On Wednesday, Keith Robinson, who publishes the "To Done" blog, wrote about creative burn-out which is also sometimes called "Writer's Block."

I sent Keith three suggestions regarding coping with burnout and he asked me to publish these suggestions. This posting is to do that and to expand it as well.

1. When you are "on a roll," pretend that you are in a marathon race and set yourself a pace. In long distance running, putting out too much energy too quickly will cause you to lose the race. This also occurs with creativity. Learn to say NO to urgent clients and short deadlines even if it means losing some contracts. Otherwise like the runner you will find yourself "panting" instead of running.

2. Create an idea file or a Work in Progress file - I find that if I try to force my creativity that my end product has very little flair or pizazz. If on the other hand, I place some of my seemingly "blocked" creations into a work in progress file and then ignore them for awhile - my subconscious does half the work while my conscious is working on a totally different project.

3. Discover your personal "illogical." Humans are illogical. ( Big Revelation - what? ). Yet for many of us when we try to exercise self-discipline and focus on GTD we tap into our "logical" or determinant side. However, if we can discover our own "illogical" side we can channel our own tendency towards obsessions, pleasures, and addictions. Many people become a slave to their own passions because they never learn to channel their passions. The illogical side of a human is where fervency, ardor, passions and enthusiasms live. This illogical side is where the flame of our inner fire burns. Burnout is frequently caused by letting the flame rule itself instead of learning how to "adjust" the flame or channel the obsession.

4. Do not become an Adrenaline Junkie or a Praise Junkie. Brillancy is highly over-rated. It is better to be a steady, consistent producer of Quality than it is to produce a single piece of brilliancy. In sports hitting home runs occasionally may cause people to ignore your low batting average, but in business it is better to have a high RBI and a consistently high batting average than it is to make a very small number of clients delirious with happiness while most of your former clients despise you.

But there is another reason that you should quit "swinging for the fences," burnout is sometimes caused by the letdown which follows a major success. Legend has it (whether true or not, I do not know) that Neal Armstrong developed an emotional funk after becoming the first man on the moon. Those so-called "child experts" that advocate unconditional good grades are raising a generation of people who will be ADDICTED to praise and will become bunt out and depressed when they do not get praise.

Adrenaline junkies become bunt out when the pressure is off. When the crisis has been solved. Because they are addicted to urgency they seek for more urgency. This another reason to follow the advice that I gave in #1 and reject clients who are always trying to force you into the urgency trap.

5. If you are religious and if you believe in an all-wise, and loving God, then surrender all your dreams and goals and ambitions to his wisdom - and surrender all your fears and anxieties and dreads to his wisdom. Sometimes burnout is caused by wanting to be a different vessel than the one that the potter intended. In your life, it turns out that God wanted a mop bucket or a garbage pail and He has chosen you to help Him in that capacity. However, you don't want to be a mop bucket. This is what happened to Job. (For those who believe in Jesus, read Hebrews 11:36-38 for a description of some of God's mop buckets.) Shall the clay pot argue with the potter because it does not like the potter's choice for its purpose? Isaiah 45:9 and 29:16

A good book both for coming to grips with your "illogical" or passionate side and for developing consistency instead of burnout is the book, "The Eighth Habit" by Stephen Covey. If you find that you schedule things but are then never "in the mood" to accomplish what you have scheduled or if you find that your fervency flairs brightly but then results in a cold firepan of ashes, you may get some help from this book.

A good article on over-working is found on the Wall Street Journal's CareerJournal website.