The liberty of being a freelancer can seem enticing at first. The flexibility to decide on your working hours, create your schedule, choose the form of clients and projects you wish to work with, and the possibility to have more autonomy.
Saying farewell to the standard nine-to-five workday brings an incredible opportunity to enhance your work-life balance. Nevertheless, it poses further challenges should you are someone that struggles to administer your time accurately or follow a well-planned schedule.
Jumping onto too many projects, overloading your agenda, and losing track of project deadlines could be a shortcut to burnout. The identical will be said about working too few or too many hours per week, and even longer days, and stretching your working hours into the weekend or designated off days.
Research studies suggest that the optimum working hours per week is anywhere between 35 hours and 50 hours per week. Productivity declines after 50 hours per week and falls even sharper after 55 hours. Furthermore, not having one full rest day per week could also result in decreased hourly output on average.
Continuously working, as a result of a scarcity of proper time management, or taking up too many projects unexpectedly just isn’t only damaging to your productivity but poses further long-term health risks.
The World Health Organization (WHO) found that employees working greater than 55 hours per week increase their risk of a stroke by 35%, much more severely; this increases an individual’s risk of dying from heart disease by an extra 17%.
As a latest freelancer, it is your responsibility to take control of your schedule and time management, not just for the good thing about being more productive but in addition to your health and well-being.
Taking control of your schedule
Being a newly established freelancer comes with plenty of challenges. On the lookout for latest clients, ending projects with tight deadlines, meeting client expectations, keeping track of all of your funds, and having enough free time for yourself.
Taking up more responsibility requires you to construct an understanding of methods to effectively manage your time, but more importantly, learn methods to make a schedule that permits you to allocate time for work, start latest projects, and now have time to rest.
Understand your capability
Among the best ways to take control of your schedule is to understand your capability to tackle latest clients and projects. This is particularly necessary, seeing that freelancers are sometimes fearful that declining a project would depart them with none further work for a while.
The fear of missing out on latest and exciting work may lead you to turn into overbooked, often not leaving enough time to truly get the job done.
The concept of declining work, or saying “no” will be daunting at first. Nevertheless, it’s worthwhile to set limits for yourself right from the get-go. Consider how much time you could have available in your schedule, factoring in projects you are currently busy with, and the proposed deadline for every.
Before taking up any latest work, at all times consider your availability inside your schedule and whether this project would require you to say no another potential job opportunities.
Be proactive along with your time management
Now that you could have more autonomy, it is time to learn methods to manage your time appropriately. Creating every day routines, comparable to when to get up, how much time you’ll put aside for specific projects, the hours needed to search out latest work, quote clients, and still complete all of your administrative duties, must be factored into your schedule.
Being more proactive along with your time management will mean you can designate specific slots for various tasks and activities. This may assist you to turn into more efficient, nevertheless it’s also a strategy to plan higher.
Plan. Plan. Plan.
We won’t stress this enough, but planning your days, weeks, and even months will assist you to realize how much time you’ll be able to spend on specific projects, and the way much availability you could have to tackle latest work.
Planning in itself takes a little bit of time, so it’s essential to determine on a day of the week when you’ll be able to begin planning for the upcoming week of labor. Slotting in projects, replying to follow-up queries, meeting with clients, and even having enough time to rest.
We’re not saying that it’s worthwhile to plan for each given hour of the day, nonetheless, it is vital to calculate how much of your time you’ll be able to spend working, but in addition how much time you’ll be able to allocate to rest and chill out. Remember, time is money.
Create a project tracker
Keep track of your projects and deadlines with a web based project tracking tool. This might sound somewhat unnecessary, but it’s going to prevent plenty of effort and time knowing exactly where you is likely to be on a certain project, and the way far off a deadline could also be.
Using a web based project tracking tool can assist you to plan accordingly, but in addition be certain that you’re ahead of schedule, and if something must be reworked, you’re then in a position to make adjustments that work to your schedule.
Use an easy tool with an easy-to-use interface, allowing you to make changes as you go along. This fashion, you’ll be able to inform your clients about upcoming deadlines and provides you adequate time to make any changes or reworks where needed.
Construct a routine
Being a freelancer means which you could create a routine that works for you. If you happen to work higher at night than through the day, make that work to your ability, but remember to not lose track of your deadlines.
Making a routine encourages you to be more responsible along with your time and minimize any possible distractions. Having a routine allows you to deal with what must get done now, how much time it’s worthwhile to allocate to a given task, and when a deadline is coming up.
Having a routine can assist you to turn into more responsible along with your time, meaning that you could have designated slots when you find yourself purported to work, and times when you’ll be able to rest or tackle other activities.
Minimize distractions
Being more autonomous along with your schedule and time can lead you to turn into easily distracted by other, less necessary things.
Distractions will be anything or anywhere, in any respect times, and whenever you begin to understand how much time you’ve got spent doing unnecessary things, you lose out on helpful hours that would’ve been higher utilized.
Make sure you minimize distractions comparable to turning your phone on silent or disabling social media notifications. Ask others that could be working around you to not disturb you during working hours, or schedule less necessary tasks for a later time in the day.
Sometimes you’re feeling like checking your phone, scrolling through social media, responding to emails, or doing other things. While there isn’t a one to check out you, ensure that that how much time you’re spending on these tasks, and which you could atone for any work should you fall behind schedule.
Complete difficult tasks first
Now that you simply’re planning your weeks and constructing a routine, start by learning methods to schedule more critical, and complicated tasks first, getting them out of the way in which quicker, helping to release more time in your schedule.
Taking up difficult projects first could be a strategy to be more productive, help reduce stress, and create time to make any vital adjustments.
Tackling more minor, less necessary things first can create a false sense of productivity, and in the long-run, you’re feeling less motivated to undertake more significant projects which can be still due. Starting with the toughest things will make other tasks seem much easier to finish.
Schedule time for admin
People often don’t inform you about all of the admin responsibilities of freelancing. Writing proposals, generating quotes, responding to emails, meetings with clients, keeping track of funds, ordering latest supplies, making edits and adjustments to projects, and still having enough time for yourself as well.
Repeatedly avoiding your administrative responsibilities will be costly, and it is best advised to complete your admin tasks through the day, and even through the week.
Depending in your workload and the quantity of admin you might have, resolve whether you’ll be able to finish it at the beginning or the top of the day. Higher yet, streamline your administration by utilizing digital tools that may assist you to keep track of things like funds, invoice due dates, and even email reminders.
Remember, being a freelancer is similar as running a small business. Neglecting your admin could be a costly mistake, lowering your earnings and further creating more give you the results you want in the long term.
Schedule designated rest days
It has been found that freelancers work on average 43 hours per week, suggesting that it’s just like that of an everyday nine-to-five job. Nevertheless, freelancers are likely to have different working days and schedules. Sometimes they could find themselves working full days; other times, it’s every other single day.
Not having a routine and knowing when to take a break can damage your productivity, primarily should you work greater than 50 to 55 hours weekly.
Create intervals where you’ll be able to take a break from working, whether taking an hour lunch break through the day or having shorter work days on a Friday, but scheduling just a few hours over the weekend to meet up with work.
Continuously working increases risks related to burnout, which may result in higher levels of stress, anxiety, and depression. You’ll want to check out yourself, and remember there’s nothing healthy about being a workaholic.
Prioritize projects
As we have mentioned, tackling greater projects before smaller, less necessary tasks will assist you to get more done in your day and motivate you as you start with other projects.
Nevertheless, it’s crucial to prioritize your work as you join latest clients, or accept latest tasks. While it’s possible you’ll want to begin with something easy now, it is best to go away this until a later stage, and somewhat deal with the stuff you are currently working on.
Take work because it comes, and make sure you schedule enough time for every little thing during your working days. No matter the way you manage your tasks and priorities, prioritizing your work will assist you to see what’s more necessary, and what might require your immediate attention.
Make time for yourself.
Your well-being and health should be prioritized, even when it seems like you do not have the time. You’ll want to check in on yourself every now and then. Having day without work from work, even someday in the week, or over the weekend – find time for yourself.
Without proper rest, you’ll turn into less productive, creative, and attentive at work. By scheduling just a few hours per week to rest, or do something apart from work, you’ll be able to establish a healthy work-life balance, whereby you could have enough time to hustle and prioritize your well-being.
It’s hard, but trust the method.
Being a freelancer will be a wonderful strategy to pursue what you enjoy most about your work; nonetheless, without adequate time management and scheduling, you’ll drown yourself in work and deadlines.
Taking control of your schedule, whether day-by-day or week-by-week, helps you prioritize essential projects and creates more work-life balance throughout your freelancing profession.
While you wish to take advantage of your days, be certain that you could have enough time to rest and finalize your admin before taking up latest work. Yes, time is money, and your time is helpful, so as an alternative of wasting it on mundane tasks, create a time management structure that works along with your freelancing goals.
Featured Image Credit: Photo by Gustavo Fring; Pexels; Thanks!(*10*)
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