Everyone who is connected with freelancing somehow perfectly understand that it is difficult to describe the schedule of a freelancer: one day you have no work at all, but other day brings you several projects at once. And then we understand how bad we are in time management. Let’s try to find out how to organize our work on several projects wisely.
A dead line of one project makes a freelancer forget about other ones for a while, and this influences the quality of his work of course. So, what can we do to be in time with everything?
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Plan a project in advance
Even if you have lists and plans for the future, you should still try it! Just plan. Moreover, you should do that as carefully as you can. Make a note for every step, and think about the connection between them. Line up a plan of every meeting with your client, and every stage of a project. Why to spend time for that, you ask? Because it will give you an opportunity to follow the plan step by step, from one important stage to another. You will not have to think over every next step during your work, and you will be able to concentrate on the work itself. Try this at least once – and you will understand how important it is.
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Plan your working day
First, it may seem that a freelancing is your total freedom from schedules. But the truth is that everything is vice versa. This is you who control yourself and your deeds, no one else. That is why everyday planning is very important for a freelancer, than for a manager from an office. There are some nuances anyway. The variant of foreground planning will be more effective for a freelancer. Therefore, make a list starting with the most important tasks and ending with less important ones.
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Protect yourself from obstacles
We all have them: e-mail checking, social networks, blogs, forums (even if you need them for work). They all interfere and prevent us from working and “eat” our time by the way. Just try to set a rule of checking e-mail once a day, and let your clients know about that. If they have a very important question to ask you, and they can’t wait till tomorrow – let them call you.
The same can be said about social accounts: if you need them for work, set a rule to spend 10-15 minutes there. All important notes may be saved into bookmarks, because if they are really important – you will come to read them later.
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Make some breaks
One of the most difficult things is to leave a computer, especially when there is so little time left to finish a project. Anyway, you should make 15-minutes breaks regardless how busy you are at that moment. Plus, one hour for a lunch would be also great. No matter how important this project is for you, you shouldn’t forget about your health: if you lose it, you will have no clients and projects at all. Moreover, it is always useful to take a fresh look at your job. Check your work after a rest, and you may find some drawbacks to change.
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Know exactly what you can
None of us is ideal, we are not robots or machines. We always try to outdo, taking so many tasks and projects at once… We want to be better than others, but the problem is that we can’t estimate our strengths. Every freelancer should know what he can, and use this knowledge while taking tasks. It doesn’t mean that you can’t take anything new and develop yourself improving your skills! Just think of your physical abilities to finish such an amount of work in time! We all are humans only!
What conclusions can be made from all written above? Plan every project step by step, plan your working day, avoid various interruptions, make breaks (!), and estimate your abilities! It sounds easy, but every freelancer avoids at least one of these tips. Try to follow all of them, and you will be surprised how easy and effective your work will be.
By Alex Strike, a copywriter of essay-all-stars.com
The post Planning For Freelancers: How To Be In Time With Everything appeared first on About Freelance.
