Avoiding Webmaster Burnout
Written by Wenchy

So, how are you supposed to avoid burning out? I have a few tips that I personally practice and that have proven to be effective.

1.  Set a Schedule
This sounds simple enough, right up until you sit down to do it. The idea is to map out a weekly plan for yourself. Start with what you know... how many hours a day you have to invest and what you want to accomplish... then assign yourself projects to complete during your daily sessions.

The key to scheduling is to be very strict with yourself; when your time is up, walk away! There is nothing so critical that it can't wait until tomorrow! If necessary, take five minutes out at the end of your daily session to map out tomorrow's schedule. Sometimes this actually works better because you know what you're in the middle of and what you need to finish a project.

Be honest with yourself when making your schedule. You should know approximately how much time you'll need to say gather banners from your sponsors for a site or thumbnail pictures for your galleries. Try not to schedule a ton of things you know you won't have time for... it's self-defeating and won't encourage you to utilize this valuable tool.

You should treat your schedule as a progress report with specific goals for each day. You can even reward yourself for accomplishing everything on your list for a particular day if you wish. Another perk of scheduling is that you may actually find yourself being more organized and making more efficient use of your time.

2.  Take Frequent Breaks
I cannot emphasize enough the importance of this item. At least 10 minutes of every hour you need to get up, stretch, walk around a bit, smoke a cigarette, take the dog out, go to the bathroom or the fridge... get your butt out of that chair! Not only is this good for you physically, it gives your brain a couple of minutes to rest. Use this time to regroup if needed, or to mentally map out your next step. Believe me... when you go back to your chair after your mini vacation, you'll feel refreshed and ready to jump back into your project with renewed energy.

3.  Change Tasks Often
You use different parts of your brain for different tasks. It makes sense then to switch sides, so to speak, fairly regularly. If you're in the middle of building a site and you start feeling drained or tired, switch over and go do some submissions or read a board or look at sponsor banners (be sure you save your work before you switch!). Sometimes checking out other sites via a link list or search engine can spark new ideas for whatever you're working on. (A word of caution here... beware that you don't steal pages! Ideas are one thing, someone else's work is a no-no!). Most of the time you shouldn't need to shift gears for more than ten or fifteen minutes, but you'll be amazed at what a difference it can make!

4.  Take a Day Off!
Yes, I'm serious. Personally, Sunday is my day. I watch the NFL and NASCAR, hang out with my son, do housework and laundry and yard work (in the summertime). I rarely even walk into my office on Sundays except to empty the garbage can heehee However, I had to learn the hard way that I desperately needed that one day a week to call mine and, now that I have it, there's no way I'd give it up!

I know it sounds simple. I also know that those of you that work full-time jobs might balk at the idea of losing a whole day, especially one that doesn't involve your "real" job. You don't necessarily have to use Sunday, though. If you're a Monday Night Football fan, maybe you'd rather take Monday off... or Friday so you can go out for beers with your friends. Whatever works best for you is fine, as long as you do it! Make it a habit and before long your day off will be as valuable to you as your work time.

Well, there you have it. My burnout protection tips probably aren't going to save the world, but if they can save just one webmaster from "losing it", that's enough for me.

I know that we all, whether full- or part-time webmasters, take our work very seriously. But sometimes that seriousness can get in the way of common sense and taking care of ourselves both mentally and physically. Some of the younger crowd may be able to do with less sleep, some of the more experienced webmasters may not need to spend as much time on tasks due to having learned effective shortcuts, but all of us have to put in more time now than ever in order to be successful. Take care of your business but don't forget to take care of YOU. It's a balancing act, but it's one you can learn and adjust to fit perfectly into your unique situation.

Best of luck to all, and may your surfers continue to whip it out...

Article written by Wenchy - Adult Biz Resource Writer.
Wenchy owns and operates Adult Copy - Ad & Site Text For Adult Website Marketing