Freelancing is one of the most difficult ways to make a living. Spending your entire day sitting in front of a computer, coding, writing and sending emails to clients can really have a negative impact on your mind. Learning how to properly manage tasks is a crucial part to running any freelance business.
Here are some basic strategies for dealing with projects and managing your work load, so that you can be as efficient as possible.
Each of us only has a certain amount of time on this planet, and time does not wait for anyone. If you are going to properly manage your tasks, you are going to need to learn how to manage your time effectively. No matter how hard a worker you are, it is difficult to finish all of your work during one session. You cannot try to defeat time by relentlessly sitting at your computer working away. You have to realize that you need to work with time. Do not get down on yourself because you did not complete an entire task in one sitting.
You should reward yourself for the work that you did get done, and dedicate yourself to return to work as soon as you have done so. Rewarding yourself is a great way to boost your morale. It does not matter what you enjoy in life, use those things as treats which you can give yourself for completing set amounts of work. The best way to manage your time is to divide your day into segments and allot tasks to each time. At the start of the day, simply work out what you have to get done, and how long it will take. You will find that the day goes a lot more smoothly if you know where you are, and where you are heading.
Priorities
When you are writing down tasks that you must complete, it is important to list which tasks need to be completed first. Using an online calendar which allows for tasks, such as Google Calendar, is a great way to organise yourself. If you find that you need to change your priorities around, and then do so. You have to learn to be flexible, because life can throw a lot of changes at you.
Meetings
As a freelancer you probably know that dealing with clients can be quite a chore. You might spend a lot of your time talking to them and working out each little problem that any given project has encountered. You have to learn to keep your meetings, phone calls, and internet mailing sessions, as brief as possible. The client is paying you to get the work done, but they are not paying you to spend half the day discussing the work with them. Your time is valuable and you should not give too much of it away for free.
Less is more
Writing down each little thing that you need to get done might work for some. However, if you are faced with a huge list of tasks that take up every moment of your day, you might start to feel depressed and constricted. Try to write down only important things in your planner, and free up some of your days.
