5 Tips To Stay Productive When You’re Self Employed
Freelancer? Blogger? Entrepreneur? When your time is money, literally, check out these 5 tips to stay productive when you’re self employed.
When you work for yourself, your day-to-day duties are usually yours and yours alone. From accounting, social media, answering emails, growing your brand, improving your product, taking care of yourself and your family to even managing your personal life, it can get overwhelming – fast. You started your own business for the flexibility, so don’t let yourself drown in the responsibilities of being self-employed. Here are 5 tips to stay productive when you’re self employed:
1. Take Breaks
You know those mornings, or afternoons (or late-night sessions) where you are cranking out work, blowing through emails and finishing everything you wanted to get done and more? Now think about the times you are sitting there, trying to get things done and can’t muster up the energy. The next time you just can’t find the motivation, give yourself a break, literally. Remember that it’s not just the number of hours you sit at a desk that determines the value of the work you’re getting done. What truly defines productivity is the level of energy you bring to those hours you work. Come back to work later and see if you’ve reset anything in your brain. You are self-employed after all, so you hopefully have the freedom to not have to work a dreadful 9 hours through at a time.
2. Keep Your Space Clean
Messiness ups stress. It’s hard to feel motivated when your surroundings aren’t tidy. If there is clutter around you, the least you should do is move it. Make sure your workspace is an inspiring, organized place to help you stay productive when you’re self employed. If you want to go even further, read about how to use Feng Shui in your home office.
3. Go Somewhere New
You’ve got a drifting desk, right? So use it. Human beings are incredibly aware of our surroundings, and your mood can be affected by the space you occupy. Don’t let yourself get bored with your surroundings – that feeling of mundane could end up affecting your productivity and motivation. Find a local coworking space and get out of the house or hotel. Go to a coffee shop. Work from the beach. The world is your oyster. Your creativity and productive may be getting drained by being in the same place every single day. I created a list with the best cities in the world for coworking and links for where to find a coworking space, if you need help finding one in your area.
4. Make A To-Do List
I have a confession to make: I am insane about to-do lists. Like, I am obsessed with to-do lists. I started them in high school after watching my mother use them daily growing up (even though she sometimes had a weird version where she drew a small X at the base of her thumb with pen.) I have a shared one on my phone with my boyfriend and my best-friend. I have a blogging to-do list right next to me. I keep a master to-do list on the memo app on my phone (so that I can add things to it with my voice even when I’m driving). I have bright neon paper to help so I don’t lost track of it. To-Do Lists help take the burden of what you need to do later and keep it in a safe place so you can get back to what you are currently working on, plus, they help keep you focused once you finish a task because you are able to reference what you have to do next without your mind wandering.
5. Do Important Things First
Eat the frog, some may say. Well, Mark Twain said it first, to be exact. Get the nastiest thing done first. The thing you want to do the least. The thing that will take up the most of your time and energy. Get it out of your way and don’t procrastinate on it. Why? Say you are saving that bad boy for the afternoon because well, it’s just human nature to put it off. You’re going to spend more energy dreading/thinking about/planning to do whatever the big task is all morning than the energy you’d gain by the relief you’d have thinking about the task you already finished. The iconic Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven Covey.
“Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.” -Mark Twain
Alright, drifters – tell me, and each other, how you get it done. Comment below about your secret tip to tackle the anti-productivity goblin?
Ready to get serious about your work from anywhere job search? I whole-heartedly recommend Flexjobs, the site where I found my first freelance writing gig. There are zero scams on their site and they have their own 100% remote team, too!
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