Creative Burnout: What to Create When You Don't Feel Like Creating

Creative burnout isn't a personal failure—it's a signal that your current content creation approach isn't sustainable. Whether you're in a creative rut right now or want to prepare for inevitable dry spells, this episode is about creating sustainably rather than constantly.

I'm getting honest about why I took time off from podcasting and what I learned during that break. You'll discover low-energy content strategies that still provide value, how to prevent future burnout, and when to seek support rather than just pushing through. Because your audience would rather have authentic content than forced content that feels generic.

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EPISODE 157.
Read the show notes and view the full transcript here: https://erinollila.com/creative-burnout-and-what-to-create/

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Here's info on your host, Erin Ollila
Erin Ollila believes in the power of words and how a message can inform – and even transform – its intended audience. She graduated from Fairfield University with an M.F.A. in Creative Writing, and went on to co-found Spry, an award-winning online literary journal.

When Erin’s not helping her clients understand their website data or improve their website copy, you can catch her hosting the Talk Copy to Me podcast and guesting on shows such as Profit is a Choice, Mindful Marketing, The Power in Purpose, and Business-First Creatives.

Stay in touch with Erin Ollila, SEO website copywriter:
• Learn more about my VIP intensive options or just book a strategy session to get started right away
• Visit Erin's website to learn more about her business, services, and products

Transcript

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Do you ever stare at your content calendar or your social media scheduler, your blog post, scheduler your email account and feel absolutely nothing like you know that you should be creating, but the will of creativity feels completely dry. Well, if so, you are absolutely not broken and you're not alone. Today we're talking about what to do when you don't feel like creating content for your business and how to prevent that feeling from derailing your entire marketing strategy. Hey friend, I am gonna be completely honest with you. I'm sure you might have noticed this, but I took a couple of months off from this podcast because I hit that same exact creative wall. I. The pressure to constantly create content for my business, while also creating content for other people's business to have something valuable to say, to say it on time and with consistency. That, that pressure just kind of built and because of external circumstances, work deadlines, , life deadlines, , I just felt like I had nothing left to give. The easiest thing for me to do at the time was to just put the podcast on hold for what was expected to be one or two weeks. It isn't that I felt like I had nothing left to give to the podcast. I actually had a ton of ideas,, some scripts written for solo episodes, people I had invited to be interviewed on the podcast. It's just that it was the easiest thing to take a step back from very momentarily. But as you can see, that momentarily ended up turning into quite a, a long time. It's been weeks, I think, I think almost two months since I published my last episode. But I'm here to talk about that today, and I'm doing it because I am a well known as a prolific content creator. I create the podcast episodes no matter what. I write blog posts, no matter what. I whip up emails and write web, web copy in no time at all. And if even I that prolific content creator. Feels the need to take a break. So much so that the break takes an extended period of time. I know you feel the same thing too. In fact, it is something I hear from probably every single one of my clients, regardless of what they've hired me for. There's just a pressure. To create that is not sustainable, especially in smaller businesses. And what happens is when you push through because you are feeling like you have to do something, but the tank of gas you're running on is on empty, you end up producing content that doesn't really serve anyone well. Well, excuse me. So today we're gonna explore some practical strategies for these moments in this episode. I hope you'll stay along with me and I, I just wanna acknowledge this is something everyone goes through, and while it's normal, there are ways to build systems that can help prevent a creative burnout, or at least help you maintain a creative burnout if you're truly just not feeling the muse. So whether you're in a creative rut right now, or you just wanna prepare for, you know, a dry spell, this episode will help you create, or at least I hope, will help you create some sustainability rather than just creating constantly. So let us start by acknowledging what creative burnout actually looks like, because. It's not always obvious. And I would say for myself in this instance in 2025, it was absolutely not obvious. I just kept moving "record podcast episode" on my to-do list from week to week until I looked at it maybe two weeks ago and I was like, wait a second. When was the last time I published an episode and realized it had been. Way longer than I had expected. You know, it could be in a different circumstance than that example. It could be that you are staring at a blank page and you're feeling like everything you write sounds really terrible. Or alternatively, maybe you have no motivation to write, no ideas, despite usually feeling creative and enjoying the process. Those are some of the symptoms or obvious things where people start to notice that the, the well of creativity is drying up. But creative burnout can also be more subtle. So maybe you are still creating, but what you are writing or you are producing, , feels a bit mechanical. Or maybe you are producing content, but it's just not really resonating. Another red flag to acknowledge is, when you're comparing your content to everyone else's and you just keep thinking, why couldn't I do that? This person does that so well, or they show up so consistently. They're always emailing their lists. They always have a story to share. Um, their stories are better than mine. A comparison trap is often a sign that the creativity, well, that your. That should be running through you. Is running dry. Um. Often, I think you can just notice burnout because things like content creation starts feeling like a chore. Like you just don't enjoy the things you might've liked before. I love writing blog posts and the, and actually doing podcast episodes. Those are probably my favorite to-dos in my own business, and I could sit down and creatively write, or I could, you know, come up with ideas for this podcast and record these episodes. But I wasn't doing it, you know, so I might not have been able to acknowledge that in the moment as it was happening. But once I recognized it, I had to ask myself like, oh my gosh, what is happening here? And I think that often happens to people, this burnout, this creative sap of energy happens. We don't notice it. And then suddenly it's very obvious. And if you create content during this time or if you don't, like, in the instance of not publishing episodes for a little while, your audience notices. So if you're creating poor content, your audience can feel the difference and they might, might not be as inspired, as they used to be about your content or excited to engage with you. Or they might just feel like, wow, this brand persona, let's say that this person has built for their business is obvious. Like it's not a real human to human connection because now that vivacious personality or those that the person who showed up, , and was just so energetic and social is now suddenly so low energy and this feels off. It feels like they were putting on a show for me before. And you don't want that to happen,. You know that cost of creating content content altogether goes beyond just poor quality content control because it can damage your relationship with your work. I specifically mean like you're gonna start to resent the creative process. And in doing that, it's gonna hurt your business. And it's very hard to pick up from a, like a state of like pure burnout because it's kind of like you have to. Redefine what you want., Tap into motivation that's barely there and build up from the bottom again versus just, , riding a creativity wave that is maybe like a lower peak than having to start from scratch again and build up that energy, build up that excitement for what you're doing. So. What do you do when you need to maintain content but you don't have the energy? This is something I actually wish people acknowledged., On their good time, meaning you're running a business, you are healthy, you're competent, finances are okay. I want you at that point to acknowledge that there are gonna be times where you may have low energy, you may have low finances, you may have low assistance, like if you already have, you know, uh, contractors working with you or anything like that. And I want you to lean into strategy at. At that time so that you are, again, not digging yourself out of a hole when something happens, like children getting sick, um, a death in the family, um, a depressive episode, any of those things arise. You'll have a plan for your content so that you don't feel the stress of that in addition to everything else that's going on in your life. So let's talk about some low energy content strategies that can provide value, especially if you have that opportunity to plan them ahead of time and just kind of like use them while you are at a point where you're struggling or you're just not feeling the creative energy. One of those things that you can do is to repurpose existing content, and this works so well. If you have not built a strategy for these low energy times, look back on the best performing posts that you have. Um, emails that were really high, open rate, high clicks, engagement videos that you may have posted on social six months or a year ago that you could. Repost there, or maybe repost on YouTube shorts or something to that effect., Maybe you can repurpose a video but also add a new perspective to it to elongate the video and put it on YouTube so you're not starting your content creation from scratch. Your using something you've already created. As, let's say half of the, of the new end result and you're just adding to it quickly, editing it, and then publishing it., Because when we think about repurposing, we as the content creator might think, oh, I can't do that. Everyone's already saw that, or I've talked about that so many times. But you have to remember, your audience shifts and changes a across all different ways that you share content. So. There's a good portion of your audience that , might not have seen former, , blog posts you wrote, you'll have content that you can use without starting from scratch, but. If you have planned ahead, maybe you just have a content bank of, , short form content that's been created. So maybe not the highest caliber, but something you've done well, like, uh, I'm thinking of B roll for social media. You know, videos of you walking through the park, videos of you doing your work, um, behind the scenes videos, which let's actually stay with behind the scenes for a second because. Behind the scenes content is a great low energy option that you can do from scratch, from scratch when you're not really feeling, um, a huge burst of creativity. So maybe you have pre-filed content that's behind the scenes or pre-written content that you can use, but if you don't think about what you can create now. That is behind the scenes. So let's say you're a, a, a high producing video performer. If you're feeling creatively zapped or you're experiencing health problems and you don't wanna be on camera, you could instead take pictures of, , what you're working on and piece them together in a, in a video. That kind of showcases everything happening with, , you know, a talking over script. If you are, uh, more comfortable writing, again, use pictures of things that are happening behind the scenes. This could even be something that you're struggling with or you are in the process of learning because these posts tend to require a lot less polish and planning, and they often perform, perform really well because they're still working on that content.. Connection building because your audience will see your vulnerability or just see you in the process. And people love process content., So if you do have the energy, but not necessarily the creativity behind the scenes, content works really well. Other types of content that you can tap into when you're feeling low energy or life has thrown you a major curve ball could be user generated content, , or even community involvement. If you have a community, tap into the people who support you, right? Like if you have clients who have loved working with you, send a few of them an email and say, Hey, listen. Is there any chance you would get on video and film like a one minute short clip about this specific part of our work together? Use that for your social media post. Put that on your website., The audience that you have specifically, those like inner network people, they want to talk about their work with you. They want to share success stories. You know, and, and when we think about more of like a membership community, your network grows, right? So you could even without having to ask like one-on-one for someone to create content. Instead of being the content creator, be the question asker. Ask your audience questions about what they're experiencing, how they're feeling, um, how they've overcome things, share their success stories, share their struggles. Have the community provide insight. Um. Audience content, you know, that's user generated is reducing your need to create new things. So it's taking a, a huge burden off of you while still allowing you to be present. If you can be there as a facilitator and question asker, and it's making your, your, your community feel really engaged., Curated content. Content is also a, a good thing to do if you still want to show up while feeling creatively. S sapped, , look at what other people are creating, share articles that they're writing., Let's say you're a photographer and you read a really good blog post from a wedding event planner. Share that with your audience because it's going to benefit the original creator by widening their scope of audience, and it's going to serve as a type of, , you know, nurture to your own audience. And I'm sure we're on the same page here. You get what I'm saying is share their article and give them credit for writing the article. Just say, Hey, I read this. It's so good. Um, head over their blog to read the whole thing. Here's a two sentence. Excerpt, just so you know, like how good it really is or whatever. Tag them in the post. Um, share the email that you wrote. Whatever it is. If you curate content from other people or you share resources, maybe even affiliate resources. You can nurture your audience and provide value while really doing minimal work for any type of creative output and simple content formats. You know, to kind of sum this up, like can, can really help during low energy periods. So think about things like quick tips, like three tips for improving your website copy, or like three things to look at when you're auditing your website. Photo post, for example, could be great carousel options. Whether you are using my previous idea of doing something behind the scenes, or let's say you've always written really great, , portfolio pieces. I. For your, , baby photography clients. So you do like a family intro in with maternity shoots. Uh, you, um, link it to another post where you are doing the like, welcome baby photos and you talk about your clients and the process, and you just showcase their images on your website. Well, if you are struggling and you cannot write that content. Start simple and just post those images on, on social. Instead, write one short social post that kind of highlights the main key aspects of the individual session. Bullet point it, and then that serves as immediate content, but it also serves as what you can build upon once you're feeling like you have more energy. Or you're more creatively inspired, go back and look at the posts. Let's say there's 13 images in the carousel and 10 bullet points. Well, now you know what to write about these images. You are, you're suddenly reminding yourself of these important, like parts of the, um, session without having to start from scratch again. So you can then build upon these short form pieces of content later. And the same thing goes with like for like the photos. The same thing goes for brief videos. They might feel simple, you know, it's, think back of like the 2016, 2017, maybe Facebook Lives where everyone would say like, Hey, I'm signing on for a live today. To tell you three ways you can improve your website. Yeah. Do it. I know it sounds silly, but you're being present and people will like keep you top of mind for that one minute clip and. Just whatever you do, don't introduce the fact that you're like, hi, I am hopping on live, because people know that when they see you live. The point is there are many ways you can show up, whether it's through video, photography, writing, just show up in very light ways that you can maintain your low energy without feeling too stressed about needing to create, but then build upon it later when. You do feel more creative or you do feel more excited to, develop these pieces of work that you have or develop the ideas that you've started. All right. I don't wanna keep you for too long here today, but let's talk about how we can prevent burnout because. I don't think any of us wants to be in a situation where, we've had like a family emergency and we just can't do everything for our business, or we're feeling the slow down over the winter and cabin fever and seasonal affective disorder, or we have so much client work that we can't possibly keep up with our own marketing. Nobody wants to end up in those situations, but there are things you can do during the better times to help you prevent like a full on burnout, because really the goal here is building a sustainable content practice and one of the most effective strategies is creating a content bank during your high energy periods. So if you're feeling really inspired and ideas are flowing, capture those ideas and you don't need them for a media use at that time. Tuck 'em away in a content bank, I personally use Coley ' Content Hub, which we actually talked about in a former episode of this podcast that I will link to and I've just kind of built upon it and customized it in my own way. But what I do is I just. I insert ideas when they come. I know I can't work on them in that moment, but I don't wanna lose something that I was excited about. So I plop it in my content bank and come back to it later when I just need something or I need some inspiration. And while I say like as an example that I'm not creating anything, just know that you can. So if you want to go ahead on a really high energy day, or when you're feeling really creative and right. Extra social media posts, record backup videos, or even just brainstorm a list of topics like I, I said that I would do, do it. Like nobody is going to say like, oh wow, you spent a lot of time today writing social media posts that you can schedule out into the future. Like this is your business. You get to decide how you're gonna spend your marketing time and. I personally think being in a creative mode and being high energy is the perfect time to go about creating content for the future. But I want to bring that to something else though, because a key is that you have to be realistic about content goals from the start. You need to, right now, at this moment, put away the pressure to post daily on social media. Or to create just massive amounts of content anyway. Sometimes when I do websites for clients, they'll say, but what about a blog? Like I, I know that you're super pro blog Erin, and we've been talking about SEO this entire time. Shouldn't I have a blog? And while that is the perfect time to hire me, to write for my clients, I can do it for them. I try to remind them like, you can have a blog, but let's, let's create like the idea of what blogging means to you. Maybe it means that you just start with, when you like launch a website, using this example, you start with 12 cornerstone posts and that's it. Like you think of a blog as a. A permanent resource that people can read and consume, but you're not updating it later. That could work. Maybe it's that you create 12 blog posts and you publish one a month, and that's it. Nobody is telling you you need to write three blog posts a week in 2025. So first, figure out what is consistent and, and yet also sustainable. It doesn't matter what you choose. Just choose something where you can be consistent and at a sustainable pace because you don't really want the sporadic burst of content. If you're looking for more options, though, another option for you after you've determined your content schedule is to build breaks into that content schedule., For this podcast, very often I take the last two weeks of the year off. It works well for me, but some podcast work. Better on a season approach, meaning every season has eight episodes and maybe they only do two seasons a year. Having that rhythm allows them to tap into creativity when they're feeling really excited about things, and it allows people who do really well with batch content creation to do their batching. So when you build breaks in, you give yourself that boundary. You give yourself that time to just exist without needing to create , at all times. Another option for you could be to diversify your content creation, especially if you're feeling creatively zapped, but you still have that motivation to create. So for you, that could mean that you're gonna just start going on video. You're, you're not. Feeling the writing vibe and you've been writing blog posts, or you've been writing emails for a long time, so you're just gonna press play on those live videos on YouTube or a live Instagram and talk great. That's fine., One thing I personally do is when I'm struggling sitting down at my desk to do writing, I will use a voice recorder memo on my phone, which now, I mean, it's even easier with all the AI tools that we have, but I'll use a voice recorder on my phone and I will just talk, talk, talk, and transcribe them later. And 90% of the time I have about. 80% of my work already done. Sure. Sometimes I realize everything that I said was just trash and it's not helpful, but very often I have an almost complete piece of content that I can just judge up and use for my marketing.. Another way to do this same type of thing is collaborating with other people or interviewing guests. Let's say you have a podcast where you don't interview guests very often and you're feeling cre creatively zapped, but you don't want to cancel your show. Start inviting guests. Guests are lovely guests help. At least 50% of the episode should be the guest talking. So you don't have to say everything. Just take your time to think about what you'd like the output to be. Like, what? What's the end result here? What would you like them to talk about? And then ask them questions. That's it. You can sustain your show by interviewing people, and if you're really creatively zapped, ask people in your network to take over your show for a month or two months. That's only like four to eight people that you have to call in and say, I really don't wanna cancel my show. I'm so overwhelmed. Can you please? Just be the guest host for one week. I'd love for you to talk about this topic, but I'm open to having you come up with other ideas. I just really need some help. And your friends and your peers would help you in a heartbeat. They would love to, to just support you, but it's great for them too 'cause it widens their audience with your listeners. So I guess I'm just sharing that. Creativity can really be reengaged by trying different things yourself or calling in people to help you fill the role that you are not filling in your business. One more point about support, , you can hire support for your content creation. And it's going to give you an ROI because the people that you are hiring specialize in what you are doing., During a specific high energy time for me, I decided to go ahead and write an evergreen email sequence for my list and just use it when I realized that I just didn't have anything exciting to say, like in a manual, weekly email. I, I wrote about like 30 something emails, but I will tell you where I went wrong is I didn't schedule them. So that didn't help during my creative rut recently, but I have them now, right? So there's no more excuses for me. You can hire a copywriter to write an evergreen email sequence for you. You can hire a blog content writer to write blogs. You can hire a podcast producer to do all the behind the, the scenes stuff for your show, except obviously your recording or your maybe guest host recording. You can hire people to help with video edit editing. We get so used to doing content creation in a very specific way that sometimes it, you forget that support could be just taking something off your plate completely and you know, maybe if you don't want it off completely. Which is helpful. Friends, it's really helpful, but maybe if you don't want it off completely, it's just bringing in a consultant who can help you brainstorm, who can help you develop a strategy, who can help you come up with topics, ideate them, develop outlines. Then you jump in and do the rest of the work. Because sustainable content creation doesn't have to be a solo endeavor. Some of the most successful content creators I know have built teams, systems, or communities that support their work. There is no badge of honor for doing everything yourself, especially if it's making you feel burnt out. So if you take anything away from this episode, let it be that creative burnout is not a personal failure. It's something that so many business owners experience, and it's honestly a signal that your current approach isn't sustainable. The goal here is not to power through it, it is to recognize it. To address it and to build better systems to prevent it from happening again in the future. Creating content when you don't feel like it. Isn't fun for anyone, for you or your audience. And you know, your audience would rather, I think, see you less frequently, but with a higher level of energy or with content that doesn't feel forced. So over the next couple episodes, I'm gonna be exploring collaborative approaches to content creation. One of the least known ways, which always surprises me 'cause I feel like I talk about this a lot, that people work with me is through what I call copy coaching. It's basically having a copywriting mentor who can help you figure things like this out.. Who can help you plan those strategies, edit the work that you're doing, , because again, like I said, I don't want you to do it alone, so make sure you stay tuned for the next couple of weeks. The episodes are recorded and being edited, so they will happen. You can hold me accountable for showing up next week. And if you are in a creative rut like I was, just be gentle with yourself because the season will pass and there are many ways that you can maintain your presence without depleting yourself in the process. Thanks for being here, friend. See you next week where we'll keep talking. Copy.