Last Updated on December 31, 2022 by Tabraiz
Procrastination is one of the biggest challenges for a freelancer. If you fall into the trap of wasting time during the day, you’ll struggle to meet deadlines and your earnings will take a hit. Most freelancers find that they have a lot of motivation when they first start, but after a while, they start procrastinating more and more. You must break that cycle before it damages your business. These are some of the best ways for freelancers to avoid procrastination.
Plan Your Day
This is the most useful thing any freelancer can do. Flexibility is one of the great things about being a freelancer, but it’s also one of the biggest challenges. Without a clear structure in place, it’s easy to waste time, so you should plan your day. Break it up into 15-minute chunks and work out exactly what you will do for each block of time. That way, you can stick to a reasonable working day and avoid working late into the night. You’ll also make more efficient use of your time and avoid procrastinating.
When you are splitting up your tasks throughout the day, always put the hardest tasks or the ones you hate doing the most at the start of the day. It’ll be much easier to do them efficiently with a fresh head. However, if you try to put them off until the end of the day, you will find it much harder. Don’t forget to factor in time for breaks too. It’s just as important to have a bit of downtime as it is to work constantly. You’ll find that you procrastinate less when you have specific times set aside for not working.
Work on the Move
It’s easy to get into a bit of a rut if you work at home all of the time, and that’s when the procrastination starts. Working on the move and changing your location can make such a huge difference. Invest in a nice portable laptop, like the Chromebook from Lenovo, so you can easily bring your work with you. Head to local coffee shops or even try out coworking spaces. If you want to save yourself some money, local libraries are a great place to work for free too. Changing location regularly will help your concentration a lot, and you remove most of the distractions you have at home.
Ditch Your Phone
Your phone is the biggest source of distraction there is. It’s a habit to check notifications and look at social media, even if you aren’t interested. Most of the time, you’re not missing anything important, so just ditch your phone when you are working. You can put it in another room and turn the volume up so if somebody calls you, you can still get it. Otherwise, turn off all non-essential notifications and get some distance from them. You will find it easier to concentrate on work and it’s better for your mental health too.
Getting past this big hurdle can be hard for freelancers, but it’s crucial that you do or your business will suffer.
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