Today we bring you some tips that will help you beat procrastination in order to become a more productive freelancer.
If you are a freelancer this is of interest to you because we are going to give you some 5 tips to be a more productive freelancer, because few workers understand the importance of being productive.
Perhaps for many being a freelancer sounds like the dream of any worker, especially because you do not have an entry or exit schedule and you can work from the comfort of your home, however being a freelancer is when you really learn to value time because the faster you finish the projects the faster you will have your money.
Today we want to give you these tips that will help you overcome procrastination.
1. Plan your day
One of the things that can help you to be more productive is to plan your day. You can do this planning from one night before establishing a list of tasks that you can finish the next day and determining the time that each one can take you.
But be careful, this does not mean that you make a long list of all the things that you would like to finish during the day, the advice is to make a realistic list of the tasks that most annoy you and that you can finish during the day, if you set too long activities or too many tasks that you cannot finish in one day, it will most likely generate some frustration.
With a list like this you can start the day with the tasks that are easiest for you and check them off as soon as they are ready, so you will take energy to continue with the ones that give you more work, because nothing gives you as much encouragement as seeing that you are being productive.
2. Identify your productive hours
One of the advantages of being a freelancer is that you are not regularly subject to strict schedules, so there is no fixed time to “get to work” or to “leave work”, so if you know yourself you can take better advantage of this. Perhaps, it sounds familiar to you that some people do better in the mornings, while others do better in the evenings, recognize what time of day you work most easily and don’t force yourself to work hard at other times unless you have to.
If you feel you work best late at night, don’t worry or try to change from one day to the next, because forcing yourself to work hard in the morning will only make you more tired and less productive, as you won’t work at the right pace.
The best thing to do is that no matter what your schedule is, try to sleep 8 hours to be rested for the rest of the day. Also, consider in your planning to leave the simple or little demanding tasks in a schedule that does not go as well, for example if you work well at night you can leave the task of answering emails for the first hours after waking up.
3. Use the pomodoro method
The pomodoro method to be more productive has become popular in recent years, many recommend it especially to college students so they can use their time more efficiently but it works very well for everyone who has to multitask during the day.
The pomodoro method is about taking short breaks between several periods of exclusive concentration on one activity. The idea is that you choose a task and calculate the time it takes you to complete it. With the help of a timer mark 25 minutes, this is a pomodoro, to concentrate exclusively on this task without any distractions, without advancing anything else, only one task at a time, after these first 25 minutes mark 5 minutes of rest to check your cell phone, stretch your legs, drink water, eat something. Establish another 4 pomodoros of the same duration and with the same interval of rest, when you finish them rest between 15 to 30 minutes, repeat again until the task is completed.
With this simple organization you will realize how much you can increase your productivity, without wasting a lot of time and without feeling exhausted.
4. Establish an exclusive work space
Surely you are the envy of your acquaintances traditional employees for being freelance and more if you work from home, because surely, they imagine that you start working until after noon, from your bed, but the truth is that if you have been working as a freelancer for some time you know how dangerous it is for your productivity to get carried away by this.
As tempting as it may seem to work from places like the dining room, the kitchen or your bed is a serious mistake that affects your productivity drastically, because at the end of the day these are places that are designed for other purposes, because there will always be things like noises, objects or even smells that distract you, plus if you use these places every workday it will take you several minutes to accommodate your space and start working.
The best thing to do is to assign a space in your home exclusively for work, where you have everything you need ready to start your day and where you can control possible distractions, even if it is within another space such as the family room, this will help you save time, plus it will make you feel that you start with your work routine.
5. Take advantage of technology
Today technology can be our worst enemy or our strongest ally. While it is true, that many times the cell phone, tablet or in general the Internet are a source of distractors that put in check your concentration and decrease your productivity, it is also true that this need not always be so, because you can use all its power in your favor and is that today there are several applications that will help you concentrate more and, therefore, increase your productivity. Here we recommend some of them:
- Zapier: is a tool that is available for iPhone, Android and desktop, its main function is to move information between the applications you use daily to automate some processes. Zapier uses automated workflows called “zaps” such as saving email attachments, uploading videos to YouTube, backing up emails. This ensures that these types of tasks will be done on a daily basis, while you focus on more complex tasks.
- HelloSign: this tool is available for iOS, Android and as a web application, with it forget about the cumbersome and time-consuming process of printing, signing, scanning and sending, because it is an application that allows you to digitally sign almost any type of document, to avoid the printing process.
- IFTTT: is an exclusive app for iOS and Android, it is an efficient task automation tool, similar to Zapier, but simpler. You can even link it with many smart home devices to turn on the heating when you approach home or play your favorite music, this will also help you save a lot of time to devote to other tasks.
- Focus Lock: this application is announced as the application that prevents you from procrastinating, as it blocks the most distracting applications and blocks notifications, for the time you define, so you cannot take the phone to check Facebook while you work.
- FORCEdraft: this tool is perfect for freelance copywriters, as it is a text editor that does not allow you to close or change window until you achieve the set goal.
As you can see being a freelancer can be an excellent way of working, especially if you work from home, since you can have your own schedule and work at your own pace, but you have to keep in mind, more than other types of workers, that for you time is money, that’s why you must learn to make the most of all the time you spend on your work.
We hope these tips help you to become more productive and make the most of your work hours. Tell us, do you know any other tips for freelancers to be more productive in their day to day?