How to Stay Motivated and Avoid Burnout as a Content Creator | Presented by OpusClip | YAPCreator

118.123 - 136.192 Jenna Kutcher

the beginning, my show was interview only, which did not work out well for me. I recorded it from the front seat of my parked car in my garage because I was worried my dogs were going to bark. I didn't even own a microphone. I had iPhone headphones. And I was like, all right, let's just do this. And so I committed to doing it for 90 days. And I was like, let's just see how it feels.

136.332 - 156.478 Jenna Kutcher

I can always quit it if it doesn't work, if I run out of things to say. And here we are years and years and years later. And it's evolved. And I think one lesson from this is that so often when we start a new project, we overthink all the things that don't really matter. I remember worrying about like the cover art, the title, how am I gonna sign in and sign off of every episode?

138.745 - 161.922 Hala Taha

Guys, this one is going to get pretty deep. We're going to cover everything from motivation loops to habit building and gap and gain thinking. There's so much content to get to, so let's jump right into it. Starting out as a content creator is no small feat. You're juggling everything, coming up with ideas, filming, editing, and promoting, all while trying to grow an audience.

156.518 - 171.822 Jenna Kutcher

How long is it gonna be? What is the format? When is it gonna be published? All of those things have changed and evolved over the last seven years. And my show has stayed consistent, right? And so one thing that you brought up is like so many people don't actually dive in and do the thing.

162.562 - 179.849 Hala Taha

In the beginning, it can feel like you're shouting into a void, and that can be incredibly discouraging. The truth is, consistency builds credibility. Every post, video, or podcast you put out is another brick in the foundation of your personal brand. But in order to be consistent, you first need to get started.

245.77 - 267.657 Hala Taha

So many people feel that they can't get the motivation to get started. They need to find the motivation to kick themselves into high gear. But this is the wrong way to go about it. I learned from Jeff Hayden, one of the world's top ghostwriters, that getting started is the thing that will actually give you the motivation to keep going. Contrary to popular belief, motivation doesn't come first.

249.85 - 267.791 Jenna Kutcher

We think about all the things around the thing, whether you're writing a book or starting a podcast or starting a business, you fixate on all the decisions you have to make instead of doing the actual thing, which in my case was sitting down and hitting record. Once I did that, the rest is history. But it was so easy for us to overthink all those things.

267.831 - 273.141 Jenna Kutcher

So my podcast started as an experiment, and we're still going strong 100 million downloads later.

268.158 - 282.791 Hala Taha

Effort does. Let's hear Jeff's perspective on creating motivation. So talk to us about how you can actually create motivation by starting and being consistent at something.

276.96 - 298.422 Hala Taha

Like Jenna said, when it comes to getting started as a content creator, whether it's on social media or podcasts, you really need to just get started and experiment. It's okay to evolve over time and get better as you go. To be a content creator, you must create content consistently. I find that if I'm having trouble getting started on something, I just tell myself I'll do it for 10 minutes.

408.707 - 427.252 Jeff Haden

And if I get to the next one and I get to the next one, then suddenly you can look back and go, wow, I'm starting to come a long way because I'm. You know, you pop your head up every once in a while and sort of look at where you are and go, wow, that is really cool. And then you need to put your head right back down again and just focused on next and next and next. And so...

423.599 - 442.989 Jeff Haden

Okay, but I can't sit down and think, okay, I'm going to be Malcolm Gladwell tomorrow or something like that. But what I can do is just work really hard on whatever is in front of me. And so I switched over and just said, my goal every time I do something is, all right, I have this to do. I need to do it as well as I can. I need to finish it.

429.065 - 450.464 Jeff Haden

And then the other part of it is that I'm not particularly smart. I have a college degree, but I'm not particularly educated. I don't have anything. There's nothing. I'm decidedly average. Let's just say that. I would think that's true, but okay. Well, I don't have anything special going for me except for the fact that I realize that if I put in enough effort, there are a lot of things I can do.

443.749 - 461.158 Jeff Haden

I need to get good feedback from it, which means I did a good job. Because whether I thought I did a good job didn't really matter. It's what the client thought. And that's all I can do right now. But that's enough. And so if I stack enough of those experiences up, then the experience kind of comes.

450.884 - 473.42 Jeff Haden

And so I'm very much an effort kind of a person. And so... That actually works really well because I don't think you get motivation from like this. I'm sitting around one day and suddenly I have the lightning bolt that says I want to be a famous writer or whatever it is you want to be. That doesn't work. I don't think that kind of motivation. I don't know anybody that has that.

704.929 - 725.952 Jeff Haden

Tomorrow may only be a three mile run because that's part of your process of recovery and whatever else it may be. Whatever it is, if you're doing what you set out to do that day and if that goal is or if that process is designed so that it will basically guarantee that if you put in the effort, you will succeed. Mm hmm. You're good to go. So the goal informs the process.

715.692 - 727.498 Jeff Haden

Then you just say, okay, I've got a, whatever it is, six-month plan. What's tomorrow? Tomorrow is I'm going to go run a mile and a half. Cool. When you run the mile and a half, you can check it off.

762.588 - 781.283 Hala Taha

What Jeff told me that day about motivation really stuck with me. The conventional view of motivation is if you fire somebody up enough, they're gonna go out and achieve whatever their target is. Traditionally, they say achieving success is all about generating the right mindset and that motivation will trigger you to succeed basically.

762.636 - 782.407 Jeff Haden

And you will stack up enough of those days that every once in a while you will pop your head up and say, wow, I just did a 10-mile run. Who thought I could do that? But before you get too excited and go, oh, what about the 26? You got to put your head back down because you're not there yet. And then you say, cool, I can run 10 miles. That's awesome. What's tomorrow?

781.983 - 805.153 Hala Taha

But Jeff overturns this idea that motivation leads to success. Instead, he tells us that small successes lead to constant motivation. Jeff believes that motivation is a result. It's not the spark or trigger that gets you started on your next project. Real motivation comes after you start. Motivation is the pride you take in the work you've already done, which fuels you to do even more.

782.627 - 803.63 Jeff Haden

Tomorrow may only be a three mile run because that's part of your process of recovery and whatever else it may be. Whatever it is, if you're doing what you set out to do that day and if that goal is or if that process is designed so that it will basically guarantee that if you put in the effort, you will succeed. You're good to go. So the goal informs the process.

803.79 - 823.739 Jeff Haden

And then all you worry about is, am I doing what I need to do each step of the way? You didn't start a side hustle and end up with 35 people working for you by one day just saying, you know, that's what I want to do. You knew you wanted to create a marketing agency and a podcast. You knew what you wanted to do. But you broke it down into, okay, but what can I do right now?

1681.23 - 1699.26 Jenna Kutcher

What are the right sponsorships to take on? Is this in alignment? And I feel that way with every opportunity, whether it is getting asked to speak on stages that I would have once dreamt of being on, but now I'm saying no to, or whether it is hosting a mastermind or all these things. I could do a million things. I don't want to.

1683.65 - 1706.962 Hala Taha

Jenna is in my podcast network and I've seen firsthand her turn down huge opportunities, thousands and thousands of dollars for the sake of her mental health and joy. She takes it very seriously. So something else to know about Jenna is that she only does stuff that brings her joy. You only do things that you want to do. I bring Jenna opportunities all the time.

1699.84 - 1721.883 Jenna Kutcher

And I think that I'm just at this place in my life where I just recognize that like peace is needs to be protected. And right now in this stage of my life, like my priority is my family and anything that I'm saying yes to is a no to them. And what is the most important thing to me? And so, you know, turning down things like recording another social media reel is

1707.002 - 1726.017 Hala Taha

She's in my podcast network where I'll be giving her, like, I book sponsorships for her. And she'll be like, I don't want to do that. I'm burnt out. I'm burnt out on IG Reels. And I'm like, but it's thousands of dollars. Are you sure? And she's like, yeah, I don't care. I'm burnt out. I'm not doing that. You can book it in two months or whatever. So talk to me about that.

1723.183 - 1729.687 Jenna Kutcher

To me, it's like, but this is more time with my kids or this is protecting and preserving the integrity of my followers.

2058.551 - 2078.319 Hala Taha

And it's easy to be down on yourself and give up when you feel like you didn't become an influencer or you haven't gone viral yet or reached a point to monetize your content. Benjamin Hardy, an organizational psychologist, taught me that when you think that way, you are in the gap. You are practicing gap thinking, which is a really unhealthy place to be.

2062.349 - 2076.675 Hala Taha

Yeah. I love the way that you and your team handle it. You guys take Fridays off. Yeah. So they don't work on Fridays, but you're still crushing it and getting so much done. Like you don't have to overwork yourself to be successful. And you were such a great example of that.

2076.855 - 2094.164 Jenna Kutcher

Yeah, there's this quote that I heard that totally changed my, my mentality. And it was instead of asking yourself, if you've worked hard enough to earn your rest, ask yourself if you've rested well enough to do your best work. It was by a girl, Nicola Hobbs, I think is her name or Nicola Dobbs. And

2078.819 - 2103.811 Hala Taha

Instead, you really want to practice gain thinking. Now here's Ben to explain gap and gain thinking. I heard you say on another podcast that when you released that book in 2018, that you came on my podcast to talk about willpower doesn't work. You actually considered it a failure because it didn't reach New York Times bestsellers list. And that's like every author's dream.

2095.284 - 2112.891 Jenna Kutcher

I heard that and I was like, whoa, like I have been wired of like, I just need to get this done and then I can rest. And I was like, what if we like flip this on its head? And it's just been so transformative for me because I'm like, no, I need to like come into this feeling rested and well to do my best work. And that is like totally shifted things. I love that.