Published 16 October 2026 by Martin Hamilton
Little Red Riding Hood had a desire. It was to get to her grandmother’s house. She had one problem, the Big Bad Wolf. Steve Jobs had a desire. It was to be the rebellious challenger that would protect individuality and freedom against a powerful, conformist establishment. His problem was the giant Big Blue IBM.
Creators have a desire to create something that mass appeals to their audience. The enemy is burnout, not wanting to move forward, forcing ourselves to do the work which can create more resistance, and outright escaping the process to relax and let it go. We stop creating from our hearts, and often what used to be our hobby has turned into a forced work task.
I was looking into one of the greatest music bands in history and how they kept making so much popular music. They didn’t even perform a live, publicized concert in the last five years of their ten-year existence, yet they created volumes of music, and much of that music was a top hit. They just loved going to the studio and performing. I’m not saying they didn’t experience burnout.
They certainly did, and the way they dealt with it was doing drugs and drinking often, but mainly they just worked through it because it was just in them, in their being, to create more music. It was just what they did. Good or bad, they kept moving, and their audience loved almost everything they recorded.
The Beatles changed the music world and enlightened fans all over the world in times of war and peace. Growing up with young parents gave me the chance to experience all of their music. I can remember starting the day on weekends with The White Album playing in the background on my stepdad’s stereo.
The Beatles and Steve Jobs knew how to keep the desire alive; therefore, their effort felt like pursuit. When the desire goes dim, the same effort feels like punishment.
That’s the real signal burnout is expressing. It often means the desire has gone blurry. Maybe the desire has drifted from what you actually want to what you think you’re supposed to be doing to obtain that desire. Maybe you’ve started creating for the algorithm instead of what your subscribers and readers really need, or for approval instead of impact.
Maybe you’ve got too many things going at once, and the attention switching is creating burnout. If you run a large group or organization, then do what billionaire John Morgan does and hire people you can trust. Tough, I know, but you’re not trusting them with your life only on projects that can be monitored. Create a feedback system so all you have to do is look at the reports without getting bogged down deeply into the systems.
How about looking at what the ancients did to deal with current burnout, and ultimately prevent burnout from derailing you ever again? Rome had a formal, honored concept known as otium. It is structured, guilt-free non-productivity, distinct from laziness (ignavia).
In the modern world, we diagnose burnout as a scheduling issue and prescribe productivity apps. The Romans knew it was a moral problem. In the modern world, we no longer have a legitimate word for rest that isn’t “recovery for more work.” I’m talking about real rest.
The Naval Academy teaches cadets a method called brain dumping. What if you could take a few days and completely stop thinking about your business and problems and let them go into the ether? What would that feel like?
Recommended Resource: The book The Art of Otium takes a Latin word meaning intentional, active leisure directed toward reflection and inner growth, and turns it into a warm, practical guide for the overwhelmed modern reader.
The stress reduction on your physiological system would be incredible. I can speak from experience, and it feels fantastic. That’s otium. But remember, it’s not recovery. It’s rest. If you think of it as recovery, then in the back of your mind you’ve still got the problems rattling around in your mind.
Treat rest as part of the journey and not as a detour or an escape. When you learn this, your life will change dramatically for the better.
Burnout isn’t a sign that you need to work harder or smarter. It’s a message that your desire and your path have drifted apart. Listen to it, practice the formal honored concept of otium like the Romans, and you and your audience will benefit greatly.
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