You’re a podcaster facing burnout. What can you do to keep your passion alive?

Take a break and allow yourself time away from podcasting to recharge. Use this time to explore new interests, engage in activities that inspire you, and focus on self-care. Reflect on the aspects of podcasting that initially sparked your passion, and consider incorporating fresh ideas or formats to keep things exciting. Connect with your audience through listener feedback and involve them in shaping future content. Collaborate with other podcasters or bring in guest hosts to infuse new perspectives. Establish a realistic schedule to avoid overwhelming yourself and prioritize your mental and physical well-being. By taking intentional steps to refresh your approach and balance your workload, you can overcome burnout.

Additional signs of burnout as a podcaster show up at the thought of connecting with potential guest as well. If you notice a pattern (more than three times consecutively) of being energetically resistant to opening guest pitch emails, pre call set up (if applicable to your screen flow), or you find yourself taking on guest just to fill slots. Those are also signs of burnout (apathy). Consider taking a 4-6 week recording hiatus to recalibrate your desire and direction for the show. During the hiatus either make a season break announcement or choose 4-6 previous episodes that were fan faves based on listens and recycle them during those weeks as “Peoples Choice” Episodes to re-highlight during your recalibration break. -With love ??????

*insert ChatGPT answer* (lol) ... Look if you're dreading recording new episodes, you're probably burned out. Recording podcasts is like everything, sometimes you just need to take some time off & get yourself some TLC

Revisiting your why is absolutely critical. If you fall away from the reason you started podcasting, burnout is inevitable. If you are feeling burnout, I recommend pulling back, digging in to why you are doing what you are doing, and if you are not excited to keep doing it, take a break. If your show isn't exciting to you, it won't be exciting to your audience.

Start a podcast because it's something you would do if only ten people listened and enjoyed it. Think of it as a conversation between friends. Detaching your purpose from your visible results is powerful. That way, you won't be overly discouraged if only 100 people listen, or excessively elated if 100,000 listen. Stay true to the meaning, not the metrics.

Most podcasts take time to build - growth is largely organic, and often isn't exponential. That's okay - build a production system that makes it easy for you to put out quality episodes and continue to improve. Set goals that are achievable, and broken out over specific, measurable time periods instead of massive end goals. By breaking out your goals and building over time, you can do amazing things with your podcast without burning out.

I personally prefer setting ONE big, audacious long-term goal that functions as your North Star ? your inspiration. And then breaking it down into several, tiny ???? short-term goals. Those are the bread crumbs that will take you to your North Star. Their function is to keep you on track and motivated as you're constantly going forward and making progress, no matter how small.

Last summer I decided to take a full month sabbatical (break?) from both my podcast and business. I determined that I still wanted to support podcasters while I was gone, so I created a Summer Spark Series - a 6-episode limited series that was audio-only, shorter, inspirational and actionable. All the pre-recorded content went out without a glitch, I took my break, and it actually generated a ton of podcast guesting opportunities, leads that were on the fence finally booked calls with me, and even speaking opportunities arose from it. On social media people were excited to know how it went, and they even shared how grateful they were that I embodied what I preach - that it's possible to see growth by creating a smart strategy to rest!

Sí es recomendable darse unos descansos. Creo que el tiempo uno lo decide. Si ya tienes fieles seguidores, ellos entenderan y, con tranquilidad, van a esperar el regreso del podcast. Pero tampoco te tomes un a?o o más para hacerlo.

Yes, please take breaks ???? Even if you love what you do and are passionate about it, you're still going to feel tired sometimes. You're human. It's important to acknowledge those times and give your mind and body the rest needed (instead of just pushing through). Maybe you'll realize that you didn't want to stop, you just wanted to rest and recharge. Then you can come back more energized and passionate than ever before!

If your podcast workflow is the same as when you started, you need to revisit it. Experimentation with content can be a crucial way to identify new opportunities and to keep yourself engaged in your podcast - and the backend tools and tech for podcasting have substantially improved, creating huge workflow improvement opportunities that can reduce stress and free up time. Make sure you're giving yourself space to be creative and have fun - and that you're leveraging new automation to reduce time spent on frustrating tasks.

It definitely helps to come back to what compelled you to create the podcast in the first place. Believe you have something to offer. That positive thought can keep you going. If you have a site or social media for your podcast, post a poll/question and let your listeners tell you what they truly enjoy about your podcast. They can help you reconnect with your love of podcasting.

Por supuesto siempre será bueno saber el por qué iniciaste el podcast. Eso te va ayudar a inspirarte y volver a grabar episodios. Recuerda que no importa tu contenido siempre va a haber alguien que le va a fascinar lo que transmites. ?ánimo!

Last but not least, ask yourself if you're really doing this for the right reasons. Is this what you really want? Is it aligned with your values and goals? Does it still make sense in this phase of life and business? Because maybe, just maybe, the answer is no. And that's okay too. Most people don't talk about this in the podcasting space, but if you want to stop, if you realized you did for the wrong reasons, or if you believe you did what you wanted to do and it's time for something new, trust yourself and let go ??