How to get unstuck when you’re feeling overwhelmed

An interview with Jess Peterson and Christopher Bernal

Have you ever felt stuck in your motion design career? Maybe you’re feeling like you need to do everything all the time but aren’t sure what is actually helping you move forward in your business or career. If you feel like your to-do list is getting longer all the time and don’t know what to do and you're feeling overwhelmed, this is the episode that you need to listen to.

Today I’m talking to Jess Peterson and Christopher Bernal about what to do when you’re feeling stuck and overwhelmed. Jess and Christopher are mentors in our Mograph Mastermind Program. Jess runs Mighty Oak Studios specializing in handmade animation and design. Christopher is a Bay Area motion designer with ten years of experience working with internal production companies, agencies, and studios.

In this episode, we’re talking about conquering your feelings of being overwhelmed by work and moving on to the next stages of your career. Jess and Christopher share some of their tried and true tactics for when they feel inundated with work. As my guests explain, a lot of this can be accomplished by prioritizing and categorizing your tasks.

We also talk about delegating roles to other people, the proper mindset for not letting the amount of work you have to get out of hand, and knowing when it’s okay to say no to a job. We discuss the benefits of being part of a community like a mastermind and how that support is one of the most valuable things a freelancer or small business owner can have.

Are you part of a community of other motion designers? How has it benefited you and your business? Let me know in the comments!

In this episode

  • Actionable advice for dealing with having just too much work to do
  • Why taking the time to reflect on your business and work is an important part of moving forward with it
  • Knowing when it’s time to delegate various tasks of your business
  • The mindset needed to help maintain a healthy and sustainable work-life balance
  • The power and payoffs of being part of a community

Quotes 

“When I start to do these things, are they interconnected? Are they going to help set off a chain of things that can show me a path going forward? Every once in awhile, there will be lots of interesting things coming up on my radar, but it’s not really an opportunity if it’s just a distraction.” [8:19]

“If you can take the other parts of your work that are on your plate an invest in someone who is also naturally good at that to help you, you find that the work goes so much quicker and that it is more cost-efficient, it’s more successful, it allows you to be a better creative or small business owner.” [14:48]

“I just have to normalize that not everything that pops up is an opportunity. Just because it’s all happening at once doesn’t mean that it’s going away.” [20:54]

“If you don’t know when you’re going to get close to done, then you feel like it’s never going to end. And that’s most often when we burn out. If you can give yourself opportunities, if you can plan projects out, it kind of gives you those markers to know it’s not forever — there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.” [24:24]

“Who you know in an authentic way is incredibly valuable to growing your business. You shouldn’t have to be sending out cold emails.”  [32:19]

The Mograph Mastermind Program

 

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