It’s not time we lack, but focus. – Buddha Standard Time by Lama Surya Das

The concept is common amount thought leaders. Zig Ziglar said the same thing in Success for Dummies, and added, “We all have twenty four hour days.”

Success comes to those who leverage their time and focus to maximize their life’s true intention and purpose.

I’ve been freelancing for a total of over 5 years now.

I would assert that the most difficult part of freelancing is NOT finding work or income, but finding a balance of what one should do with their time.

In freelance, you make almost all the decisions. You create your schedule, you maintain your taxes, you manage your social media marketing, and maybe you make time to do the actual work that yields the income!

With all the things one has to do, it’s easy to get distracted and become unproductive. Throw in addictive, unproductive obstacles like Facebook and other internet distractions, you have a great challenge to overcome, moreso than just creating a product or service that makes money.

Over the last few years, I have picked up a few tools and tricks to keep myself productive.

1. Leechblock

Managing social media would be an easy job if that was your only job to do all day. However, most of us don’t get paid to just post on Facebook or Twitter, it’s just a small fragment of all the many things we have to do.

In 2012, I frequently found myself in an endless inefficient loop.

Post on Facebook.
Check back a few minutes later for responses.
Check email.
Check back a few minutes later for responses.
Check twitter.
Check back a few minutes later for responses.
Repeat to infinity!

I would be working with Photoshop art files, if it took more than 3 seconds to open a file, while it loaded, I would fall back into the inefficient routine.

Then I found Leechblock. Essentially, it’s a Firefox add on which allows you to block specific site(s) for variable timeframes. You can click, but the site blocked will not load.

EUREKA. When I need to focus and git ‘r dun, I throw Facebook/Twitter on lockdown.

If you can take self discipline out of the picture, you’re more likely to succeed… at least in my experience.

2. Daily to do lists. It’s a pain, but if your tasks are varied, making a to do to list every morning is very helpful.

Initially, I started with Post-it Notes, but I upgraded to a refreshable Boogie Board last year and it’s been a great tool. You can write your daily to do list on it, and at the end of the day wipe it clean or rewrite for the next day. It’s also pretty fun to doodle on.

For more longterm goals and ideas, I do have a whiteboard in my office. Some things don’t belong on a daily to do list.

3. Priority Workflow Chart – Although I create to do lists, sometimes you need a solid IF-THEN system to sort out in what order you should execute your work. I use index cards with rules to decide my work for me.

I have a myriad of tasks on my plate. Approvals, designing, creating images, social media, taxes, etc. I also juggle a rolling schedule that requires I have work done ahead of time that requires decisions making to be on a flexible schedule.

For me, there are things that are priorities like art approvals or finished scheduled designs, so I have an index cards on my desk that dictate my workflow. This is one of them.

Although it may seem like a no-brainer and pointless to have such basic commands on an index card, it’s been very helpful to put my brain on auto-pilot…

It’s been several years since I began freelancing, but in hindsight, it might have been good to have simple instructions like these with things like “Take a Shower” or “Go out in the sun.”

Simple things are easy to forget when you are left to your own devices.

So I have several other cards related to freelancing that hold me accountable for other tasks like: posting on social media, interacting with the community, creating art, etc.

The toughest thing for me working as a freelancer has been knowing IF I have worked hard enough.  When you can work endlessly, sometimes it’s hard to know when to stop.

If you reduce your work down to a IF-THEN workflow, then it’s easier to make decisions and know when you’ve done enough to succeed.

Additional thoughts:

Currently, much of my life revolves around work, and I’ve become quite adept at work work. I’m often looking for ways to seek happiness, or rather contentedness, and I’m finding that maybe I need to add structures in place to foster the same rigor in controlling my behavior to benefit my health and relationships since contentment is not just work success.

Thanks for reading!
Jimiyo