How to avoid burn-out
In an industry where 14 hour days and working weekends are the norm, how do you keep the tank full and avoid the crash and burn? In a piece that first appeared in Encore, Matt Smith investigates.
In 2010 Steve Crawford reached his limit. He’d been working for six years as the creative director of M&C Saatchi and finally realised his workload was unsustainable.
“I got to the point where I was tired of working 14-hour days, seven days’ a week,” says Crawford. “I looked back over the previous six years and I’d worked half the weekends. I had lots of little mild inflammatories – hay fever, I couldn’t digest food, I’d been missing dental appointments for six years.”
“We were regularly expected to work past midnight and be ready to pitch the next day. Holidays could be cancelled at a moment’s notice. I was hardly unique. There’s a whole lot of people within agencyland for whom the work pressure is just expected. We very much bring it on ourselves.”
Burnt out – if only!
Good on ya Mark. I’m guessing you’re using past experience to do good now you are in a position to do so.
I have very clear memories of being mandated to work late via a roster in an agency that we both worked at. This was purely to change the CEOs perception that we, as a digital agency, didn’t work hard enough (or didn’t have enough work) because there weren’t bodies in the studio when he walked the halls late at night. Ridiculous.
I had a high-flying media career and was doing the 80+ hour a week grind. I’m now unemployed and sit on my arse all day doing nothing. Trust me, the 80+ hour thing is far more rewarding when you think of the alternative.
PS I would also like to add if you are doing 80+ hours a week you’re no hero, you’re just doing another person’s job for free (or you’re incredibly ineffective.)