Despite enjoying the flexibility and freedom that comes with being a freelancer, it requires a lot of self-discipline to remain motivated. In some instances, there are mornings you wake up and rather than working, you watch your favorite show on Netflix. However, in the freelancer world, there is one rule, if you do not work you do not get paid. In order to remain productive as well as accomplish your goals, there are several techniques that each freelancer need to implement.
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Set a Schedule
Majority of individuals become freelancers in order to escape the burden that comes with scheduling of activities. However, as a freelancer, if you want to become successful it is important to establish a schedule on daily basis. Having a schedule of each day enables the freelancer to remain motivated and organized. For instance, setting aside each morning to plan the whole day, making phone calls, responding to emails as well as updating social media channels. After that, it is important to set aside hours from 9 to noon for work, then break for lunch then resume work from 1 to 5.
Getting an early start
For freelancer one of the advantage they have is lack of commuting from home to their workstations. Therefore, the time they save from commuting could be used to doing other crucial things. Thus, starting the day early has enormous benefits like being able to anticipate negative eventualities, being more proactive, and becoming better in planning. In addition, starting the day early creates ample time enabling the freelancer to engage in other important aspects such as exercising.
Actually, get dressed
The above strategy may sound like a cliché since you are working from the comfort of your home and there is no need to put aside pajamas and sweatpants. However, the above aspect does not have to be the case since research shows dressing enables an individual to fit the role. Psychology Professor from the University of Hertfordshire explains that when we put on clothes it is mutual for the one wearing them to take the characteristics that comes with the attire. For instance, the clothes we wear have symbolic meaning to us, if you put on ‘relaxing weekend wear’ or ‘professional work attire’ thus, the type of clothing a freelancer decides wear has a significant impact to his or her productivity. Therefore, as a freelancer, it is important to dress in a manner to trigger the brain for productive purposes.
Design a functional workplace
As a freelancer, you may be tempted to use your couch as the workstation. However, your couch may be too comfortable to facilitate optimum productivity. In order to remain productive as a freelancer, it is important to create a functional workspace that contains critical aspects such as exposure to natural light, filled with plants, the optimum temperature at 77 degrees, and free from noise. In addition, it is also essential to ensure the workspace is clean and organized to facilitate easy tracing of commodities.
Cut out distractions
Distractions are key causative of low output. Hence on top of having an optimum working space, it is also essential to ensure you cut the amounts of elements distracting your work. Some of the measures as a freelancer you should take to ensure no distraction is putting your cell phone on airplane mode when working, turn off messaging and social media notifications. Alternatively, as a freelancer, you can cut away distractions buy putting on headphones if the background noise is much.
Give yourself a break
Research conducted shows that engaging in frequent breaks has a way of increasing creative thinking and productivity. In addition, taking breaks have a way of preventing exhaustion and stress. Thus, as a freelancer, it is important to take breaks in order to have optimum production.
Separate personal and professional communication
As a freelancer, separating both personal and professional communication is rather tricky since they happen to jumble together. When the two types of communication mix chances of decreasing the productivity of the freelancer are high since much time is spent on reading personal emails, texts or phone calls. In order to overcome the above pitfall, it is important to keep your personal communication silent.
Lastly for a freelancer to experience productivity, it is important to know your most important task of the day. Knowing your most important task will enable the freelancer to avoid procrastination and time wastage.