Young and Profiting with Hala Taha (Entrepreneurship, Sales, Marketing)
How to Stay Motivated and Avoid Burnout as a Content Creator | Presented by OpusClip | YAPCreator
Wed, 08 Jan 2025
Staying motivated as a content creator is no easy feat. Despite balancing a corporate job and a podcast, Hala Taha made the most of her limited free time to grow a LinkedIn following of 60,000 in just one year. Today, she’s a top LinkedIn voice with over 260,000 followers. In the third episode of the YAP Creator Series, Hala unpacks powerful strategies for consistently creating content without burning out. Featuring insights from top minds like Jenna Kutcher, Jeff Haden, and James Clear, you’ll learn how to build habits, celebrate small wins, and embrace sustainable growth. You’ll also discover how tools like OpusClip can fuel your creativity and streamline your workflow. In this episode, Hala will discuss: (00:00) Introduction (01:15) Getting Started as a Content Creator (04:01) Creating Motivation Through Effort (14:00) Building Habits for Long-Term Success (19:31) Avoiding Burnout and Setting Boundaries (29:37) Trusting Your Gut and Intuition (30:50) Balancing Hustle and Peace (33:05) The Importance of Rest (34:41) Understanding Gap and Gain Thinking (37:44) Measuring Progress and Setting Goals (51:58) Cultivating Luck and Authenticity Try OpusClip for FREE: Visit https://www.opus.pro/clipanything Resources Mentioned: YAP E242 with Jenna Kutcher: https://youngandprofiting.co/40oy6TK YAP E148 with Jeff Haden: https://youngandprofiting.co/4fMo2sm YAP E265 with James Clear: https://youngandprofiting.co/4j4khkC YAP E301 with Dr. Aditi Nerurkar: https://youngandprofiting.co/3PopqGy YAP E130 with Jasmine Star: https://youngandprofiting.co/4h50Qq5 YAP E206 with Benjamin Hardy: https://youngandprofiting.co/4j5nbpm YAP E311 with Case Kenny: https://youngandprofiting.co/4a6KXNz Top Tools and Products of the Month: https://youngandprofiting.com/deals/ More About Young and Profiting Download Transcripts - youngandprofiting.com Get Sponsorship Deals - youngandprofiting.com/sponsorships Leave a Review - ratethispodcast.com/yapYAP | Young and Profiting Watch Videos - youtube.com/c/YoungandProfiting Follow Hala Taha LinkedIn - linkedin.com/in/htaha/ Instagram - instagram.com/yapwithhala/ TikTok - tiktok.com/@yapwithhala Twitter - twitter.com/yapwithhala Learn more about YAP Media's Services - yapmedia.io/
Chapter 1: What strategies can help me get started as a content creator?
And in order to achieve our goals in 2025, we need to stay motivated and consistent while not burning ourselves out. And that's exactly what today's episode is all about.
While this episode is tailored toward content creators, it's actually relevant for all entrepreneurs because it's really just about mindset, motivation, and building up momentum, whether you're building an online platform or your company. We'll feature past YAP guests Jenna Kutcher, Jeff Hayden, James Clear, Dr. Aditi Norokar, Jasmine Starr, Benjamin Hardy, and Case Kenny.
Guys, this one is going to get pretty deep. We're going to cover everything from motivation loops to habit building and gap and gain thinking. There's so much content to get to, so let's jump right into it. Starting out as a content creator is no small feat. You're juggling everything, coming up with ideas, filming, editing, and promoting, all while trying to grow an audience.
Chapter 2: How can I create motivation through effort?
In the beginning, it can feel like you're shouting into a void, and that can be incredibly discouraging. The truth is consistency builds credibility. Every post, video, or podcast you put out is another brick in the foundation of your personal brand. But in order to be consistent, you first need to get started.
Here's Jenna Kutcher, one of the most successful podcasters in the world, who is also in my Yap Media podcast network on letting go of perfection and taking action when it comes to getting started as a content creator.
the beginning, my show was interview only, which did not work out well for me. I recorded it from the front seat of my parked car in my garage because I was worried my dogs were going to bark. I didn't even own a microphone. I had iPhone headphones. And I was like, all right, let's just do this. And so I committed to doing it for 90 days. And I was like, let's just see how it feels.
I can always quit it if it doesn't work, if I run out of things to say. And here we are years and years and years later. And it's evolved. And I think one lesson from this is that so often when we start a new project, we overthink all the things that don't really matter. I remember worrying about like the cover art, the title, how am I gonna sign in and sign off of every episode?
How long is it gonna be? What is the format? When is it gonna be published? All of those things have changed and evolved over the last seven years. And my show has stayed consistent, right? And so one thing that you brought up is like so many people don't actually dive in and do the thing.
We think about all the things around the thing, whether you're writing a book or starting a podcast or starting a business, you fixate on all the decisions you have to make instead of doing the actual thing, which in my case was sitting down and hitting record. Once I did that, the rest is history, but it was so easy for us to overthink all those things.
So my podcast started as an experiment and we're still going strong 100 million downloads later.
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Chapter 3: What are the key habits for long-term success?
Like Jenna said, when it comes to getting started as a content creator, whether it's on social media or podcasts, you really need to just get started and experiment. It's okay to evolve over time and get better as you go. To be a content creator, you must create content consistently. I find that if I'm having trouble getting started on something, I just tell myself I'll do it for 10 minutes.
Before I know it, that initial ick and anxiety of getting started just melts away and the task seems more manageable once I actually dig into it for 10 minutes. It's not as scary anymore and I end up working on it for longer and getting it done. So just start for 10 minutes. Tell yourself, I'll just do it for 10 minutes. Now, getting started is easier said than done for a lot of people.
So many people feel that they can't get the motivation to get started. They need to find the motivation to kick themselves into high gear. But this is the wrong way to go about it. I learned from Jeff Hayden, one of the world's top ghostwriters, that getting started is the thing that will actually give you the motivation to keep going. Contrary to popular belief, motivation doesn't come first.
Effort does. Let's hear Jeff's perspective on creating motivation. So talk to us about how you can actually create motivation by starting and being consistent at something.
Probably the biggest gap or the biggest hurdle that people have to cross when you want to start something new is you are starting at a place of no experience, no expertise. You're kind of at the zero spot in most cases. And so if you look ahead to where you want to go, that bridge that you have to cross is incredibly daunting because it's like, okay, I'm just this.
How am I going to get all the way over there? And so if you're constantly focused on that end place, then even little successes that you make early on, which you tend to do because you're new, so you learn quickly and you gain some skill fairly fast, they're meaningless to you because compared to what you think you want to be someday, well, it's nothing. And so...
The biggest thing for me is, you know, because I struggled with the first few things I wrote, but then I thought, and I would think to myself, how am I ever going to be able to do this? Because it takes me way too long. I'm creating decent things, but gosh, it takes forever, and there's no way for me to make this work. And then I thought, well...
Okay, but I can't sit down and think, okay, I'm going to be Malcolm Gladwell tomorrow or something like that. But what I can do is just work really hard on whatever is in front of me. And so I switched over and just said, my goal every time I do something is, all right, I have this to do. I need to do it as well as I can. I need to finish it.
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Chapter 4: How can I avoid burnout and set boundaries?
I need to get good feedback from it, which means I did a good job. Because whether I thought I did a good job didn't really matter. It's what the client thought. And that's all I can do right now. But that's enough. And so if I stack enough of those experiences up, then the experience kind of comes.
And so by keeping a short time horizon in terms of my inner feedback loop, then if I worked on a project one night and it was a short one and I got it done, That felt really good because I set out to do what I wanted to do. I completed a task. It went well. That was enough to get me to the next one. And so I just fell into this place of all I need is enough motivation to get to the next one.
And if I get to the next one and I get to the next one, then suddenly you can look back and go, wow, I'm starting to come a long way because I'm. You know, you pop your head up every once in a while and sort of look at where you are and go, wow, that is really cool. And then you need to put your head right back down again and just focused on next and next and next. And so...
And then the other part of it is that I'm not particularly smart. I have a college degree, but I'm not particularly educated. I don't have anything. There's nothing. I'm decidedly average. Let's just say that. I would think that's true, but okay. Well, I don't have anything special going for me except for the fact that I realize that if I put in enough effort, there are a lot of things I can do.
And so I'm very much an effort kind of a person. And so... That actually works really well because I don't think you get motivation from like this. I'm sitting around one day and suddenly I have the lightning bolt that says I want to be a famous writer or whatever it is you want to be. That doesn't work. I don't think that kind of motivation. I don't know anybody that has that.
All you really need is to say, I'm interested in writing. Let me get started in some fashion. And through effort, if you work hard at it, you improve because we always get better at things we work hard at. It is a natural thing. It's just like taxes. It's a law of the universe. And whenever you get a little better, that feels good.
And so effort equals a little bit of achievement, which feels good, which creates motivation for you to take a little more effort, which means you'll improve a little more, which feels good. And so there's this really cool virtuous cycle of effort, achievement, fulfillment, happiness, motivation that you can spend forever and ever and ever if you focus on doing it that way.
If all you care about is this big end result, it's demoralizing and defeating and you have to rely on willpower alone. And none of us have enough willpower to do that. But if you just get that cycle started, there it is. So to me, motivation doesn't come first. Effort comes first.
I love that. So let me pause you right there because I want to make sure that my listeners really understand this. So what Jeff is saying is that you don't want to focus on some big goal because you'll keep comparing yourself to that goal. You're going to think about where you are now, how far away that goal is. You're going to feel bad. And you don't want to feel bad if you want to be motivated.
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Chapter 5: What is gap and gain thinking and how does it affect progress?
That will give you enough motivation to tomorrow go, OK, what's tomorrow? Whatever it is, that's all you have to do. You just have to do whatever it is that you have to do today. And if you focus on that, you get to be successful every day. You get to feel good about yourself every day.
And you will stack up enough of those days that every once in a while you will pop your head up and say, wow, I just did a 10 mile run. Who thought I could do that? But before you get too excited and go, oh, what about the 26? You got to put your head back down because you're not there yet. And then you say, cool, I can run 10 miles. That's awesome. What's tomorrow?
Tomorrow may only be a three mile run because that's part of your process of recovery and whatever else it may be. Whatever it is, if you're doing what you set out to do that day and if that goal is or if that process is designed so that it will basically guarantee that if you put in the effort, you will succeed. Mm hmm. You're good to go. So the goal informs the process.
Chapter 6: How can I measure progress and set achievable goals?
And then all you worry about is, am I doing what I need to do each step of the way? You didn't start a side hustle and end up with 35 people working for you by one day just saying, you know, that's what I want to do. You knew you wanted to create a marketing agency and a podcast. You knew what you wanted to do. But you broke it down into, okay, but what can I do right now?
What am I doing each day to get there? And then all of those wins stacked up on themselves and probably made it a little bit easier for you to keep working that hard because you saw a path to where you were going to go.
What Jeff told me that day about motivation really stuck with me. The conventional view of motivation is if you fire somebody up enough, they're gonna go out and achieve whatever their target is. Traditionally, they say achieving success is all about generating the right mindset and that motivation will trigger you to succeed basically.
But Jeff overturns this idea that motivation leads to success. Instead, he tells us that small successes lead to constant motivation. Jeff believes that motivation is a result. It's not the spark or trigger that gets you started on your next project. Real motivation comes after you start. Motivation is the pride you take in the work you've already done, which fuels you to do even more.
Motivation stems from success and fuels more success. So the only thing you need to do to succeed is to have one small victory to get a head start. Then you just follow that loop. Jeff calls this the motivation cycle or the motivation feedback loop. The cycle goes something like this.
A small success leads to some motivation, which leads to another success and even more motivation, which leads to another success and even more motivation, and you get the idea. That's why motivation isn't something you have. Motivation is something you get from yourself after you take action. Okay, so to be a successful content creator, you need to create content consistently.
You need to take action. And that means you need to get into the habit of creating content. The keyword here is habit. And many of you know that I'm one of the top LinkedIn creators and I've been an influencer on that platform for over five years now.
And I remember when I first started my content creator journey on LinkedIn, I was working a full-time job and I also started this podcast as a side hustle. So I basically had two jobs, a full-time job and a part-time job with this side hustle. And now I was taking on LinkedIn as a third part-time job. So I really didn't have a lot of free time.
And I decided that I would make it a habit to create my LinkedIn post on the train on my commute to work. So I had a 45 minute commute to work and that was my only job on the train. I didn't do anything else. My job was to post on LinkedIn, to decide what I was gonna post, to write up the caption, to pick out my image, to post the content up before I stepped into the office.
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Chapter 7: What are effective techniques for batching content?
I mean, first off, it is such a privilege to be in a position.
Yeah, it wasn't always like that. No. You've got to sacrifice.
But I've realized, and here's what I've really realized, is if you have listened to this whole episode, you recognize the power of trust. And I want my community to trust me. And if something isn't in alignment, not only do I feel it, but they feel it. And so I have had to get so good at discerning what are the right partners? What are the right opportunities?
What are the right sponsorships to take on? Is this in alignment? And I feel that way with every opportunity, whether it is getting asked to speak on stages that I would have once dreamt of being on, but now I'm saying no to, or whether it is hosting a mastermind or all these things. I could do a million things. I don't want to.
And I think that I'm just at this place in my life where I just recognize that like peace is needs to be protected. And right now in this stage of my life, like my priority is my family and anything that I'm saying yes to is a no to them. And what is the most important thing to me? And so, you know, turning down things like recording another social media reel is
To me, it's like, but this is more time with my kids or this is protecting and preserving the integrity of my followers.
She'll even turn down things that are a good fit. Totally, totally. She'll turn down things that are a great fit for her because she's like, no, my time with my family is more important.
Yeah, and I think that boundaries protect what's sacred to you. And I've just had to relearn this lesson over and over and over again of boundaries aren't bad. And boundaries keep what I say most important to me, and they exemplify that. What I am saying is most important to me is reflected in my calendar. It is reflected in my bank account. It is reflected in the way I show up every single day.
And so it's a muscle that you have to learn to flex and it takes time because I think that, you know, there was a time in my life where I got paid $50 to take pictures of a cat and I couldn't believe it. Like somebody is paying me to do something. I love, this is amazing. And what a blessing that is.
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Chapter 8: How can I maintain balance and protect my mental health?
I heard that and I was like, whoa, like I have been wired of like, I just need to get this done and then I can rest. And I was like, what if we like flip this on its head? And it's just been so transformative for me because I'm like, no, I need to like come into this feeling rested and well to do my best work. And that is like totally shifted things. I love that.
I really love that mantra that Jenna mentioned. Have you rested well enough to do your best work? Remember, you're running a marathon, not a sprint. And that marathon is long. You will most likely not become an overnight success. It will take you years before you make money. Because being a content creator is not easy.
And it's easy to be down on yourself and give up when you feel like you didn't become an influencer or you haven't gone viral yet or reached a point to monetize your content. Benjamin Hardy, an organizational psychologist, taught me that when you think that way, you are in the gap. You are practicing gap thinking, which is a really unhealthy place to be.
Instead, you really want to practice gain thinking. Now here's Ben to explain gap and gain thinking. I heard you say on another podcast that when you released that book in 2018, that you came on my podcast to talk about willpower doesn't work. You actually considered it a failure because it didn't reach New York Times bestsellers list. And that's like every author's dream.
But nonetheless, like when you came on my podcast, I remember thinking it was such a big deal. You were such a big blogger. And we had scored Benjamin Hardy, like episode number seven. And so you were a big deal to us and to the outside world. But inside, you felt like a failure. So I want to talk about that.
I think it will give us some color on your journey and help us understand the gap in the game concept as well.
So I served a church mission from 2008 to 2010. And like going on that experience was very transformational for me. I grew up in a really intense environment. But ever since I came home from that experience in 2010, I wanted to be a professional author. Over the, from 2015 to 2017, I grew enormously as a blogger and was able to get a book deal and be able to start providing for my family.
So essentially I got a multi six-figure book deal to write a book. I'm living my dreams. It all happens way faster than I thought.
into early 2018 honestly it was March of 2018 the book comes out and I did have way in my head like I'd built everything up in my head that it needed to be a certain level it needed to be a New York Times bestseller and I admittedly as well threw so much money at it and so yeah it didn't hit the goal and for probably four or five months I was in a very deep depression very deep slump um
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