What do you guys do to recharge?

[Matthew Lau]

I've been having a bit of a dry spell.

Almost all my energy goes towards my patients and the dental office.
I'm getting extremely burnt out, and I haven't built an instrument for about 5 years now.
It feels like there's always something to do: clinical, admin, janitorial, etc.
This weekend, will be my first real full weekend off in over a year

How do you guys recharge, renew, and find inspiration?

-Matt

ps. I don't mean to bring up religion, but my mom's been telling me to go back to church and serve.
I'm tempted to just escape somewhere for a day with a cold beer, some wood, and a spokeshave...or go into the woods and hike.
Heck! My office is just 5 minutes from the beach! Aargh!

[Eric Knapp]

I also reached this point with my job. Starting to build instruments is my recharge. I'm being very irrational about saying no and going to my shop. Overall my family is happy with this because they want a happy dad and husband. I need a new balance and I'm getting closer with this new commitment to myself to get enough shop time every week. So far so good, we'll see what develops.

-Eric

[David King]

Matthew,
That sounds more serious than just a dry spell. I'd suggest getting some professional help even to try to realign the work/play balance. Having goals is one of those bits of advice that we keep hearing than I'm afraid I and others don't take to heart. Just knowing what you want out of life and where you want to be in a month, a year, five years etc so you actually know where you are headed and what's important to you. That hopefully gives you permission to say no or to leave the office at fixed time every day and drop everything to do something completely different.

I've been having my own long-term identity crisis of sorts because I have a hard time believing that the world really needs another instrument from me. I also wonder if my talents might be put to better use saving the world in ways other than indulging the often over-privilaged overgrown adolescents that are my customer base. My inspiration is to seek out good musicians and pick their brains about what they need and what they are missing from their instruments and see if it something I can address. I find I'm much more motivated when I'm trying to solve someone's problem and when the solution is outside of my comfort zone or just requires some new thinking.

[Barry Daniels]

Ditto here. I retired from my day job two years ago and thought I would be spending lots of time in my shop. It hasn't happened. The "over-privilaged overgrown adolescents that are my customer base" definitely makes it difficult to find motivation. My time away from the shop lead me to other pursuits, but I am now coming back into the shop with renewed interest. Also, I am currently building a guitar for myself (first one in 30 years) and that seems to give me a desire to make progress. I am using some new-to-me building methods on this guitar which keeps my interest peeked.

[Bryan Bear]

Matthew, this is a big question that is really too difficult to fully address in a post here. But I'll throw in a few cents anyway. Know that you are not alone in what you are experiencing here. But. . . you will have to find what works for you. Everyone flirts with burnout (professionally and personally) to varying degrees from time to time. We all know we need to address this and doing sooner rather than later is better for us and everyone we care about, but we tend to put ourselves off when stressors rise. . .

My line of work can be very emotionally exhausting. I work in cancer research and spend my days in the treatment rooms. Sadly, many of the people I see everyday are on borrowed time and actively trying to borrow more with each course of treatment. So We get bad news frequently. We also have a big brass bell in the lobby for people to ring when they celebrate good news (like finishing their chemo regimen or other markers of surviorship). We all try to go watch anytime someone rings the bell. It means a lot to us too.

At home, I have a number of stressors that cannot be resolved only worked around. This keeps me out of the shop which is what I do to decompress. I try to spend every day soaking up as much of my family as I can. That helps a lot. Every now and then I have to stop myself and commit myself to allowing time for my stress relief. I can't help others if I am in bad shape myself.

One bit of advice I will offer is to be mindful of why you are dong what you are doing. I could make more money elsewhere and be shielded from a good deal of the "compassion fatigue," but then I wouldn't be directly touching the lives of these people and their loved ones. If I keep in mind that I am choosing to do something because I believe in what I am doing, it makes the downsides much more manageable.

There are reasons you have chosen to build this dental practice. You need to remind yourself of what they are and take stock in the progress you have made. Then weigh that against your frustration and find a balance. Schedule time for yourself. Do something you enjoy. No matter what it is don't let it become another task you have to complete. Instrument making can get like that sometimes. You feel like you need to push through and finish it to justify taking the time to do it. It isn't really about the finished product, it is about the process. Stop and admire your work along the way but don't beat yourself up over imperfections.

[Clay Schaeffer]

"Heck! My office is just 5 minutes from the beach! Aargh!"

Schedule an hour or so each day to amble along on the beach. A time to do nothing but walk, admire nature, and not have to accomplish anything.

[Randy Roberts]

All good advice, especially Clay.

Go to the beach. The increased O2 level and the sound will be hard to beat as far as rejuvenation.

Above all leave the practice behind Put it in it's drawer and close the drawer. Don't take it back out until you get back.

Beach time is not for sorting out the problems, planning the day etc. Focus on the sound and blank your mind. Meditate there however works best for you, but leave the practice behind, you will be far more effective without giving the practice that hour.

Try it for a week.

[Jason Rodgers]

Do you subscribe to American Lutherie? If not, that's something to look forward to 4 times a year. If you do, then go back to AL #120 and read the convention transcript of Evan Gluck's talk called "The Business of Doing Business." http://www.luth.org/back_issue/al117-120/al120.html Tweedy and I caught that session, and it was excellent.

One of the big topics that he talks about is the importance of work-life balance. He realized that he was overworked and suffering from repetitive motion injuries, so he set up some goals and limits for his professional and personal life. In his particular situation, he was able to cut back on shop hours, spend more time with family, and actually made more money. The great thing about his story is that it doesn't just apply to being a guitar repairman. The concepts he discovered in his own personal quest are the things people write books about.

(Speaking of the GAL Convention, put the 2017 weekend on your calendar now! It's an amazing experience, and us MIMFers hang out and put back the pints.)

As for my own recharge, I'm doing it right now. I'm a middle school band and choir teacher, and I get summers off. When I'm not driving my daughter to ballet, attending soccer matches (PTFC!), or doing house projects (new deck this week), I can spend 6-8 hours in the shop every day. This is definitely not the schedule that most people run on, but it's not unlike a sabbatical.

[Peter Wilcox]

Almost all my energy goes towards my patients and the dental office.

Matthew, there is the root of your problem. If your professional life is enjoyable and of overwhelming importance to you, then that's where you need to direct your energy. If it's starting to drag you down, then you need to cut it back and spend some energy doing something more enjoyable, something you are passionate about. It may not be lutherie any more - my passions/obsessions have changed over the years, from electronics to optics to photography to lutherie, with playing music always a constant.

Even when I was in medical school, during residency (when 2 more kids were born), and in practice on call every other week for the whole week, I found (needed) the time to indulge in my passions. Eventually I found a job without the call, and then cut back on my working hours. Now I am retired, and still don't have enough time (or energy, really) - but I make sure I do have some.

You need to decide what's important to you. "Where there's a will, there's a way."

[Chuck Tweedy]

One of the big topics that he talks about is the importance of work-life balance. He realized that he was overworked and suffering from repetitive motion injuries, so he set up some goals and limits for his professional and personal life.

Bingo - good call Jason.
How Evan made himself sane was (is) to rationally deal with his life in a controllable and measurable way.
The hard part (for me at least) is to step back and evaluate your current situation in an objective way. Maybe journal your day - take notes of what you spend your time doing, at what time, and how specific things affect you. For a week or so.
Then you can make rational changes that get straight to the problem.

As Jason said, Evan scheduled his day very specifically, and that gave him BOTH guaranteed down time and predictability of his life.

[Mark Swanson]

This is a huge issue for me as well. I do a lot of repairs, and that gets....shall we say, uninspiring to say the least. So it gets me behind in my building orders, and makes me feel a bit overwhelmed. Burnout is a factor I have to deal with!
I will see some of you all at the 2017 convention too!

[Brian Evans]

I retired (was downsized) three years ago. My race car restoration business kind of wound down last summer. My wife tells me I am finally starting to relax.

[Gordon Bellerose]

My work is pretty intense also. I work as a Supervisor for a large Crane Rental company.
We supply cranes and operators to the construction industry and oilfield, North America wide and internationally.
My job is to go and look at the job, and quote it. If I am the successful bidder, then I look after getting the equipment to site and erecting it.
Some of the larger crawlers take a few days to erect.
Then I look after the lifts, communicating with the customer. Daily safety, charges, crew time, are all in my hands.
Once complete the reverse happens.

When I get home, my shop is my happy place.

Perhaps Matthew, some of your chores can be downloaded to independent parties?
Janitorial for instance.

[Matthew Lau]

Just popping in.

I've been sure to take frequent "beach time," and get out of the office.
I've also learned to offload every possible thing that I can delegate if it can be done acceptably well.
That includes the janitorial stuff and fixing things (if it'll take me over 20 min, I'll delegate)

In the meanwhile, it's interesting to see what other stuff you guys have been doing.

-Matt

ps. Thanks for the well wishes. I'm thinking of building something again.

[Steve Sawyer]

Matt - start planning a project. If you don't start getting obsessed with it, pick a different project. Keep doing that until you catch yourself boring your wife, co-workers and patients with it!

[Randolph Rhett]

I build guitars to recharge. And, as crazy as it may sound, when I need a break from building I play guitar. I keep a guitar in my office, but even when I get fed up with building guitars I'll take a break and focus on developing my playing.

Being outside also helps. Walking, golfing, surfing, hunting, whatever your particular pleasure may be.

That said, I am sure no expert in life/love/happiness balance. I know the Universe doesn't need another guitar from me, I'm not a gigging musician, and I don't much care if some client of mine wins whatever dispute they are in with their partners/vendors/suppliers/investors/etc. And yet, if I am not working I am building guitars or practicing guitar!

We all live crazy lives.

[Stephen Neal Saqui]

Practice TM

Pick something great to do, and do it.

You won't have the maladies

[Eric Baack]

stick a pair of screwdrivers into a socket.. that charges me up right quick.

[Matthew Lau]

stick a pair of screwdrivers into a socket.. that charges me up right quick.

Ha!

My current project is cleaning up my workshop and office (two different areas).
I was making a custom cart for root canal stuff, but my neighbors nicked the lacquered plywood shelves that I had ready ( )

After things are done, I'm thinking of making a series of purfling cutters.
If they turn out nice, I may a duplicate to auction for mimf.

[Beate Ritzert]

Well, although the topic is not new and many important things have already been said - that's to me the most important point, and i want to emphasize it.

Almost all my energy goes towards my patients and the dental office.

Matthew, there is the root of your problem. If your professional life is enjoyable and of overwhelming importance to you, then that's where you need to direct your energy. If it's starting to drag you down, then you need to cut it back and spend some energy doing something more enjoyable,

Moreover: there is no real cure from a burnout. You will never find back to You former strength and energy again. You will need to find a new, different level of work life balance, and You might have to readjust it as You will grow older.

The last time i touched the burn out was two years ago, and my consequence was to reduce the time i spend in my job as an electrologist (which similarly to a dentist requires massive concentration and dealing with clients feeling pain). And now, as i am approaching my 60s i wonder how long i might be able to work that profession.

So while there will be no full recharge it will help a lot going out, hiking, running long distances, riding bicycle, cross country skiing. And then doing something complementary to Your profession. Something where You can work slowly, thoroughly, creatively, and where at the end You'll have a result You can be proud of.

In German we have the phrase "die Seele baumeln lassen" - to unwind, but a lot more figurative. It is something i recommend to my clients to deal with the pain of my treatments, which is almost unavoidable. Maybe some kind of meditation will help You with this, maybe just hearing music (classical, contemporary (Arvo Päärt, Olivier Messiaen)? modern jazz, especially with the north european expressivity?).
May be religiously - the silent contemplation of the monks is just that. But serving in a church is not; it will just impose new duties on You. Religious communities can be very demanding.

Other ways to unwind may be repetitive tasks which leave resources to let Your thoughts run free - "meditative sanding" in woodworking with hand tools, ironing laundry, ... just everything where You can reach a flow and forget the time.