How I learned to do everything

I'm sure freelancers will understand me, the lack of time is the sore point of most of us. How often do thoughts arise in your head: “Why am I not in time for anything? Yes, there is a lot of work, but I spend so much time behind the laptop, where is it leaking? ” I was tormented by such thoughts after the birth of my third child, knowing full well that something must be changed!



And then the bonus - at work (I am the author of sammari) came across the book of Pyramid of Efficiency by Tamara Miles, in which the author praises technical innovations and services that make life easier for the worker and increase productivity. And one of the main thoughts of the book is to analyze the available resources (in my case, time).

I did not use the services offered in the book, because I cannot read English without Google Translate. And I went to the forums where experienced people get together, having come the hard way of “nothing-not-doing-a-freelancer”. We managed to find something and start “testing” the methods and tools that we liked the most.



To figure out where the problem is - I decided to start with this before improving my productivity. We needed a tool that would assess the current situation, indicate: "Here and here is the problem."

Several people on the toaster responded well to the CrocoTime program. I went to the site , read how everything is beautifully written there, and downloaded it. I saved the link to the forum just in case, suddenly the program will not like it.

')

Since my technical “advancement” leaves much to be desired, I understood little when installing (some employees, something for 2 weeks, etc.), but it brought the matter to the end. Installed and proudly proceeded to normal work.

Working time has come to an end. I, all such a hard work, run the program - and oh, horror! Total productive 46 minutes, total non-core - 14 minutes, total unproductive - 33 minutes (almost half the working time!). I stared at the monitor unproductively for a few more minutes and, probably, blushed with shame. No, I, of course, understood that social networks and entertainment sites are present in my life, but so that ...



I called a colleague: “Marin, hello. I installed myself such a shameful program on a laptop ... ". I hear the voice, laughs: "What kind of program?". I answer: “Spy. She keeps track of what you do on the laptop, on which sites you walk, what documents you open, even thinks how long the information is looking for. I tested my working day today, it became embarrassing. ” Marinka laughed, asked the name, and we said goodbye. And I continued the program.



The laconic design of the program adjusts to the working mode - dim design, there are no flower-butterfly motifs. I can add third-party sites by moving them to the required sections. For example, the site Makeright.ru, for which I am writing sammarie, I can move to the "Office" section and there still choose a subcategory. In general, all the sites with which I work can be sorted into work and personal ones.



When I advertised this miracle of programming thought to my husband, he sarcastically asked: “How does your program distinguish between productive and unproductive time?”, To which I replied: “Well, it distinguishes between.” I do not know, however, how she does it, but the result is truthful.

Now I can calculate how much time I spend on searching for information, on which site I hang out most, how much social networks are being taken away. It's a shame sometimes, but still useful. Settings, I have not learned everything. But what has been learned is enough for me. Interestingly, you can install columns: working time, non-computer, overtime, working hours, care earlier. I plan to master this more closely, since it is not always possible to work fully with three children. And such an assistant will track me for what time and what I do when breaks become frequent and even expose me late and absenteeism :)



The situation has cleared up, problems are revealed, the time has come to solve them. Here, too, tips from the Network from experienced freelancers helped.

1. On the forums often mention the technique "Tomato" . Essence: you work 25 minutes, 5 minutes - a break, repeat the “circle”. After four “circles” you make one long break. Everything is simple, but at first I had to discipline myself so as not to be distracted. Still, 25 minutes is not enough ... But sometimes you “work in” and, when the timer is triggered, you already tremble: how has 25 minutes passed? Yes, I have the peak of productivity!



2. Personal isoTimer organizer - as it turned out, the program is extremely useful! I installed it on a smartphone and at a certain time a beep sounds like "Tom, you have to hand over an article for a wedding magazine tomorrow."



3. Calendar with the distribution of tasks for the week. I perform several different tasks: I write a sammari, I conduct a wedding journal, I administer an online store with sports gadgets. The deadlines are not tight, so you need to adjust yourself, set the framework and set deadlines. I mark all the plans on the calendar, for example, on Friday to look for the latest news on gadgets, and on Sunday - to subtract sammari. And the vision of the entire working picture helps not to be distracted.



4. Recommendations from Svetlana Goncharova’s book Time Management for Moms turned out to be very useful for me. By name, it is clear that they are ideal for a large (and not only) mother, such as me. It says about compiling lists, about how to work with the child and have a rest with him, in general, a treasure, and not a book.



A little about the results. My efforts were not in vain: I really began to keep up more. What, in fact, is confirmed by the statistics of the program: according to the results of yesterday, 1 h 24 min - the total productive time, 17 minutes - the total non-core, and hurray! 6 minutes is a total unproductive! If it were not for this analysis of lost time, I would have long floundered in time management techniques and still reproached myself for unproductiveness.



It's one thing when they say: “Just work without being distracted. Find additional reserves of time. ” Quite another is to put these words into practice. I came up with the tools that I described to you. Perhaps you will find something of your own. The main thing is that it is really real: to keep up even with total employment!