What do you do if your game design workload is overwhelming your self-care and well-being?

One effective approach is maintaining a stress journal, where you record the situations, tasks, or people that trigger stress. This helps you recognize patterns and take steps to mitigate them, similar to debugging a game by isolating the issue before resolving it. Acknowledging stress also requires vulnerability, which can be challenging in an industry that often glorifies constant hustle. However, even the most successful game designers need downtime.

Establish clear boundaries between work and personal life. Set designated work hours and stick to them, allowing yourself time for rest and relaxation without guilt. Incorporate regular breaks throughout your workday to recharge and prevent burnout. Prioritize self-care activities such as exercise, meditation, or hobbies that bring you joy and rejuvenate your creativity. Remember, maintaining your well-being is essential for sustained success in game design.

Ahhh crunch. I'm sure plenty of us have been here before. When your body is running on fumes, there's a strong chance you won't perform at the top of your game. This can lead to you making mistakes you otherwise wouldn't have made. Those mistakes will then be things you need to fix, making your workload even heavier and adding more stress to your already hectic work schedule. And since games are team efforts, mistakes you make while overworked might set back the entire team. And, more importantly, doing this repeatedly can seriously affect your health. You don't want to become a karoshi story. Don't do this. You're only human, and we all have limits. Stay within your limits. Your boss didn't hire a robot.

If the company you work at doesn't have a strong belief in a work-life balance and you've already talked to your boss and coworkers, then it may be a good idea to start looking for a new company to work for. I think what many people fail to understand is that downtime is important for efficient, high quality work. I think a lot of people just think that if you are working for more time you get more work done. In fact, you just get burnt out and you start doing worse work slower. Discussing this with your boss and coworkers may prove productive but if it doesn't then that company simply isn't the correct ecosystem for you.

One effective strategy is to establish a ritual that signifies the end of your workday. By doing this, you mentally transition from "work mode" to "personal mode," reducing the temptation to continue working after hours. I once knew a designer who used a specific playlist to mark the start and end of his workday - when the final track played, it was his signal to shut down and step away. Communicating these boundaries to your team is equally important. It sets expectations and promotes a work culture that respects work-life balance. Designate a specific area solely for work and avoid using it during personal time. Setting boundaries is about establishing a sustainable relationship with your work.

Implement a structured task management system to prioritize and delegate responsibilities effectively. By breaking down your workload into manageable tasks and allocating time for each, you can maintain focus during work hours and prevent overwhelm. Tools like Trello or Asana can help streamline communication and collaboration with your team, enhancing productivity while safeguarding your well-being.

Prioritizing your tasks is huge, but also internalize that aspect of organization. It can be easy to see an endless list of tasks on your shoulders and to get overwhelmed. Tackle one task at a time - put other tasks out of your mind until the current one is done, and then move on. Also considering combining similar tasks that relate to the same system, should their implementations happen to overlap. Use checklists and work in a set self-defined order of operations.

Setting achievable goals is also vital. It's common to overestimate what you can accomplish in a day, which can lead to stress and burnout. Instead, set realistic daily goals that you know you can achieve, while allowing for flexibility as unexpected tasks arise. This way, you can maintain a steady pace without constantly feeling behind. Prioritization is not just about productivity; it's about regaining control over your workload. When you prioritize effectively, you not only reduce stress but also create a path to a more balanced work-life relationship.

In addition to prioritizing tasks based on impact, consider leveraging the Eisenhower Matrix to categorize tasks by urgency and importance. By distinguishing between what's urgent, important, both, or neither, you can make informed decisions on where to allocate your time and energy. This method helps you focus on high-impact tasks while delegating or deferring less critical ones, optimizing productivity and minimizing overwhelm in game design projects.

Delegation is critical. One of the many reasons why someone can feel overwhelmed is the sheer amount of burden and workload they take upon themselves and the pressures to complete it all. Sometimes the solutions to getting a lot of work done could be better team workload management. If you currently have a team that you lead or that you work with, and you feel like you're taking on more work than you can handle or work that's too difficult for you, discuss a way to reorganize the work or identify the things that are causing stress with your team. Once you identify the problems, tackling them and working to resolve them will be a lot easier.

Delegating is not about shirking responsibility; it's about leveraging the collective talent of your team. Successful game design teams are those where everyone feels valued and has a clear role. When team members are given more responsibility, they take ownership of their work, leading to increased morale and productivity. This creates a collaborative environment where ideas flow freely, and everyone is invested in the project's success. As a result, the workload is distributed more evenly, reducing the burden on any one person.

Apart from delegating tasks within your team, consider utilizing freelancers or contractors for specialized tasks or temporary workload spikes. Platforms like Upwork or Freelancer offer access to a diverse pool of talent, allowing you to find skilled professionals to assist with specific aspects of game design. This strategic approach to delegation not only lightens your workload but also ensures that tasks are completed efficiently and to a high standard, contributing to overall project success while safeguarding your well-being.

Meditation and mindfulness are powerful tools in your self-care toolkit. They help you stay grounded amidst the chaos of game design and can even enhance your creativity by fostering a more open and focused mindset. I've seen designers who begin their day with a short meditation session, setting a calm tone that carries them through the day. This practice also helps manage stress by teaching you to be present and not let work-related anxiety consume you. Getting enough sleep and allowing yourself to disconnect from work are crucial for maintaining a healthy balance.

I would (and have) stop offering my 25 years of deep, broad and granular technical multimedia and software development skill to soulless, heartless and irrelevant corporate Merry Go Rounds and change careers. No more being told I'm overqualified. No more being passed over for younger, lesser candidates. No more banging my head against the wall begging companies to utilize my near total (and current) Unreal Engine experience or my ability to create believable lifelike worlds and characters. Now I get paid just as much to work with my hands as a general contractor, renovator, handy man etc. Adios Computer. Adios Visual Studio, C++, Unreal Engine, Fusion, After Effects, 3ds Max, MAYA etc. Hello fulfillment. I am happy. I have a Tan.