanest of humans feel a little cuckoo.
On one hand, there's work to be done! But, on the other, simply 'pushing through' is not always the best option for our sweet little minds, bodies or souls - despite this kind of being the go-to solution in our field.
And while I love having my cake and eating it, too, this can often lead to some pretty grim effects.
Insomnia, anxiety, exhaustion, irritability, depression - these are symptoms you don't want to f*ck around with, especially when they start to manifest in physical ways, which they so often do.
Ten years ago, there was no such thing as workplace wellbeing.
Those who struggled with work-life balance and the health challenges that followed had to endure a silent battle. That was, until the pandemic flipped that thinking on its head.
Nowadays, there's employee advocacy out the wazoo. However, that doesn't mean we don't still struggle.
We're managing harrowing global event after global event, new rules of marketing, emerging platforms, dying platforms, consumer behaviour that changes like the wind, AI...the list goes on!
Algorithms fuelling the need for constant output, meaning we're tasked with churning out content at a breakneck speed
The expectation to be available at all times, responding to 'urgent' requests that aren't actually urgent (it's PR not ER, babes)
Creative drain and the need to produce fresh and impactful ideas ALL THE TIME
And the cultural pressure to work ourselves into a frenzy for results.
If I didn't know any better, I'd think the advertising overlords were trying to make it difficult.
However! I'm not here just to have a big old whinge - as far as jobs go, we get to do some pretty cool sh*t. And I'm all for solutions, not self-sabotaging sook fests.
Because you and I both know a breathwork session won't really solve the never-ending list of deadlines on my desk.
So let's look at a few actual solutions...
I'm looking at you, creatives.
You can't be everything to everyone all the time. It's not just about setting boundaries; it's about reinforcing them and making sure they're respected. Things like declining non-essential meetings and creating focus blocks in your calendar are great ways to practise this.
This is an area where I need to take my own advice. So, let's say it together, 'I don't have capacity for this right now, but I can revisit it once I've finished my own priority list.'
See? That wasn't so hard, was it?
