4 Simple Productivity Tips For Freelancing and Working From Home

Snatching the Golden Ring of Productivity.

On the carousel of life and career, we’re all trying to reach for that golden ring called productivity. Round and round we go, sometimes we get lucky, sometimes it slips from our grip.

That’s okay. I use a carousel metaphor because you always have a chance next time around to win the golden ring. If you don’t succeed today, you may succeed tomorrow.

That doesn’t mean you can’t game the system, though.

I’m coming from the world of freelancing and working from home. We tend not to have bosses and supervisors looking over our shoulders all day long, so being productive — being motivated to be effective — is all on us, and it can be a challenge at times.

Here are some simple, easy-to-enable productivity tips anyone can use who is in a position of having to be a self-motivator.

Check email only at scheduled times

If you’ve been working from home or freelancing for a while, you probably have a good sense of the rhythm with which you’re receiving work-related emails. Use this knowledge to set specific time windows in your schedule for email — and only those time windows.

For example, I’m in NewEngland. I’ll have my email open and checked between 7 and 8 in the morning to accommodate my British clients. 1 to 2 pm is for my US clients (who are a time zone or two to the west of me), and then midnight to 1 am or so for my clients in Japan.

Outside of those times? I have my email windows closed.

It took me a while to break out of the habit of obsessively checking my email. It was a distraction and, I think, just an excuse to put off getting work done. As I got more practiced with my routine, I found that limiting my email to set times meant I could keep my focus where it needed to be.

Limiting myself to three set times per day means I could focus on the emails without sacrificing focus on work and vice versa.

(As an aside, I would apply this rule to your social media as well. Turn notifications off during work hours.)

Chunk your day

This is just another way of suggesting you break up your day into manageable chunks.

I work a fairly atypical schedule partly because of family obligations and partly because of geographic considerations between where I’m based and where my clients are located.

And I know when I’m most likely to be most productive. This is another one of those things you’ll pick up the longer you work on your own.

Mornings are for small tasks like email and work-related social media. These can be done in 10–15 minutes chunks as I get my family ready for the day and take care of chores.

Afternoons are for large tasks that don’t require too much thinking. Evenings, when it’s quiet in the house, are for writing and jobs that require more concentration.

The idea is to identify the best times of your day for certain tasks and make that the basis for your schedule. Find your best chunks of time for specific types of tasks and make it work for you.

Prioritize major tasks

You probably have a lot of items on your to-do list.

Why not? You’re a busy person.

But too many items on a to-do list can be overwhelming, or it can fragment the attention you need to give to the most important ones.

When you plan your day, put the two or three most important tasks at the very top. Warm up with something small if you must, but then go straight for the important tasks as soon as you can.

The small stuff is small stuff for a reason. They can wait. If you need to, schedule a specific hour or so in the day just for small tasks, or maybe block off half a day in your week for just small tasks.

Putting off big tasks only makes them bigger, which will then put you way behind in your productivity goals.

Musically speaking…

If you’re the sort who works best with complete silence, good for you. I’ve heard people like you exist.

For me and many others, background noise actually helps in maintaining focus.

Of course, not all background noise is created equal. Television, talk radio, podcasts, and audiobooks, I find, are too much of a distraction. Music seems to work best for most people. Particularly music that is light on lyrics. Jazz is always a good choice, as is funk and some blues. I’m also big on Irish traditional and bluegrass instrumentals.

Some people like classical music, although I tend to find it makes me anxious. Results will vary depending on tastes.

I’m a big fan of punk and indie music, but I’m not really enjoying the music if I’m concentrating on work. And if I’m grooving to the music too much, then I’m not focusing on work.

Make your music choices light. Keep the volume relatively low. In this day of streaming music, you’re never really at a loss for something appropriate to play in the background.

On maximizing productivity

Productivity doesn’t begin or end with these four tips. They’re just a few strategies you can integrate into your day to make the most of your time scheduled for work.

The benefit of maximizing your productivity is to make your workday efficient and under control. Otherwise, you’re going to find yourself working longer hours and working harder at it — all the while ignoring the essential things in life like friends, family, and, well… life.

Work to live, not live to work. You know?

Try these suggestions. Not all may work best for you, but I wager most will give you some benefit.

And have a great workday.

Cheers!

Thank you for reading. I’d love to share more with you via my Bi-Weekly Word Roundup newsletter sent to subscribers every other Sunday. It will feature news, productivity tips, life hacks, and links to top stories making the rounds on the Internet. You can unsubscribe at any time.