Latest / Aspergers & Autism Podcast [The Aspie World] AuDHD / Autism Burnout (What YOU Need To Know) With Zack James
Transcript
- 0:00Just a heads up. If anybody wants to advertise on
- 0:02this podcast, you can just hit me up at the ask me world at
- 0:06gmail.com. That's the8 spie.
- 0:09Wor LD @ gmail.com and we can talk about advertising on this
- 0:13podcast. This video.
- 0:15I'm talking about create a burnout and Bernards for people
- 0:18on the autism spectrum in general with my friend.
- 0:21Zack James coming up. Hey guys, welcome back to the
- 0:30ask me world. My name is Dan.
- 0:31I have autism ADHD OCD and dyslexia and I'm making weekly
- 0:34videos on this type of content. So if you're new around here and
- 0:37you want to learn more from until subscribe button, also
- 0:40anybody's watching over on Facebook.
- 0:42We should see this page a like and follow to daily uploads,
- 0:45right? So as you can see, I have
- 0:47somebody with me on the show today in this, in this episode.
- 0:49This is Zach James. He actually runs around like a
- 0:53few different channels, don't you do you run?
- 0:55Yeah. How many channels?
- 0:58Say to that were very no for publicly.
- 1:01No. For, and your mom was probably
- 1:03our most popular YouTube channel.
- 1:05The big ones, the big boy. I think you guys are like
- 1:08boasting, like Millions on the way you like 4 million 5
- 1:10million. We go yawns.
- 1:13I really kept track know while I'm guessing if I would say.
- 1:17We're close to 5 million. We're getting there t.
- 1:20That's so good. I have like a hundred.
- 1:22Twenty two thousand subscribers yellow.
- 1:24I'll get it and we'll get a million.
- 1:25Don't worry about it. We'll do it.
- 1:26Somehow we're gonna we're gonna do it.
- 1:28Don't worry. You guys, um, we're all gonna do
- 1:30it, but now it's still a pile of saying I love seeing awesome
- 1:33creative people and then I love seeing success for creatives.
- 1:36I just walk get my juices flowing.
- 1:38So right so I was talking to Zack is pretty crazy actually.
- 1:41So I start phones like as somebody said, hey check out his
- 1:43stuff. He's funny and whatever and like
- 1:46his Instagram is dope and he is screams also private which I
- 1:48find quite interesting. So I follow you on Instagram and
- 1:52then you certainly a DM saying like, hey somebody just talking
- 1:55about you and my channel I was like what we had is that So we
- 2:00then we just talking and, you know, shooting the convo about
- 2:03autism in general and we both happen to be YouTubers and we're
- 2:06both on the Spectrum and that's kind of, that's crazy, cool.
- 2:09Right? And so, we decided that we would
- 2:11do this video talking about like, autism burnout, but from
- 2:14like a creative aspect. I think that's gonna be really
- 2:16cool because I think like, there's so much you can take
- 2:18away from this and there's so much conversation to be had if
- 2:21I'll be a really cool conversation.
- 2:22Isn't that right? Zach?
- 2:25Yes, and it's very much. So Zach also has a deeper voice.
- 2:28Voice than me. So I'm like the Chipmunk over
- 2:30here and zaps like the he's like the baritone guy from the.
- 2:33What's up? Bam that you know, what's up?
- 2:35Uncle to the? Oh God.
- 2:37They were like it. Something funny.
- 2:39I'll get another name. Another like YouTube.
- 2:41And oh, thanks. Oh wait in tights.
- 2:47And in fact, yeah, they did be Lindsey Stirling.
- 2:50Collaborate. Yeah.
- 2:52Yeah. They did.
- 2:52They did. They did a bunch of stuff Mother
- 2:54crazy, but you said you like a bar, sounds like it from that.
- 2:57His name is Abby. I think that's what do we got?
- 2:59The other. Okay.
- 2:59Anyway, this is besides the point.
- 3:01So I prepared makes a list of discussion topics / questions.
- 3:04I guess you could interpret as questions.
- 3:05That means. I can discuss about lots of
- 3:07burnout because I think like both of us being creators at
- 3:10work like self-employed working at home and like the working on
- 3:15YouTube is so it's like it's like a mile away from any other
- 3:18job I've ever done in my life and there's some really
- 3:20interesting takeaways in it and as act like, I don't know if you
- 3:24have to know what videos are seen in mind, but a couple
- 3:25months ago. I did a video where I was I was
- 3:28talking about About one of the biggest things that like impacts
- 3:31me. This isn't my discussion list.
- 3:32This is just something that I just got off, the top of head.
- 3:33What I'm thinking about is that, how lonely this job can be like,
- 3:39I just feel like sometimes I'm sitting here on my own talking
- 3:41to his camera thinking I'm the only one in this room.
- 3:44Like I've been here for eight hours.
- 3:47I'm going a bit crazy. So I don't know if you feel
- 3:49that, you know, I would say that.
- 3:53Honestly, I've always managed is probably the way of handling on
- 3:58autism growing up, because I grew up moving around the world.
- 4:02I grew up in about 26, other countries and that happened
- 4:06between the age of 40 days of 15.
- 4:09And that really forced me to get used to a lot of different
- 4:15environments with a lot of different people and just being
- 4:19comfortable with myself in general.
- 4:21So I Guess in a lot of ways, no matter the environment.
- 4:25I was in, I could be comfortable with myself.
- 4:27And they've I wanted to be with people, I knew how to make that
- 4:31work. So in the early days of YouTube,
- 4:3410 years ago, me and a group of us other YouTubers would just
- 4:39hang out and Skype calls for like 10 12 hours a day.
- 4:43Just sitting there working on our own videos and this kind of
- 4:46talking to each other fast forward today.
- 4:48We're still friends a lot of us moved up in the industry and
- 4:51hold really key. Positions, some are Executives
- 4:55now and so it's really cool. Have those friendships and
- 4:58connections that may not have existed.
- 5:01If not with the idea of why not just Hempstead call that can
- 5:04last all day. So maybe that's something I
- 5:08would do in your position. You know, I think a lot of
- 5:10YouTube, you know, this kid Discord check going and get
- 5:13everybody to Discord chat and you don't have to have a topic
- 5:15discussed in. Just kind of shoot the shit.
- 5:18Yeah. Yeah just be there in the that's
- 5:20an excellent. I see the same thing when I was
- 5:22in Steel College. If you're American, I did the
- 5:25same thing. I have like an open kind of
- 5:26Skype call. Going all through the night with
- 5:28my friend, who's also on my call.
- 5:29So we just like talk and we'll be doing some more like, oh,
- 5:31hey, did you get this answer? Right?
- 5:33And I was kind of cool that work really well, but I never really
- 5:36thought about it like that. And I think that's a great idea
- 5:38because then you're always kind of connected to somebody because
- 5:40it doesn't I do feel like I get kind of lonely.
- 5:42I just super like this and motivating sometimes at the best
- 5:46of times, especially with today's world, you know, with
- 5:50this whole situation that work. Only doing wood and I think
- 5:55seeing how society as a whole has adapted and taking on
- 6:00Solutions like Zoom meetings, but not the zoom meetings for
- 6:04company calls, but hey, let's all get on and do a Power with
- 6:07each other and see how many beers league in drink before the
- 6:11hour is up. And so see Society take on that
- 6:14like evolution of being alone, but not being alone.
- 6:17Is a good road map for anybody who feels alone regardless of
- 6:22The situation we're currently in us the world.
- 6:25Yeah, you know, a hundred percent like it's it's super
- 6:28important and I guess it's important to like, kind of find
- 6:30ways around like not feeling. So lonely, right?
- 6:32I guess that's, that's super interesting, right?
- 6:34So on to the actual topic for discussion, so this is an
- 6:38interesting one. We spoke briefly about this
- 6:40yesterday and I was talking about Jimmy from mr.
- 6:43Beast, and I was saying that Jimmy to me.
- 6:45Looks like a typical guy who's on the Spectrum.
- 6:47Like, I relate so much to him in it and a lot of what he does and
- 6:49how he makes his constant. I'm like, okay, it's totally on
- 6:52the Spectrum. But this is a question for
- 6:54discussion. Why do you think because I know
- 6:56a lot of YouTubers are on the spectral?
- 6:58Why do you think there are a bunch of people who are on the
- 7:00Spectrum, not become YouTubers or vice versa?
- 7:01Why do you think YouTubers are on the Spectrum?
- 7:05I think is the versatility to be able to apply yourself and a
- 7:10very welcoming environment. That's also challenging.
- 7:14But challenging a way that seems to spark her interest.
- 7:18Hmm. It's kind of like a like a
- 7:22creative problem-solving environment.
- 7:24Right? Exactly.
- 7:26That's what that was. The big thing for me.
- 7:28I saw it as like the opportunity of opportunities.
- 7:31I knew it was going to be challenging but I was like, this
- 7:34is better than Going to law school and then go into
- 7:37politics. I totally see the next 20 years
- 7:39of my life down that direction. Cool.
- 7:41Yeah, I could knock it out of the park.
- 7:43But I rather do something. That's a bitter that we're
- 7:47crazy. Yeah.
- 7:47Yeah. I know.
- 7:48I, I really, I think that's amazing and like, there's
- 7:52something that there's something about YouTube that like makes
- 7:54it. I think it's this whole like
- 7:55it's boundary-less as borderless.
- 7:57It has this ability where you can be anybody and just put that
- 8:01out there. It's the only job I've ever had
- 8:02that I've stuck out for longer than a few months and it Kind of
- 8:05like how has this. There's, I don't know.
- 8:09There's there's like a almost like a, I don't know, like a
- 8:13magnetic appeal to it. And then if you get that like,
- 8:16we're like, I'm feel drawn to it.
- 8:18Like there's something about it. Like when I think about creating
- 8:20something, when I think about making something it's like I can
- 8:23make a video on that or I could make this like, you know this
- 8:27it's the outlet for my brain to exercise its kind of
- 8:30creativeness, you know in a lot of ways I would say it's like
- 8:33there's a magnetic appeal, but it This feels like a
- 8:36gravitational slingshot, you know, like, the way they can
- 8:39sling shot like the rocket before they send off to my, you
- 8:42know, space. Yeah, exactly.
- 8:45And to me, that's just really what it is.
- 8:47Is like, there's this entity, there's this environment that
- 8:50can pull in my creativity, but I instead of like it stuck in it,
- 8:55it like can swing spot me back out into the world and I can
- 8:58take something away from with it, and just have fun with it
- 9:01too. At the same time.
- 9:02Yeah, and I'll totally and I think Ike.
- 9:05It's just, it's just so good for Creative brains.
- 9:08And I think that a lot of people on the autism spectrum, Super
- 9:11Creative that it just kind of just have this married approach
- 9:14where it just works perfectly and everybody has a good time.
- 9:18So, here's the thing, we're talking about burnout, right?
- 9:20We're gonna go into bit more been out stuff.
- 9:21But, so, do you think there's such thing as working too much?
- 9:24Right? Because I don't know what your
- 9:26working hours are mine a crazy like crazy.
- 9:29Oh, yeah. Mine's gray.
- 9:30I haven't gone to bed yet. CD actually.
- 9:36I woke up. What's driver when I woke up,
- 9:39when I work out. I woke up yesterday at 11
- 9:41o'clock in the morning. So I've been up for about 21
- 9:45hours now. 21 and a half hours. He looked at me night.
- 9:49I was sleep. I use ice packs, they home.
- 9:55All right. Yeah.
- 9:58I got a good skincare routine. The thing is.
- 10:02I just Get kind of homework and I just can't stop.
- 10:06Sometimes. I literally will fall asleep in
- 10:09my laptop sitting on my chest. And and now then suddenly, I'll
- 10:14try to wake up and then hit me in the head.
- 10:15I'm like, what is going on here? Yeah, I get that, where it
- 10:19sometimes I forget to eat as well.
- 10:20I do my girlfriend's like dude. Well, we're going to eat or
- 10:23what. I'm like, oh, shoot.
- 10:24I didn't even think about it, you know, like it's and drinking
- 10:26as well. I have something I want to say.
- 10:27Like I remembered to take regular breaks to eat and drink
- 10:29because that's a huge one, but I think in terms of Too much where
- 10:35I got. What point do you think you go?
- 10:37Okay, enough is enough. I need to take some time.
- 10:39What do you think that like Pinnacle Point is before you get
- 10:41a burner? I think the balance of will
- 10:46first see is important understand why we end up working
- 10:50so much and I don't think it's necessarily the need to feel
- 10:53like we have to work. But it's really the simple fact
- 10:57that it's hard to turn off the brain, right?
- 10:59And it's like one of the brain gets going.
- 11:00It's like, you know, work is a very easy thing to entertain to
- 11:03bring wood and yet it does exhaust you in many ways like
- 11:07emotionally, because it can challenge you and you don't
- 11:09always get that reward. So I think the balance is
- 11:13Nosing. If you're not getting that
- 11:15rewarder, instant reward from your work, then you need to find
- 11:20the opportunity to reward yourself.
- 11:23Let's show you don't have very good point.
- 11:25Hey, not necessarily turn off the brain.
- 11:26Like, I got one select, these McFarlane, Lego toys things, you
- 11:30know, from like Rick and Morty and and Us South Park.
- 11:34Yea, like I'll show you like this, but I got a bunch of these
- 11:37that I haven't built it yet. But if I need to like, take a
- 11:40break, but I want to turn off my brain all this packing.
- 11:43And open one of these in this building for like an hour and
- 11:47I'll feel good. I feel refreshed and get you a
- 11:50gay that because I do the same thing and with like research
- 11:52because like research is like my big thing.
- 11:54I love research and stuff. So like I'll because I always
- 11:57have to be learning. I don't feel the same.
- 11:58Like, I always have to learn stuff like that.
- 11:59My brain is Never full. It's like, it's like thirsty all
- 12:02the time. So, I I have a point where I'm
- 12:03like, I'm freaking out because I'm trying to edit and I'm that
- 12:06it's not going, right? And I'm thinking, okay.
- 12:07I need to take time off from just learn about like, you know,
- 12:09Zero Point Energy or Quantum vacuum energy or you know,
- 12:12something like like that. I think I think you're
- 12:14absolutely fine on the mini. I never even realized.
- 12:16I just I just did it, you know, but like my brain just went that
- 12:19way. But it did get.
- 12:21I have this like almost like a guilt sometimes when I'm doing
- 12:24stuff, like researching for leisure.
- 12:26I always think like I could be doing super productive right now
- 12:29and I have this like, you know, this argument with myself like
- 12:32should have and that's when I get better.
- 12:35Yeah, I would say that really gets to.
- 12:38Well. There's the whole different
- 12:39times that gets me burnt out, right me as like that.
- 12:44Me as a person trying to juggle all the things I want to do
- 12:49throughout the day and being able to focus and not get caught
- 12:54up in the thrill or something else.
- 12:57Yeah, I can get burnt out myself.
- 13:00And then I as like a company man who works in a very hostile
- 13:05environment and when I see hostile environment, like you
- 13:09have to realize companies like BuzzFeed did not meet their
- 13:13their own projections and they have a dad to like lay off
- 13:17people. So yeah, I run a company.
- 13:22Luckily. My companies is too small to
- 13:24fail. I never remember.
- 13:26Lay off anybody. But I deal with challenges every
- 13:31day with YouTube's algorithm and challenges, but I know that I
- 13:35should not have to deal with if there was transparency and
- 13:39that's where I get burned out. Because I think a lot of times
- 13:42as an autistic person, I get burnt out when I'm not being
- 13:45communicated with and when YouTube is not communicating
- 13:50with me on how the platform works, it burns me out because I
- 13:53know I do what I know what my click-through rates are I know
- 13:57my watch time is I know what my audience retention is.
- 14:00I study. I know that we upload every
- 14:02single day. I know what we're doing.
- 14:04Right? And is this sucks that something
- 14:08like the word. Your mama being me so hard
- 14:11because people get sent home from reviewing videos during
- 14:15covid-19 that can burn me. I see circumstances.
- 14:18I can't control. It really grabbed me out.
- 14:22No, I totally hear you that did because that's like that.
- 14:26That is kind of like almost like you get to a point where there's
- 14:29no transparency or clear communication.
- 14:30You get to a point where you just literally going around in
- 14:33circles and then and it's not frustrating thing.
- 14:35And you think oh, maybe it's a no no, no, it's not and that it
- 14:38dies like, just woke up for that the worst and I totally
- 14:41understand where you're coming from there.
- 14:43And I do love that our whole algorithm challenge.
- 14:45I love is a puzzle, but I love all that stuff and I'm really
- 14:48into that. So we can always have another
- 14:49conversation about But like, but in terms of like my hip, my next
- 14:53question is like how do you know if you're heading towards a
- 14:55burner, but I guess you kind of just covered that.
- 14:57You know, you're you're you see kind of Hallmark's don't you you
- 15:00see like I'm not getting clear. I'm not getting clear definition
- 15:03here. I you start to feel
- 15:04uncomfortable, right? Yeah, and I think is also
- 15:11understanding that you, as a human being, you have to will.
- 15:14Ideally you eat every day. We sometimes forget to eat, but
- 15:18ideally every day and you You take care of yourself as a day,
- 15:21right? So I always think of what am I
- 15:24going to reward myself with that's not like food or anything
- 15:28else that you're like, what is my my reward was?
- 15:30My project was my thing that's going to make me feel like I
- 15:34accomplished something one day could be laying down wooden for
- 15:38from my balcony some change it into like a garden are just
- 15:43making sure I clean my apartment or just making sure I can get
- 15:47into that extra rep. When I work out a little Like
- 15:50that, that made me feel like I accomplished more as a person
- 15:55and not necessarily feel like work is all that makes me as a
- 15:58person should because. Yeah, because it is that is that
- 16:01kind of like violence? And I guess I do that sometimes
- 16:04where I put like working out, like I should go like I love
- 16:07running a little run for like maybe two to four miles like
- 16:10when I got running. And so sometimes I get so
- 16:13involved in like a project and I'm working and I'm taking on
- 16:15all this stuff that I put this, the running aside and then I'm
- 16:18not running. Then I start to kind of get Lie
- 16:20down on myself, and I know I'm thinking it, like you said, it's
- 16:22that reward of doing those things that you're not rewarding
- 16:25yourself. And so, you know, you're heading
- 16:26towards a slippery slope if you stop the reward, right?
- 16:29Exactly. And I think a lot of times, we
- 16:34just kind of limit ourselves to I found that like, I often limit
- 16:39myself when it comes to how I wore myself.
- 16:44I mean, look, you don't have to I kind of do a little anxiety
- 16:49and a lot of ways but I've also again, I think it always having
- 16:54grown up around the world. I don't the benefits of like
- 16:57never I guess for me. I don't really associate things
- 17:02to certain terminologies. Like, I know that they are real,
- 17:05and they have real meaning, and that they aren't percent what
- 17:09they are. But for me, is the individual
- 17:11that I am, I looking like anxiety and I'm, like, that's
- 17:15not exciting. I never called it anxiety as
- 17:17called like, oh, that's a weird stupid feeling, and I hate it.
- 17:19But, you know, I've done it enough.
- 17:22I don't want enough. I know how to get over it.
- 17:24So, you know, look, I'm going to remove myself and I'm going to
- 17:27deal with the anxiety. I'm going to the airport hop on
- 17:29a plane. Flights in hours of Sweden and
- 17:31just have a really great time. We're really good-looking girl,
- 17:34because why not? Why not do that?
- 17:36Yeah. Why don't they do?
- 17:39I know? Absolutely.
- 17:40So this is this is kind of like living on some of my last and
- 17:42final question. For this this cool video up.
- 17:44Those kind of like, you know, from recovery from having a
- 17:47burnout of experiencing burnout. What do you say?
- 17:49Would be good and safe working strategies.
- 17:51Like how would it be that? Would it be like taking that
- 17:54time and having like an excessive reward like a vacation
- 17:56or I think Well, I think a lot of ways you have to also
- 18:04acknowledge that burnout is always going to be part of the
- 18:07process, right? I would say.
- 18:13Probably the biggest thing that I've, ER, because I come from a
- 18:16very interesting family where my parents for two different
- 18:21Generations. Like 16 might, they're 16 years
- 18:24in Asia part. So it's really cool to have like
- 18:27that perspective. They both got along really well
- 18:30to get along really well, but my stepfather was definitely like,
- 18:33you know, where you take, you got to grab Life by the balls,
- 18:36right? He comes from a generation that
- 18:39is what that is, but my mother came from like kind of posts
- 18:42hippie. P generation.
- 18:45So C is more of a gentle type person.
- 18:47And so I, when I do with burnout, are when I go in a
- 18:51thing that kind of makes me afraid, or it's going to stress
- 18:53me out. I don't get, I mean, I do get, I
- 18:57will get discouraged for a moment, but I don't let that
- 19:00turn me off. Right?
- 19:01And I think what a lot of Critters from my observation and
- 19:05this can people, I've known they get so emotionally invested in
- 19:09what they do that when they get burnt.
- 19:12Out big complete, get skirts or burnt down 2% burnt, right, but
- 19:18when I look at him getting burnt out, I'm like, okay, that's
- 19:20good. Because you know, every great
- 19:23Forest is born from a forest fire.
- 19:25This is what it is. So you got to burn that shit
- 19:28out. Got to get rid of all the stuff.
- 19:30That doesn't. Yeah, if it doesn't work, get
- 19:32rid of it. Yeah.
- 19:34Embrace it. No, but still it's like a
- 19:38Embrace but you can't ignore. Right?
- 19:40So like it it's just a fact of the model but also the safe ways
- 19:44of doing and I think that you're absolutely right and some great
- 19:47advice actually the I'm still amazed by the whole Skype
- 19:50conversation thing. Such a simple thing that I've
- 19:52even done and I didn't even think about doing it, you know
- 19:54for work or my goodness. Come on down, you know, she's
- 19:57anything right Zach. Thank you so much for taking
- 19:59this time to have this discussion me.
- 20:01I think that's gonna be super beneficial for every listening
- 20:03on the podcast. I'm on YouTube.
- 20:04Right now. And I think that this is just a
- 20:06great episode and you're doing a video on your own channel on you
- 20:09ever autism or something very soon, maybe tomorrow or the day
- 20:12after or something. Yes, definitely.
- 20:15Within the next 24, 48 hours. It's yeah, you know, I've always
- 20:22been open about it, but I think, you know, for a lot of people,
- 20:26you know, who wants to your mama Channel, they not quite aware
- 20:29who exactly makes that type of show.
- 20:32And yeah, yeah, very cool too. I think the fans would really
- 20:36appreciate it. Yeah, me too.
- 20:37Did I think? Like, you'll be surprised.
- 20:39I always feel like people, like, I watch certain shows and then I
- 20:42realized that the people who make the shows are on the
- 20:44Spectrum are thinking. I wonder, I was so excited - all
- 20:47right. So you're going to have a huge
- 20:48amount of people. We like the end of the spectrum.
- 20:50It's awesome. Like I think it's awesome that
- 20:52it really is awesome. Anyway, right?
- 20:56Chuck. Thanks so much fun on the show
- 20:57when you're awesome. I'll thank you for having me.
- 20:59I appreciate it. Anytime buddy.
- 21:01All right, take it. Precision.
- 21:14Hey guys. Thank you so much for listening
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- 21:36Thanks.