Your Energy Is Your Strategy: Why Creatives Burn Out Even When They’re Doing “The Right Things
Modern Creativity #3
4 min read
Hey Creative!
I’ve got a story for you.
In 2009, one of the world’s most successful designers did something that shocked everyone in his industry.
Stefan Sagmeister was at the top of his game - designing for the Rolling Stones, HBO, and the Guggenheim. Money was flowing. Recognition was everywhere.
Then he shut it all down. For an entire year.
This next part I bet you’ll relate to…
From the outside, everything looked perfect. But inside, he felt empty. His ideas were getting worse, his enthusiasm had flatlined, and work that once energized him now felt draining.
So he did something radical: he took a creative sabbatical.
He traveled to Bali (I know! Maybe he started the cliche!?), read obsessively, took long walks, and made experimental sketches.
When he returned, he said something that should make every creative pay attention:
“Everything we designed in the seven years after that sabbatical came from ideas we had during the sabbatical.”
His best work didn’t come from working harder. It came from protecting his energy.
In this issue I'll show you how you can do that too.
Let's jump in:
Your Energy Is Your Strategy
Here’s what most creatives get wrong:
They optimize for productivity when they should optimize for energy.
They track output metrics, followers gained, projects shipped, content published. But energy? How we feel and the quality of our day to day state? That’s untracked and ignored.
This is backwards.
Energy determines the quality of everything you create. Low energy produces mediocre work, even with perfect systems. High energy transforms simple ideas into breakthrough moments.
Think of energy as your creative operating system. When it’s running smoothly, everything else works. When it’s corrupted, nothing functions properly.
But here’s what most people miss about energy…
It’s not just about sleep or coffee.
Your energy is shaped by four invisible forces most creatives never think about:
The people you spend time with. Some energize your thinking. Others drain it with negativity.
The places you frequent. Some inspire you and leave you uplifted. Others suffocate creativity
The projects you take on. Some align with your values and vision. Others feel like creative quicksand.
The activities that fill your day. Some compound your capacity. Others fragment your attention.
Most creatives treat these as separate decisions.
They’re not.
They’re all energy decisions. And once you see this pattern, everything changes…
The Energy Audit
Here’s how to start seeing the pattern:
Every week, spend 5 minutes reflecting on your week, divide your activities into two buckets.
Energisers and Drainers.
Think about everything in your creative ecosystem. Be honest with yourself, no one ever has to see it but you:
Your people. After spending time with certain friends, do you feel inspired or exhausted? What about family dinners or time with a partner, are they lifting you up or bringing you down? Work collaborators? That mentor you admire? Put them in energisers or drainers. They might be in both.
Your places. Does your home energise your thinking or make you want to procrastinate? What about that coffee shop? Your gym? Your couch? The park? Your side job?
Your projects. Which projects or tasks leaves you buzzing with ideas? Which makes you want to hide under a blanket?
Your activities. Morning walks? Late-night Netflix? Scrolling social media? Learning something new?
One important caveat before you start tracking…
Short-term energy vs. long-term energy are different.
After the gym, I feel tired. But it energises my mind, and over a week I have more energy than if I don’t go.
Loading up a video game gives me short-term energy. But 4 hours later, I feel mentally foggy and drained.
Track both. Ask yourself: “How do I feel right after?” and “How do I feel the next day?”
Now, here are mine from this week:
Energisers:
Deep work sessions without interruption
Morning workouts
Journaling
Sending people appreciation messages
Saying no to a project that felt wrong
Working from the coffee shop that buzzes with creative energy one
Investing in a fitness coach
Congolese cooking class with my partner
Drainers:
Meetings that could have been emails
Late-night social media
Working on projects I don’t believe in
Switching between unrelated tasks
Clutter at home
Noisy late night parties
Loud co-working space
Playing video games too much
Not communicating my feelings
Here’s what you’ll notice after just one week of tracking…
The drains aren’t always what you expect. It’s not the hard work that exhausts you—it’s the wrong work.
And the energisers? They’re often simpler than you think.
The goal isn’t perfection. The goal is awareness.
Because once you see the pattern, you can’t unsee it…
Your Energy Is Telling You Something
Sagmeister didn’t need a year in Bali to access his best ideas.
He needed to stop ignoring what his energy was trying to tell him.
A lot of creatives I work with think their burnout comes from doing too much. They’re almost always wrong.
We find out together that they’ve been doing too much of the wrong thing. They fill their days up with the people, places and things that drain them and don’t make room for what energises them.
Your fatigue isn’t generally about overwork. Often it’s about misalignment.
Your excitement isn’t just motivation. Mostly it's clarity and direction.
The creatives who sustain their best work long-term aren’t the ones who grind the hardest. They’re the ones who’ve learned to listen to what their energy is telling them.
They treat energy like the strategic resource it is.
You don’t need a sabbatical to start. Take 5 minutes to reflect on last week.
Your energy is already telling you everything you need to know.
Keep Creating
Joseph
P.S. If you’re enjoying Modern Creativity, please consider referring this edition to a friend or on your socials. I'd greatly appreciate it.
