Some people create because they can. Chiang Ming Yang creates because he can’t not. In this episode of Clean Your Toilet, Barbara Latimer dives deep with him into the obsession, exhaustion, and experimentation that come from pushing creative limits — and paying for it out of your own pocket.
Most people think burnout is caused by overwork. For Ming Yang, it was caused by over-care.
His path into film was never planned. At university, when no one else in his group wanted to touch the camera, he volunteered — the “sacrificial lamb” who had to teach himself how to shoot, light, and edit from scratch. That accident became a career. From there, he built a name for himself in advertising and commercial film, mastering the language of brands and clients. But something in him kept asking: What else is possible?
Corporate work paid the bills, but passion projects fed his soul — even when they drained his savings. Car chases that didn’t make financial sense. Elaborate set-ups that no one asked for. Experimental edits that took weeks instead of days. Ming Yang poured himself, his time, and his money into work that challenged both industry norms and personal limits. Each project was a statement: creativity is worth paying for, even when you’re the one footing the bill.
But there’s a cost to that kind of devotion. During COVID, the pace caught up with him. Hospitalized from burnout, Ming Yang had to face the truth that not every creative breakthrough is worth the toll it takes on the body. Recovery forced him to ask harder questions: What does enough look like? Where does passion end and self-punishment begin?
And that’s the tension at the heart of this conversation.
On one side: the relentless pursuit of craft, excellence, and innovation. On the other: the human need for rest, sustainability, and self-respect. Between them lies the messy middle every creator eventually confronts:
How do you keep pushing boundaries without breaking yourself?
Can passion coexist with balance?
What happens when your art demands more than you can give?
Ming Yang speaks with raw honesty about the thin line between discipline and obsession, the pride of self-funding his vision, and the humility it takes to slow down without losing momentum. His story is both a warning and an invitation — a reminder that mastery isn’t about giving everything; it’s about knowing what to give, and when to stop.
If you’ve ever:
Spent your own money chasing a creative vision
Equated exhaustion with achievement
Loved your craft so fiercely it almost broke you
…this episode is your mirror.
🧼 Passion is the clean water.
🚽 Overinvestment is the clog.
💩 Burnout is the residue that clouds the lens.
Protect your energy, refine your focus, and remember — even the brightest light needs shadow to define its depth.
#CleanYourToiletPodcast #GetReal #InnerWork #PersonalMastery #WhatTrulyMatters
#CreativeObsession #PassionProjects #FilmmakingLife #BurnoutRecovery #Trailblazing #ReinventIdentity
