Managing Your Day Like a Champ

Productivity and performance tips for freelancers and work-from-home folks.

We’re all looking for ways to make our days easier. Whether you’re in the freelance writing world like I am or part of the work-from-home crowd like my wife, there’s always room to tweak our process.

Here are four key things to consider if you’re looking for greater productivity, increased focus, and overall better work skills.

Best Times To Plan and Schedule

Short answer, briefly in the evening and again later in the morning.

To expand upon that, I’ve found that when I finish up my day, looking over my schedule and to-do list helps me prepare for the next day. I look at what was accomplished over the day and the various project statuses, then tweak my next day’s schedule to best take advantage of this updated information.

In the morning, I give this information another glance, then take care of the morning work chores — usually checking email to see if anything new is coming in or if there is further information that impacts my day’s plans.

That’s why I look at my schedule again and tweak it as necessary. That way, I can try to get the most out of the day. I’ve framed my day the night before, and I’ve fine-tuned it in the morning.

Keep this in mind — a schedule and a to-do list are not written in stone. You’ll get the most out of both by being flexible and knowing when making a change will make your day more productive and satisfying.

Get Up and Move Around

Maybe it’s because I’m in my 50s, but if I stay seated at my desk for too long in one sitting, I get stiff, which, in turn, makes me feel more tired as the day goes on. Although to be fair, I remember experiencing this same feeling back in my 20s when I worked a straight job that was not big on employees taking breaks.

But if you’re a freelancer or you work from home, you have more options available to look after your health and well-being.

Get up and move around. I recommend getting up for a few minutes at least once an hour. Minimum.

What you do is up to you. Aside from obvious things such as going to the bathroom or getting a coffee refill, my recommendations for break activities would be:

Stretch,
Do five minutes of light housekeeping.
Take the dog out.
Got kids or a partner? Introduce yourself.
Get a light snack (avoid sugars and empty carbs)
Go outside and check the mail
Take a walk around the block. Swing your arms!

Then get right back to it. You’ll probably not have really lost any momentum as you’re probably still going to be thinking about work while taking your break. The advantage here, though, is that you’ll be returning to your desk or work area more fresh and productive.

Don’t Skimp On the Self-Care Thing

Constant overwork will only lead to one thing.

Burnout.

Sure, working hard means you’ve probably produced a lot of output. But when you’ve burned out, you are then producing nothing or, at best, substandard work.

The saddest thing is how easy it is to forget about taking proper care of your physical and mental health when the work has really piled on. I’ve made that mistake a few times. I took on way too much all at once because I was worried about losing future work. It started out well, but a month later, I had all but completely shut down. One client even called my local police department to conduct a wellness check on me to make sure I hadn’t died at the keyboard. Another client fired me.

Uf. That was a mess. Once I shook myself out of that burnout funk, I had to make a lot of apologies and commit to changing the way I worked so that wouldn’t happen again. I had to rebuild trust with my clients. I had to repair my reputation.

Things eventually worked out. But then I nearly let it happen again.

This time, I was a bit more aware of what was going on and managed to salvage my career before I could burn it to the ground.

I started by talking with some friends who are also freelancers. They assured me that there would always be work so long as I did a good job.

Keep Sharpening the Saw

This is about encouraging your self-development. If you’re a freelancer, look into some online courses or community college classes in areas you could use some strengthening in. Possibilities include small business management, writing, marketing, and computer software training.

If you work from home, there are many training programs you can sign up for along similar lines or specifically aimed at your industry. In some cases, you may even be able to get your employee to pay for it, as many states have grant programs for business and employee development.

Learning or refining skills can give you a competitive edge when attracting new clients or looking for a promotion.

If you have the opportunity to go to in-person events such as seminars or conferences, these are also great times to engage in some professional networking.

It’s Your Time, Make the Most of It

Working from either for an employer or for yourself gives you a lot of flexibility in managing yourself and your time. It’s easy to fall into a rut and just…exist… without moving forward.

That’s why you must take the initiative to manage your time to get the best you out of you that you can be.

I love how that sentence ends.

See you out there.

Cheers!

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