The Best Habits and Routines to Become an Effective Freelancer

There is no denying that freelancing can be a great career choice for many people. It provides the flexibility that many need and once the business gets off the ground, it is possible to earn a good income in the process. However, there can be long nights and a lot of racing against a deadline to help get things done.

When you want to become an effective freelancer, it is a good idea to start planning as soon as possible. Building up the best routines and habits can make life a little bit easier and could shave off some of those nights that get too late. Some of the best habits and routines to consider include:

Don’t Leave Things to the Last Minute

Proper time management and planning will make this one work the best for you. if you can’t dedicate yourself to projects and really stay with them, then it is not a good idea to work on freelancing at all. Deadlines are going to sneak up on you and planning ahead will help make this happen less.

When you start, it is a good idea to find some kind of time management and record keeping method. This will allow you to write down the projects you need to get done so you can move on to the next one quickly and keep on top of everything. Having a plan for each day and knowing exactly how far you need to get on each project each day to stay on track will really help.

Use If-Then Planning

If-Then planning is a good option to use to help you stay on track. Studies out there show that deciding on when and where you will take a specific action to help with success. So, if you can plan what action will trigger the habit ahead of time, then you will be able to keep up with it all.

Our brains are wired in a way to understand and like if-then statements and it is a healthy way to program your brain to get the work done. If you have used this to help decide what you need to get done, then you can get the plan done without wasting time. Some examples of good if-then statements include:

● If it’s Tuesday or Thursday, I will go to the gym an hour after work.

● If I spend one hour on a call, I will spend 45 minutes doing focused work

● If I finish lunch, I will spend 30 minutes working on a project.

Having a lot of these if-then statements in place is one of the best ways to streamline your whole day. You will already know what to do at each point in the day, and you will jump in to get it done. Rather than procrastinating when there are a lot of things to do or deliberating what should be done first, you can use the if-then statements to take out some of the guesswork.

The 3 R Method of Planning

Another method that works well and is similar to the if-then method form before is the 3 R method. This is meant to build up a lot of triggers to get you to work on something. The 3Rs to habit building for a freelancer include:

● Reminder: this will be the trigger that helps to initiate the behavior

● Routine: This is the behavior you want to do, or the action you plan to take

● Reward: This is the benefit you will get for doing the behavior.

The goal here is to create a habit loop so you continue to do the work without getting distracted. Once you get the triggers set up and ready to go, everything else can fall into place.

Remove the Distractions

As a freelancer, you may find it is easy to get distracted from a million things. There is no one there watching what you do and monitoring your work, so the distractions can be really bad. Eliminate all distractions when it is time to get to work. Turn off the TV, hide the phone (unless you are making calls) and just sit somewhere quiet and alone. This will help you get more work done during your work time.

Set Up a Dedicated Working Area

A dedicated working area is a good idea.as a freelancer. This is a place for you to focus on your work and tune out the distractions. Consider putting all work-related items in that area too. This will save time searching around for stuff, prevents anything from getting lost, and allows you a place to go to get the work done. If it is set up well, you can just sit down in the area and get right to work.

Set Up a Time to Do Work

You need to treat freelancing as your business or you will never get work done. This means you need to dedicate certain times of the day or the week where you can get the work done. Get into the habit of this each week to make it a little bit easier. Whether that is at night or just on the weekend or some other combination, you need to set up your own ‘work hours’ to get it all done.

This will help put your mind in the right place to get the work done. This is the time when work gets done and nothing else happens, similar to the work hours you have at a full-time job. You have more freedom on when these hours happen, but you still need to put them in place.

Being Effective as a Freelancer

As a freelancer, you need to find ways to be effective without a boss standing over your shoulders and telling you to get the work done. By making good habits early on and thinking through some of the methods you can use to build a freelancing routine, you can get the work done and see success in this new career option.