Freelancers A to Z #006. How to Stay in a Good Shape, Quit Multitasking and Master the Art of Effective Scheduling?
Freelancers A to Z is a series of roundup posts with captivating curated blog posts, podcasts and articles.
My purpose is to give you as a freelancer a place where you can find support and help with productivity, motivation and time management issues. Here you will find simple yet powerful hacks to improve your productivity and boost your freelance business instantly.
Are you ready?
Working as a freelancer has its perks. You are your own boss, you have time to watch all those pending seasons, do your household chores, and still be able to do the work you are assigned.
Yes, the lifestyle is refreshing and if you ever need a change in scenery you just need to walk out of your current room and sit on the balcony. Ah! The ease and relaxation are riveting that’s for sure.
Yet, the whole freelancing job slash work slash projects can become rather daunting. Being your own boss could mean that you excuse yourself on your setbacks or delay your work just because you can. This hinders your productivity and your repute in the freelancing world immensely.
Freelancing requires motivation and it is with this motivation that you can give your client the best work. As much as demotivation is normal for a freelancer, it can hinder your work a lot. This would not only affect your productivity but also your credibility in front of your clients.
Here are some tips and tricks that could help you increase your productivity while working as a freelancer from home.
1
How to Stay in a Good Shape While Working from Home?
As much as we love to lazy around and munch on some snacks, this lifestyle can affect our productivity.
Very soon you would end up with a big belly and moving from the bed to your kitchen would prove to be a very difficult task.
Physical exercise is a great way to keep your productivity and motivation in check. This website gives you different tips as to how you should take care of your physical health.
Going for a run or walk is a simple cardio-exercise that helps you lose all the stress and strain. The breeze and the crisp weather would soothe your mind and all the stress would wither away. Eating healthy or even walking around inside your house, as suggested by the website, can further ease your stress.
This would automatically hone your productivity skills. The nature around us, as stated on this website, can soothe your inner turmoil. Physical exercise helps you as a freelancer, for the change in the environment and a full routined workout makes you sweat out all the stress. Thus, you must incorporate exercise into your routine if you do not want your mind to wither away.
2
Why an Effective Schedule Is Important and How to Create One?
You may come across numerous freelancing tips and the top one would be ‘to make a schedule’. Where the tip is very stupendous and helps you organise the work, you should be able to know how to plan an effective schedule.
Planning an effective schedule makes your productive stature reach the sky and you would have client’s as happy as a child with a lollipop.
It is important that, as said on the website, you figure out your task pools. What that means is that you need to know what your tasks are. When you know your tasks then you can add it in your schedules, making your do your work the best of the lot. The website suggests splitting your tasks into categories and making space for personal work added to your schedule can further help you make your work easier to handle and do.
There would be times when you would be given emergency tasks and adjusting them into a crammed schedule would not work. The website says that if you make room for them beforehand then you would be able to do work.
A schedule or better yet, an effective schedule with pre-set tasks and duties can make the work you do seem like a piece of cake.
You would want to be able to do the work with ease and without worrying about other assignments or projects. This website gives you all the possible ways of maintaining an effective schedule.
3
How to Know When You Need a Break?
As a freelancer, you may have work crammed on your desktop, sticky notes, and office table. This crammed up work makes it difficult to focus and is a break as to why you need a break.
The signs reported in the website are important to look into for they state the obvious, you need a break! Not taking a break could affect your work, productivity, and the client would come at you with a hammer in his hand.
The websites clearly state that if you are out of creative juice, then that could hinder your work ethic, which is one of the reasons why a break is mandatory.
If your ideas are at the bottom and you open the project only to sit with a blank mind, then know that it would not get you anywhere with a productive task.
The website suggests that you work with peace of mind. If you start your project despite it, the client won’t be happy and you won’t be either. Which is why the website suggests it is important to know when to take a break from this cramped life of yours, take a deep breath and return anew. Increase your motivation to do the task and your productivity would go higher.
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4
Why Rewarding Yourself Is a Good Idea?
When working for a client you would be paid the amount promised. But the actual process of doing the work requires a lot of hard work and you would need some motivation to do the task.
Doing the task is not the just main gist here.
It is giving your best work that makes everything rewarding. As said on the website you must treat yo' self.
When you treat yourself after successfully fulfilling a task and that too which is splendid in context, that is a kind of happiness that everyone tries to reach.
The website suggests that when treating yourself you should set a goal for the day. What is it that one task that you want to achieve today? While you are at it, why not jot down the potential rewards that would greet you?
Your reward could be a small break between two tasks or even a large cheese pizza for yourself. The possibilities are endless. Having a treat at the end of the day always leaves a happy person behind.
If for some reason you are still not able to find the motivation to work, the website even has a solution for that. Involve your family and friends, ask them to keep an eye on you and that you would not disappoint the people that you love.
5
Some Great Reasons Why You Should Quit Multitasking Now
Now as much as multitasking helps get the job done at a set time, it is not as productive as you might think.
Multitasking and productivity do not go hand-in-hand for they hinder your ability to do the task with utmost precision and accuracy. The website suggests that multitasking is similar to procrastinating because the feeling that you are busy in other tasks, makes you leave the one thing that is important.
Doing two and at the most time, three tasks in a single day can hurt that little head of yours. It is not about what you can and cannot do, it is about the stress that tolls on with some much work.
There are other harmless duties that you can multitask on. The example given on the website is listening to music while running or listening to an audiobook while doing the laundry. However, these are mundane duties that do not require much attention.
Well… Laundry does, we do not want all our white clothes to turn into a baby pinkish colour.
Multitasking your projects can jumble up all the information and would hinder your productivity and lower your motivation to work.
6
All work and no play…
The last thing I would like to share with you is music. It has a special place in my life. For that reason I listen to music when I work. Hoverer, as some of you already know, it’s also because I want to cut off the noise caused by my neighbors.
This week I recommend the new album of Booka Shade. Perfect to boost your productivity.
Last but not least: in the next issue your playlist can appear in this place. So leave in comments your favourite music that you love to listen when you work.
One last thing
In the comments below let me know what do you think about this issue of Freelancers A to Z. Tell me what do you like, what is not so good, what do you want more of. I need to know everything.
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The next issue will be available in two weeks. Stay tuned.
Take care and have a nice time
Mariusz from the Time Continuum App