YouTube Burnout – What It Is And Its Causes

Learn what YouTube Burnout is, the reasons that might cause YouTube Burnout, and find some tips on how to prevent YouTube creator burnout.

Every person encounters career blocks in their life.

Don’t worry, it’s completely normal and happens to everybody.

But instead of throwing your hands in the air and giving up, you can turn these around.

The same is the case with YouTubers.

It is natural for a YouTuber to get overwhelmed by the competition on the platform and face burnout.

But instead of getting worried, we have a solution to offer you!

In this article, we will be explaining what YouTube Burnout is and the reason why it happens, we will also chalk out the ways you can get rid of it.

So what are you waiting for?

Let’s get started!  

What Is YouTube Burnout

Burnout in general means a state of mind in which a person experiences extreme exhaustion and diminished interest in their career, social life, family gatherings, or their friend circle; it can be caused by many things around and inside a person, because it is not only simple exhaustion, in fact, it is a severe stress condition that may lead to severe physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion.

Which is obviously bad for anyone’s career or life.

That is why, YouTube burnout is also a real thing, which can jeopardize the future of your channel and the value of your content.

It can be caused by such factors:

• The extreme burden of work (unmanageable)
• Irritability
• Isolation
• Mental and physical exhaustion
• a long-term illness
• a need for mental and physical escape

Your YouTube channel can also become extremely demanding for you, which can also cause burnout.

So, in a nutshell, it is safe to say that you manage your work according to your mental and physical health. 

Do what makes you happy.

What Are The Causes Of YouTube Burnout?

As we talked earlier about some of the causes and factors of burnout, we will now discuss them in more detail.

Our main point is to prevent your success from such failure that can come due to them.

Because when we know the factors and causes, we can realize them at early stages and get rid of them when they start to happen, which will eventually lead us back to our normal state.

Taking a short break from everything that exhausts us, can never be bad, in fact, short breaks are essential for any program to run successfully in the long run.

The most crucial and first factor that causes YouTube burnout is extremely demanding work and hours.

As a YouTuber, you will realize quickly that it is a platform that asks for a lot of energy for the work. 

A work that has to look authentic, new, and fresh, which is quite nerve-wracking. 

A person who just started their channel, might not feel it this way if they are taking it upwards slowly.

But if you are an old YouTuber, you might realize it to your core.

And you must know that is the reason why famous YouTubers struggle to go on vacations once, in a while, they seriously miss their ‘Me-time’.

And then obviously there are certainly other issues and causes too.

For instance, there are many famous makeup artists, who suffer from serious skin acne or skin eczema due to constant makeup application and removal, and when they are not able to apply makeup on their skin on their weekly schedule, they feel so tired and depressed.

Behind every YouTube career and after every YouTube success, there are tons of burnout stories of millions and millions of famous YouTubers.

That is why we say, a YouTube burnout is as real as any famous YouTuber’s success.

Some of the reasons why YouTube Burnout happens are because YouTubers act as their own bosses, they feel pressured to create quality and relevant content, and because YouTubers are scared to do so due to YouTube policies. 

1. YouTubers Are Their Own Bosses

You can say that YouTubers are their own bosses because creating your own content and managing your own channel and success is in their own hands.

Though one may find it very easy to look at the videos, they sound fun or informative, but, behind each and every famous and most-streamed video, there is a ton of work.

They have to plan the video first, then stage it, shoot it, edit it and then upload it. 

Sometimes editing takes hours or even days and uploading may also take hours.

It is not as easy as it sounds to its viewers.

Behind being their own bosses, they had to work extremely hard.

Though there is a chance of burning out, that is why they try to maintain it with their other schedules and make it a big part of their lives, they live their channels.

Especially when some of the famous YouTubers open up about their routines, we get to know how much of their daily hours are given to the videos and live streaming, which is not easy at all when daily you are giving ten or more than ten hours to it.

Sounds Tough!

In a nutshell, success does not come easy but it is as sweet and adored as Belgian chocolate.

2. Creating Quality Content Is A Hard Work

Coming up with new ideas, plotting them, planning them and staging them is not easy at all.

At the beginning of any channel, the creators might have so many ideas and original new fresh content but as time passes by, they have to keep coming up constantly and non-stop with the new and fresh content.

Which sounds tiring and frustrating.

Though there is an online trend to watch and imitate trendy videos, in which there are hundreds and hundreds of challenges going on to upload videos on, still how many of your videos can only be about online challenges?

Unless, your channel is only about making ‘challenge’ videos but still, every time you would have to come up with some new challenges or imitate other trendy new challenges and choose those ones which you can perform.

That is why, creators find it very hard and challenging to find a new and fresh content to video, which sounds extremely frustrating.

If this point burns you out, this may disturb your entire routine and your family and social life.

3. YouTube Creators Feel Under Pressure To Produce Relevant Content

If you are a YouTuber or are interested in being one, then you must have heard of the word ‘niche’ or ‘choosing a specific niche for you’.

Because every person has to pick one niche for them to start their own channel, the name of their channel and brand depends on that chosen niche.

Then all of the videos and content they create are always related to that area/niche.

To stick with their brand and their reputation, they have to create and come up with related content.

It is also a hard-work acquiring task.

YouTubers are always under pressure to produce relevant content to make up their brand.

For instance, if you are owning a gardening channel, you have to keep coming up with new content related to this area, new gardening techniques, tools, small and big gardens, plants, and flowers you can grow inside and outside of the house.

You might also have heard a channel’s name ‘5 minutes craft’, if you watch their videos you will notice that they have millions of views and their crafty ideas are very quick and short.

Well, it may sound easy to come up with ideas that take only 5 minutes to perform, but think of it as constant hard work because they have to come up with new crafty ideas about everything which can be done in 5 minutes.

It sounds a lot of pressure to us.

4. YouTubers Are Scared Of Being Penalized By YouTube Algorithm

Making a living as a YouTuber is not easy at all, as much easy and fun as it sounds, it is quite the opposite. 

Videos are a time-consuming act and there are so many creators who like to handle each and every aspect of their production by themselves.

It is real and horrifying that for the last few years, YouTube has been suffering from a burnout epidemic. 

Most of the top YouTubers are forced to make nonstop videos for their ever-hungry audience. 

That is why they are afraid to take breaks due to the fear of losing their momentum or worse, they might be reprimanded by the algorithm that then decides what videos people see mostly on their channel.

Then they feel under a lot of pressure to make those kinds of videos that their audience wants to see.

All creators dream of their videos coming under the automatic suggestions of YouTube. 

And for this they have to keep on making videos, sometimes when they are not much active on screen, YouTube penalizes them and gives that spot to someone else who is up to the task.

Though most of the YouTubers believe that the logic behind the YouTube algorithm works in a manner that “more views mean more money”.

And that is why, YouTubers admit that they are afraid to take time off, fearing that it will affect their performance and their channel reach while their ranking trends on the site, which uses an algorithm to determine the ones to recommend. 

Although it remains a mystery and it is believed that the algorithm, many influencers say it rewards accounts that post frequently with more page views.

How To Avoid The YouTube Burnout

Some ways through which you can avoid YouTube Burnout include taking a break, shooting videos in batches, reducing the number of times you post, editing content in time blocks, and asking for help. 

1. Take A Break

Taking breaks between any work that requires so many hours and hard work is necessary for mental and physical health and so should you to get rid of that burnout.

And to initiate it what you can do is make a quick video update, post it to your channel and let people know that you are taking a short break because you need some time out but you will be back for them because they are also like your family. 

We would suggest you, probably take no longer than a month or so, and use this one also as an opportunity to let people follow you and your pics of holidays, where it is easier for you to interact. 

Every person now and then updates their social page with their pictures, in fact, one or two pictures daily are enough.

You would be doing that more naturally throughout your vacations.

2. Shoot Videos In Batches

Constantly shooting and editing videos is tiring especially when you have to stage them in a particular way, it needs so much of your energy.

That is why, instead of making one video, plan about shooting three or four videos in a row. 

Believe us, this is going to save you a lot of time and energy.

You will surely be able to get it finished in one day.

Other than that only thing you have to keep in check is creating several scripts for this task.

As we mentioned before, if you stick to one niche and area, then it will be much easier to create several scripts for you. 

And another trick to save up your energy is to pick one location. 

It can be anywhere; it can be inside your office or it could be outside. 

But just once in a while, you will relax and take it easy while working.

3. Reduce The Number Of Times You Post

If you plan on posting videos, 4 or 5 times a week, just reduce the number.

Try uploading 2 or 3 times a week only, because it sounds more manageable this way.

We know as video creators, sometimes those creative juices overflow and in that situation, even if you did not plan on posting anything online, you can and you should. 

Mention it as a surprise for my followers, they will be happy and so would you be.

You can also make it a culture on your channel where you ask for new ideas on your channel from your audience and whoever’s idea you like the most, mention them as winners. 

And then make that video as a price.

So, try reducing the number of your videos and use less of your own energy and include your audience as a part of your content.

This will make your work easy for you most of the time.

4. Edit Content In Time Blocks

Editing sometimes takes days and sometimes hours, but is a crucial process.

And we know that often you must be finding it too stressful especially when you try to edit your videos all in one day. 

So, instead of trying and doing it in one very long sitting try picking two hours in the morning, two hours in the afternoon and then two hours in the night. 

Because the most important thing is to take breaks, even when they are short, you feel most motivated. 

So consume your energy by doing it in time blocks. 

And the important tip is when you edit your videos throughout the week, you won’t get stressed out about it. 

Just manage the hours, divide them.

5. Ask for help

You feel most tired and burned out when you are alone, so ask for help.

Discuss it with your closest family member, seek their help and guidance. 

Share it with your good friends, ask for their help.

Even when someone cannot help you out with your work and its details, they can simply help you out in the relaxation process.

A good laugh is the best help; anyone can ever ask for. 

So join the friends for a weekend or a night out, they will help you relax when you laugh together and share your problems.

Laughing at your own problems and seeing them as a trivial matter, is one the best therapies.

Whenever you feel a step towards burnout, just take a break in a way you feel easy.

Conclusion

We hope that our article was helpful for you.

Take a break and have a good laugh with your family and your friends, relax!

Leave us a comment!

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