We are halfway through the first month of the new year and we can already see that our workload is consuming us. We don't seem to have time for anything. When we became freelance creatives nobody told us that we would spend 90% of our time taking care of the business side of the craft and only 10% actually creating. But, this is the life of the freelance creative and if you want to make a living out of it, you have to learn how to manage your time.
The problem is that, when you are a freelance creative, there are some days that you have absolutely nothing to do and you spend the day just staring at the empty wall in front of you. But then, other days you wish that the day had actually 48 hours so that you could finish on time everything that you have to do. This is our life and we must accept it. However, for those days when we wished that the seconds lasted for hours so that we can go through our endless list of to-do's, there are certain time management techniques that can come in very handy.
Personally, I use the first two of the following three techniques and they work for me, while my husband uses the third one and he cannot live without it.
- The Rewards system: this one is pretty simple and I think it's the one that the majority of people use. For every item on your to-do list that you complete, you give yourself a reward. The rewards vary depending on what you consider a treat; a few minutes on social media, going to the vending machine for coffee or doing yoga, are just a few examples. I use this system on the days that I have to do the chores and only look at my social media when I have accomplished something.
- The Post-it notes system: this time management system consists in writing each task in your to-do list on a single Post-it and pasting them on a notebook. Everytime that you complete a task, you remove and discard the Post-it note associated with it. When all your tasks are done, your page will be empty. This system gives you a sense of fulfilment whenever you are able to go through all the tasks on your To-do list. I have different pages full of Post-it's in my Moleskine notebook depending on the priority of the tasks. My imminent priority To-do list is on the first page and as I turn the pages the tasks have less priority or a more long-term deadline.
Pomodoro-Do App
- The Pomodoro technique: this technique consists on working on a task for 25 minutes without interruptions, then resting for 5 minutes, then working on the task for 25 more minutes, then resting again, and so forth until you work on the task for a full hour. Once you have worked on the task for four 25-minute intervals, you rest for 30 minutes and start a new task. This system is especially good for those tasks that require a lot of time and concentration to finish, and that could take up all of our available time forcing us to ignore other tasks with a similar priority. With this method, you work without interruptions on several different tasks on the same day.
There are plenty more time management systems but these are the ones that I use or that I know of and that I can definitely recommend. Do you have a technique of your own?
Photo credit: behind the scenes photo taken by Andrzej Gruszka
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