Have you ever felt like you were just not into your work anymore? Can’t seem to come up with anything that makes you happy? Can’t even get into the projects you’re working on? Being unhappy at work, can quickly lead to being unhappy at home. It can even end up as depression.

It’s easy to get burnt out in the any creative industry. We’re required to push out amazing & unique work, every day. Often for multiple different clients at a time! Maybe you are working too much, or just not working on anything you really want to be. Perhaps you’ve been eating “fast” food, and not paying attention to your health.

All of these things (even in small quantities) can compound on top of each other and lead to real problems. If we pay attention to our routine, it’s possible to “feel it” all the time! Well, I can’t say you’ll always be “feeling it”, there’s no escaping times when you aren’t going to be happy. That’s normal. What we can do, is create a physical and mental environment that promotes creativity & contentment!

If you hate your job, you should probably start there. It’s hard to turn something you can’t stand into an amazing part of your life! Don’t be afraid. There will always be somewhere that’s a better fit for your specific personality & skillset. That’s something I learned long ago. I would find myself just totally not into my work, and as a result, feeling unhappy in my personal life. Every time this happened, I took it as a sign that the universe had something better in store for me. Sure enough, whenever I worked hard to find a new job or a new city to move to, it would always result in an increase in happiness all around. Most of the time I would get to move to some new cool city, and start a new cool job!

Jobs are always exciting if you’re doing something you want to do. Like me, I develop crazy actionscript projects most of the time, and I couldn’t imagine anything more fun! I even do it as my hobby when I’m not working. If you aren’t totally excited about what you’re doing at work, you shouldn’t be there.

Once you have a job doing something you enjoy, you merely have to keep yourself inspired. Inspiration comes from so many places. I can find it just watching my 2 year old son doing whatever he happens to be doing. I also like getting deep into nature, especially at trippy music festivals. You can find yourself surrounded by thousands of the most creative people you’ve ever met, all working together to make your experience as inspiring as possible.

Needless to say, inspiration is all around us. From the patterns in the flowers & plants, to the amazing music made by up-and-coming producers & musicians, its easy to get the creative juices flowing. Find a few things that make you want to create. I’m sure theres plenty of things out there, if you’d only look! Here’s a decent sized list of things I find inspiration in, maybe some of them will work for you!

• Reading a great book
• Going to a music festival
• Going camping
• Listening to great music
• Making music
• Watching children play
• Playing with my child
• Exploring nature
• Looking closely at the patterns around us
• Watching the sunset
• Watching the ocean move
• Going on adventures
• Traveling
• Seeing other people being creative

It’s not hard to keep a balanced creative life going. Don’t overwork, enjoy what you do work on, stay inspired and healthy. Have anything that helps inspire you, or tips for not getting burnt out? Post them in the comments.