The best thing about freelance work is that you are free to create your own schedule and rules. However, this may be a bad factor. Without a normally structured office space, many freelancers at the end of the day may wonder where their time has gone. It may be difficult to get the maximum benefit from the entire work day. To help such freelancers, we want to present some simple ways to increase productivity.

1. Create a work schedule.

Decide on the working hours.

Defining working hours creates a sense of accountability to yourself and puts control of working hours, forcing you to spend less time in vain.



Create a clearly defined schedule and follow it. If you decide to start working at 8 am, then get up on time, take a shower, get dressed and start work on time. Hike sleepy steps, in pajamas in your office will not create the mood for productive work. Following these rules, you will be pleased to notice that your productivity has increased significantly.

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Take breaks.

Studies have shown that people who take small breaks during the work day manage to do much more. Spending a few minutes away from the workplace and the work environment will return you to the workplace more fresh and ready to start the next task. Go for a walk, eat some hamburger or go to the nearest coffee house. In your schedule, leave half an hour or an hour for a rest. Skipping such a break will leave you more time to work, but working with an empty stomach leads to weak concentration. You should focus more on quality than quantity. Thirty minutes of focused work is much better than an hour scattered.

2. Plan.

Identify the goals.



Without goals, we soon realize that we are aimlessly moving through life. Goals keep us on track with a clear vision of what we are headed for. Identify short, medium and long-term goals for yourself. More specifically, what you would like to achieve this week, this month, this year. Long-term goals help to determine short-term goals. For some time, think about what all the same you want to achieve, then write it all.



Create lists of tasks.



Use your weekly task list to create daily task lists. You can use any tools to create such task lists, both local and online . Or you can use an old pencil and paper. Regardless of which method you use, working day planning is important to focus on work. Create a task list for the next day at the end of each day and follow this list.



Break big tasks into smaller ones.



When you create your task list, you do not have to write too voluminous concepts and actions, for example, “Work on an article on productivity” or “Work on a logo design”. Specify, for example, “Do research for an article on productivity” or “Define a logo concept”. When you are specific, you narrow the scope of the task to be performed, thereby working more effectively. Leave a general definition for a list of your goals.



Track time.



A few good time tracking apps will help you manage your work time. It is important to know wisely if you use your time. Record how much time you spend on tasks - you will be surprised to know how much time you are wasting. Knowing how long it takes to complete each of the tasks will help you better plan your days, leading to greater efficiency.



Rate the quality of your performance.



At the end of the day, see how you coped with the tasks of the day Did you manage to do everything that you intended to do on this day? If not, why? Performance evaluation is a critical step in improving productivity. Set realistic but alluring goals and honestly evaluate your performance to determine if there is room for improvement.

3. Concentrate.

Perform one task at a time.



Multitasking has evolved from a computer term and has become part of our daily vocabulary. Many people believe that much can be done by doing many tasks at the same time. This statement can not be far from the truth. In fact, performing one task with full attention is much better than performing two tasks and a half attention on each of them. The separation of concentration between several tasks leads only to divided quality and, in fact, to lower productivity. Perform only for one task, and you will notice that your productivity increases with the quality of work.



Limit the time you spend surfing the web.



Take some time to surf the web and use it directly for work. Use the application to read RSS feeds to get new content from sites and blogs that interest you. It is much more efficient than visiting these sites several times a day to see if something new has been published or not. If you already use the application for reading RSS feeds , then you probably will have to go through all the channels that you have and leave only the ones that you are really interested in.



Do not be distructed.



Determine the time of day for checking email and social networks. It's better than leaving your email client and Twitter open by being distracted by them several times a day. Decide exactly how much time you are willing to spend on them. For example, you can decide to check your mail and respond to emails twice a day. Do you think it would be better to answer 30 letters periodically for the whole day or read and answer them briefly with everyone together?

4. Be organized.

Merge your email inboxes.



Many of us have several e-mail accounts that we use for different purposes. Why not collect all the mail in one place? Sign up for a Gmail account if you don't already have one. It is free and probably the best of its kind. Once you have completed the account registration, you can configure it to receive emails from all of your other email addresses. You can also configure the filters of received letters. Now you can work with all received mail in one convenient place.



Use shortcuts to organize mail.



Gmail uses shortcuts instead of folders. Shortcuts work the same way as folders, with the difference that a letter can have several shortcuts at once instead of being in the same folder. Set up shortcuts (or folders if you're not using Gmail) with the name “Urgent” to share important emails. In Gmail, you can even set these labels automatically when you receive emails, rather than manually.



Update your social network accounts all at once.



Social networks are a good way for a freelancer to find new customers, communicate with colleagues, get news about innovations in their field. Many of us have accounts on several social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook and Flickr. Simple surfing on all these sites is already difficult, not to mention the loss of time. Why, then, do not update them all at once instead of going to each site separately and writing a record there? With the help of social networking aggregators, you can not only write posts on these social networking sites, but also read what your friends and colleagues write there, all in one place.

5. Equip your office properly.

Respect your office.



Keep your office clean. On the desktop, leave only the necessary things - a computer, telephone, printer, etc. Scattered things on the table negatively affect your mood, which then will affect your work. Take this time and put all the things in their places, leaving the things you need on your desktop. Finding the right things, walking to the printer to the other side of the room can increase your wasted time.



Create comfort.



Make your office comfortable by opening the window on a bright sunny day or by turning on your favorite music. Your office should not look like a raw dungeon where you will feel like a slave. You should like being there. Spend some money on an ergonomic chair, keyboard and mouse. Back pain will not make you more productive. Explore ergonomics to learn how to create a comfortable office.



Be mobile.



One of the advantages of freelancing is that you do not have to always work in the same place. If you don’t feel very comfortable, change your surroundings by working at a local coffee shop, bookstore or park. Changing conditions can well affect your productivity and many cities have free WiFi access points . Just take your laptop and go!

6. Get help.

Outsourcing.



Hire an assistant. It will be much better to pay money to an assistant for working with documents and invoices than to spend your work time on this activity. Let the professional do the taxes: the accountant will do the job at a professional level and you will not have to worry about it. There are many services for small business owners. Which one do you need?



Learn from other freelancers.



Frequently visit freelancers forums . A good portion of knowledge and new ideas every day added to the forums. You can learn how to work better with customers and what is the best application for creating invoices. Become a member of the community and get the benefits of the collective experience of freelancers like you.



UPD Transferred to the blog Freelance.