On Burnout
A Message from Coach
Three years ago when we concluded the reboot of Witch, Please and prepared to launch Material Girls, our focus was on how to produce the new show and how to make it a success. In the thrilling throes of starting a new adventure, I didn’t spend much time thinking about how we would give ourselves time off.
Consider this one of the major learning moments of my life as a producer!
As was to be unexpected (but somehow still caught me by surprise), two years into the journey, our team was totally burnt out. Thus the Witch, Please Productions Summer Break™ was born! Every July, our team takes a beat to regroup, pause Material Girls production and catch up on some tasks that have fallen by the wayside in the hubbub of releasing a weekly show.
Last year, we used some of that break to go to Vancouver for our very first live show.
This year, I am using it to catch up on transcripts, plan the rest of our season, and work on a (to be announced!) project with Marcelle. Meanwhile, Gaby and Zoe are continuing to hold down the fort with The Vampire PodCAST, a weekly recap show about season three of Interview with the Vampire (AKA The Vampire Lestat) co-hosted by Hannah McGregor.
This is why you’re getting a newsletter from me instead of wittle baby Gaby™ (who usually writes to you about being gay and also to update you on what’s been going on at WPP). I wanted to give them a break from this task as they are busting their butt to keep episodes flowing from our feed. And, because breaks are generative (more on that below), I decided to take the opportunity to reflect on what I have learned about burnout in the last five years working with Hannah and Marcelle.
- Even work you love is labor. It’s all too easy to want to give more than you can when you love what you do and who you do it with. This is where you have to be extra careful! Labor is labor is labor is labor. In practice: I love talking with the team, but during breaks I take Slack off my phone and resort to regular old texting if I want to chat with the gang. Same people, different medium. The medium is the message, etc.etc.
- Burnout is not your fault but you can get better at seeing the signs of it before things get bad. As a working person, I don’t think it’s possible to avoid burnout under the conditions of capitalism. Burnout is a product of the times and very few people have the privilege to side step entirely. It is not a personal failing to experience burnout. All you can really do is get to know the signs as they show up in you and the people around you. It’s like any strong theoretical lens, once you know it, it’s a filter you have that can make yourself and the world around you more legible. In practice: I know my signs! For example, a pile of laundry on my bed for more than a few days means my executive functioning is at a low. If I’m having trouble laughing at small inconveniences. If I can’t bring myself to call a friend back because the idea of talking is exhausting. All signs I am burnt out at work!
- Avoid all or nothing thinking when you can. Two winters ago, Marcelle, Hannah and I had a meeting to discuss the state of our various productions and it became clear that we were all experiencing a shared overwhelm that felt scary. Did we need to end the show? We were all heartbroken at the prospect. I believe it was the wise Hannah McGregor who reminded us that we could also just take a pause, rethink how we did our work, put some structures into place that would ensure we never overextended ourselves like that again. In practice: We have an annual retreat to discuss all things WPP. We go on break in July and January. We have a slate of bonus episodes for the feed in case something comes up and we need to skip a recording.
- Pressing pause can be generative. Going on a break gives you time to listen for new ideas, ways of doing things, etc. Rest is generative, as is quiet. In practice: We developed Pitty Party and The Vampire PodCAST to populate our feed during breaks. While both shows began as lower-lift passion projects to facilitate a pause on Material Girls, they’ve become opportunities for professional growth (go Gaby and Zoe!) and they’ve grown our listenership and Patreon support.
- Finally, taking a break is made easier by collective buy-in. I know it’s a privilege that Hannah, Marcelle and I get to decide how our workplace works. It’s much harder to take a beat if the people around you don’t see the value in it, if taking a break reduces your pay, etc. Which is to say, a big reason we can take a pause when we need to, is because our listeners stick with us when we do. In practice: The first time we went on break, we worried what it would cost us in listenership and Patreon support. It was a necessary gamble. It turns out, nothing bad happened. In fact, only good things happened! Our listeners stuck with us. We strengthened our teamwork and workflow. We discovered new creative paths (i.e. Pitty Party and The Vampire PodCAST). The break made it possible to continue making a show we love. Thank you for that.
We will be back in early August with new Material Girls episodes, but until then, I hope you enjoy The Vampire PodCAST, or our original Witch, Please run, or our backlog of Patreon bonuses and ad-free episodes. Or heck, I hope you take a break from us, enjoy some quiet, and return only when you’re ready for more.
My very best,
Coach
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