- You are here:
- Home »
- Blog »
- Writers' Rough Drafts »
- Writers’ Rough Drafts – Episode #59 With Brittany Berger
Writers’ Rough Drafts – Episode #59 With Brittany Berger
Or listen on: iTunes| Stitcher| Spotify| Google Play| Download
Brittany Berger is a content marketing consultant, mental health advocate, and productivity unicorn. After working herself into a massive hole of burnout as a freelance writer, solopreneur, and head of content with startups and tech companies like Mention, she realized there had to be a better way to get creative work done without breaking herself. She was producing three to five in-depth, high-quality, long-form articles a week, but she was sick and tired—mentally and physically.
Taking a bit of a leap, she decided to make her own health and well-being a priority, adapting many of the processes and systems she applied to her creative work to her personal self-care. Eventually, she started the website and community Work Brighter, a place for creators who want to push their “work smarter” mentality into a place of even better productivity, which makes room for “unproductive” things like rest, self-care, and fun. She still puts out a ton of writing and content, with thousands of bylines under her belt, but she’s found creative ways to do that as well.
What You’ll Learn About Writing This Week:
- When you should set boundaries to let loose creatively
- Figuring out priorities in order to make a system of boundaries
- A reminder that you can’t hustle 150% of the time without something breaking
- Why you can’t let the idea of “always having a value” cause you to burn out
- Why you need to take your health as seriously as you take your work
- How you should think more at the beginning so you can think less later on
- Creating processes to make self-care easy and doable for ultra-busy people
- How to tackle repurposing your content when the thought is overwhelming
Mentioned in This Episode (Links and Resources!):
- Overwhelmed: Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time (Brigid Schulte)
- Mason Currey – Writers’ Rough Drafts episode
- Daily Rituals: Women at Work (Mason Currey)
- Todoist
- Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity (David Allen)
- Work Brighter
- Mention
- Minimalist content marketing
You Can Find More of Brittany and Her Writing On:
- Her website, BrittanyBerger.com
- WorkBrighter.co
- Twitter, @thatbberg
Tweetable Quotes From This Episode:
- When productivity isn’t the same as it used to be: “So much of my identity and self-worth was tied up in my work ethic, and the fact that I was a hard worker and an overachiever … I really had to reevaluate everything I thought about productivity and work.” – @thatbberg on #WritersRoughDrafts
- Making your health a priority again: “I had dealt with mental illness stuff before, but I never really realized how much it impacted who I was … it was a very confusing time.” – @thatbberg on #WritersRoughDrafts
- “Self-care is my side hustle.” – @thatbberg on #WritersRoughDrafts
- “Breaking things down step-by-step a lot is what helps … it’s five different tasks: It’s researching, outlining, writing, finding the image, and more.” – @thatbberg on #WritersRoughDrafts
- “I always have figured out how to have some kind of balance, and what that’s meant has been different at different times.” – @thatbberg on #WritersRoughDrafts
- “I like to say I have the productivity devil and self-care angel on my shoulder.” – @thatbberg on #WritersRoughDrafts
- “Create the content you need … THEN make it work.” – @thatbberg on #WritersRoughDrafts
- How to approach remixing your content: “Think, what are my current goals, and how can I use past content to accomplish them?” – @thatbberg on #WritersRoughDrafts
- Trying new things to remix your content: “Because I was so confident in the content, I managed the discomfort … I just took all these baby steps to something a little bit different, to something else a little bit different, rather than a giant pivot.” – @thatbberg on #WritersRoughDrafts
- “You can either leave your comfort zone completely or you can grow it.” – @thatbberg on #WritersRoughDrafts
- “It is your job as a human to try to be healthy, too.” – @thatbberg on #WritersRoughDrafts
About the Author Elisa Doucette
Elisa Doucette is a writer and editor who works with professional writers, entrepreneurs, and brands that want to make their own words even better. She is the Founder of Craft Your Content, and oversees Client Strategy and Writing Coaching. Her own writing has been featured in places like Forbes, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Yahoo! Small Business, and The Huffington Post, among others. She also hosts the Writers' Rough Drafts podcast here on CYC. When she isn't writing, editing, or reading words, she can usually be found at a local pub quiz, deep in a sun salutation, or binging TV shows for concept ideas and laughs.