How Setting a Schedule Has Helped Me as a Freelancer
Many people dream of doing what it takes to become their own boss. I would compare this feeling to starting a new job and looking around at the other people who’ve worked there for years. At first, the thought of being your own boss is freeing. As most of us soon discover, working from home soon becomes a role of importance.
Challenges Freelancers Face With Time Management
By having such an important role, it can soon become difficult to manage the challenges all freelancers go through. We’re talking about setting rates, finding the right clients, and still trying to have some type of work-life balance. It’s enough to make anyone feel a little anxious. Soon, you begin realizing that being in charge of a company might be more challenging than you first thought.
I was in the middle of this situation myself a few years ago and knew something had to be done. As someone who was busy, I didn’t have the time (or energy) to track down and start reading a bunch of how-to books. I needed information fast, so I started a web search to get the answers I was after. Soon, I came across a blog post about content marketing detailing what was known as the Pomodoro Technique.
The Pomodoro Technique is a time management system where you work for a set amount of time and take a short break afterward, repeating the process until you earn a longer break. At first, this idea seemed silly. However, I pressed on and downloaded some type of Pomodoro app and got to work. Unbelievably, I soon found that I was getting way more done.
The Power of the Pomodoro Technique (with a slight modification)
So, why did this happen to me? How was just a simple timer allowing me to be much more productive than I normally am? As I began researching this, I found out that having a sense of timing helps our brains avoid overthinking. I found the best success by working on a task for 1 hour and 15 minutes and then taking a 15 minute break. It might just be me, but 45 minutes almost seems too short to focus on one task. Again, we're all different.
Unfortunately, overthinking was something I struggled with almost all of my life. This is why I struggle to make decisions about what I’m going to eat for lunch. As you can imagine, trying to run a business with an overactive brain is often more harmful than most people think. By using a timed system to complete my work, I was no longer wondering where I should spend my time during the day. Instead, a timer was telling me when to start working and when to stop.
If you want to get the most out of this technique and have a lot on your plate, try to spend a Pomodoro focusing on one task and then, after your extended break, jumping into another one. Over time, this will help improve your productivity skills in a major way. It's also great for freelancers who have lots of important projects to juggle and can't afford to waste any time.
