The Big Secret to Being a Highly Productive Freelancer

It’s not mysterious, but it is powerful.

A few years ago, I got into a conversation with a friend who was considering switching to freelance as a full-time career. His primary obstacle was a worry that he lacked the self-discipline required to make a successful go at it.

Could he sit down each day and be productive? Would he have the discipline to make this work? Would the absence of the same kind of structure his day job provided be an insurmountable hindrance?

It’s not that he lacked motivation. He had loads. He was also very good at his job, made a good living, was a brilliant horn player, and generally one of the most capable people I’ve ever known. I genuinely believe that he could do very well working for himself.

But he had doubts

I understood. My home is chock full of potential distractions — TV, books, video games, and a very comfortable napping couch.

Then I revealed to him the Big Secret to Productivity and Motivation. The thing that most gets my butt in a chair and working whether I want to or not.

I showed him my stack of bills.

Mortgage. Electricity. Gas. Water. Internet. Car payment. Car insurance. Health insurance.

Those were just the bills at the top of the stack.

“If I don’t work,” I said to him, “I don’t pay my bills. I don’t have money or food or to put gas in my car.”

He got it right away.

I wish I could have told him that my primary motivation to get stuff done involved something more lofty and inspiring. I wished I could have said to him that I was driven to write, create, and be an artist.

I mean, that’s all true to an extent. Those are all reasons why I do what I do. I also love the freedom of working when I want to. But the truth of the matter is that if I don’t sit down to actually produce the work, I don’t get paid.

If I don’t get paid, I’d be starving in the streets.

This is the trial-by-fire all freelancers experience at one point or another when starting out. Yes, we enjoy a lot of flexibility in our work schedules, but that flexibility is only liberating up to the moment when the lights get shut off.

Then it’s the wake-up call.

You don’t work, you don’t get paid, you can’t pay your bills.

Starving in the streets.

I love being a freelancer, and I can’t imagine ever going back to the 9-to-5 daily grind. But freelancing takes discipline. While being in a creative field is a powerful reason why I do what I do, it’s the ever-growing stack of bills that guarantees I get to work each and every single day.

It may be a daily grind in just another form, but it’s my daily grind. Discipline and productivity are skills that can be learned.

They can be strengthened.

Until you have those skills down, though, a big stack of bills makes for great motivation.

Maybe it’s not such a Big Secret as much as it is Common Sense, but the important thing is it helps keep the lights on.

Cheers!

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