Many people sincerely believe that remote work is a pleasant pastime on the beach with a laptop on your laps and a cocktail in your hand. As a result, people, who start to work as freelancers, are confronted with a disappointment and a discrepancy between their expectations and the real state of things. In fact, freelance it’s not an easy thing. I would even say that this is something between the office work and your own business. In order to be successful in the field of freelance, you should remember about investing maximum of your knowledge, professionalism and skills in the projects implementation.
Is it so difficult to be a productive freelancer?
Finally, you made a decision to quit the office work and to conquer the world of freelancing. You start to imagine how you wake up lazily, make a cup of coffee, read the morning newspaper and finally begin to work, communicating with clients, designing the interiors, translating, etc. Besides, you fell that you have a time for lunch and evening gathering with your friends or family. No one and nothing distracts you from working process, there are no deadlines and conflict situations with partners.
However, reality may look totally different. Your neighbors and family are going to share your morning. Household affairs and troubles would distract and demotivate you. The eagerness to watch TV and lie on the sofa would increase. All of the above might destroy your daily plans and will not allow you to achieve the desired effects. If we are talking about working at home, not everyone can manage to gather the strength and concentrate on work, leaving behind the door all household problems. But if you’re determined and interested in maximizing productivity at work, then the tips given in this article will become your faithful assistant.
Key tips to improve your productivity
What is the secret of high productivity of some freelancers? Is it an incredible diligence? Whether they have some amazing software which reduces the time they invest in the project implementation? As in any other field, there is no perfect recipe for being productive. There are several simple tips, which may help you to be as perfect freelancer as possible. To become more productive, you need to know a few simple rules, using an effective system of work and be disciplined.
The first thing you need to remember about is your workplace. Convenient and comfortable desk is half of the success. If your position is inconvenient, then it’s hardly to imagine that you would be able to concentrate. A perfectly designed desk will allow you to prolong the concentration and will make you feel better after the job is done. A well-organized workplace will save your time and help you to be a productive self-employer.
Definitely, the easiest way to maintain the productivity and to keep your workplace in perfect condition is to find the coworking space in your city. For example, I am writing this extremely interesting article during my stay in ZI8 coworking in Vienna. Coworking spaces are designed to provide you with the perfect working atmosphere. Therefore, I advise you to think about being a part of a coworking community.
If you are interested in ways to be more productive at work, don’t forget about keeping your mind clear. Take 15-minute pauses during working process, sleep at least 8 hours a day, try to have a balanced nutrition, never skip a breakfast.
Remember that social networks can be as helpful as destructive. Notifications can be addictive. I advise you to control and divide your leisure time from your working activities. However, if it is too difficult to skip the best friend’s tweet and you are not using the social network to promote your business, be strong and turn off all notifications during your working day. It’s necessary to do everything to make the work more possible productive.
The last tip is connected with the discipline. As you know, the strength of the will is limited source and it should be used wisely. It’s difficult to maintain discipline if there is no determined system of a work. Plan your working day, stay focused on your goals, use your free time productively, do not let yourself be distracted.
Top mistakes that can kill your productivity
Being a freelancer requires a wise management of your own time. Unfortunately, there are a lot of mistakes that can easily reduce your productivity and cut your incomes. We want to pay your attention on three principal and most common mistakes, that affect the productivity of freelancer:
- Overtime working.
- The absence of clearly planned to-do-list for a day.
- Simultaneous execution of household and work business.
If you believe that one who works too much works well, you are mistaken. According to the Stanford University scientist Chris Bailey, people who work more than 50 hours a week can’t be productive. If you work for 8 hours 6 days a week, this is enough to achieve good results. If you work more than 8/6, than you simply waste your time unproductively. Unfortunately, average person have limited abilities and can’t be focused for a long time. Therefore, do not try to work as long as possible. My suggestion in case if you spend too much time at work, do your best to plan exact amount of tasks per day. Implementation of exact amount of tasks will help you to understand how actually productive you are.
Again, going back to the words of Chris Bailey, the best results are shown with the work schedule, which requires three tasks a day. Tasks for the day should be selected in the morning or evening. You should highlight the most important thing to do.
From time to time, you might feel uncomfortable with your household tasks. A lot of people do not have a time to clean their homes, to maintain their car in a good state, to spend more time with children, family, etc. Remember, being uncomfortable with any kind of undone activity do not have good influence on your job. You should be honest with yourself. In case if you feel that you are not spending enough of time at home, plan you week or month and establish exact days which you devote to your home or family. The day, which you are going to spend with your household tasks, should be totally free of work. Clear your thoughts. Remember, that people who are happy at home usually happy at work.
When it is better to postpone projects
If the freelancer is a responsible person, then he will certainly finish the projects assigned to him, despite the level of his productivity. However, sometimes, the circumstances are so difficult and unexpected that you can lose your faith in the project implementation. It is good to have a lot of work and projects. But it is definitely not good to have too much work. Remember about the quality of the final result. To maintain the highest quality of your work, you need to be ready to postpone some of the tasks, projects or orders from your client.
To sum up, remember, that time can’t be returned. Therefore do not waist it. Everyone make mistakes, but not everyone try to understand it. I wish you to be successful in what you are doing and not give up.