How to find time for everything
Time management is one of the most important skills that a freelancer can learn. With a good time management system, you can take the time to do all the things that are important to you, both professionally and personally.
Successful time management can be a daunting task, especially for newcomers to freelancers or those who work for themselves. When you have a boss who tells you what to do and how to do it, it will be easy enough for you to set priorities and determine what needs to be done and when you need to do it. But when you think about not only completing a project on time, but also have to take care of all aspects of your own business every day, time management can be a difficult task.
This article contains 16 tips to help you better manage your time and find time for personal needs. There are also several other resources that will improve your time management skills.
A waste of time finding something, be it searching in your computer or on your desk, can be a reason for losing a lot of time. This is one of those things that differs depending on the industry and personal preferences. But you just need to organize a system for keeping on hand the information, files, tools that you use in your work. These can be folders or tags in your computer or physical folders on your desktop.
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Experiment with different organizational systems until you find the one that suits you best. For example, I have a “work” folder on my desktop, which contains a folder for each of my clients, with whom I work on a regular basis. For one-time clients, I will create a folder while working on his project and this folder will be transferred to the “completed” folder when the project is delivered (and usually transferred to my portable hard disk, instead of remaining on the hard disk of my laptop). I have a little paper work, so I have no problems with that.
You need a dedicated workplace. If you work in an office, this is quite easy to achieve. But if you work at home, then you will need to try. Here are some tips for creating a workplace if you do not have space for a dedicated office:
There are hundreds of tools for organizing and managing your time. Be it a paper diary or a calendar or an online application, take advantage of the ready-made tools. I use several tools. The Remember the Milk service keeps a list of my tasks (with the Pro version, you will also have access via the iPhone). I also have a calendar on which I write down plans for the month. I also check the boxes for important emails, until I’ve finished using the information in this message.
I used to use yellow sticky papers to organize my task lists (I attached them to my desk, next to the keyboard) and also a black pocket-sized notebook. Both coped with their task perfectly, but I decided to switch to a tool that would be available from anywhere.
There are many other time management tools. Experiment with several of them and see which one suits you best. There is no single way that will be convenient for everyone. But for everyone there is a suitable tool.
Setting goals is one of the most important things you can do to manage your time. If you have no goals, how do you know what is important and what is not? What deserves your attention and time? The short answer to these questions is “no way”.
Goals should not be formal. They should also not be long-term (although long-term goals can also help). Their goal is to focus your attention on important things.
One of my goals may be to complete the whole project by Thursday, so that I may not work on Friday, or on Friday to do personal matters. The goal sets me to focus on working with greater efficiency, so that I can complete the work in 80% of the time. Reducing the deadline by 20% is not a big change for most projects. Just turning off TweetDeck while working (or just setting it to update the records every 30 or 60 minutes) can save some time for work. Also, the time for work will be saved during lunch or if you get up half an hour earlier than usual (or work half an hour more).
Your goals should be feasible and specific. You can set recurring goals (“I don’t want to work on Fridays”) or one-time goals (“I want to complete the design of the new site until next Thursday”) or any combination of the two above. You can write down your goals somewhere, or just memorize them. Just make sure you always have a goal. Your goal may even be very simple, such as “finish this logo before dinner.”
Completion date is a pre-set project goal If you know that you have to pass some kind of project next Monday, then you will organize your work in such a way as to be in time for the project’s delivery date. (If not, you need this article more than others).
If you do not have deadlines set by customers or the boss, then you need to set the completion date yourself. Think about when you want to complete a project, or when you want to move on to the next project. Write this day in the calendar or task list as the project completion date. For greater accountability, tell someone else about the project completion date. I sometimes write such notes about the completion of a project on Twitter or Facebook so that my friends can reprimand me if I do not meet the deadline. Outside pressure can help you work better.
Keep something similar to the big picture of the plan. This could be a monthly calendar, a two-month or annual plan, depending on your industry and the specific types of projects you are working on. As I said earlier, I keep a calendar for the month for which I write down my plans for the month and the deadlines for completion. I can also record meeting days, important dates, or other information that relates to a project or schedule. Most of my deadlines are weekly or less. Based on this, the calendar for the month suits me completely.
You must prioritize the work you do. In most cases, a project that is due to complete in the next couple of days should be completed first. Next comes the project, which should be completed in the next week or two, and then everything else.
Do not forget to decide on family priorities. Your son's first football match is important. Then make sure to include it in the priority list. Meetings with the doctor, games at school, meetings with teachers should also be included in this list. Decide which tasks you should prioritize work (this list should not be large), what tasks you want to accomplish when you reach a specific point in your work (also decide on this particular point in your work).
Create a system to mark the priority on your calendar. This can be like using colored pens or you can mark priority tasks with an asterisk.
There is nothing wrong with bringing help. This may be the assignment of responsibility for the work of a certain employee from your office or assistant. It can also be the outsourcing of any part of your project (research, programming, etc.) to someone else, so that you can concentrate on more important tasks.
It is not necessary to outsource or delegate work to someone for greater efficiency. Why not hire a housekeeper to come and clean the house once a week? Or, for example, to hire someone who would wash your car, and not do it yourself? These types of outsourcing can save you time for more important tasks (for example, spending time with your family, or playing a game of golf).
Of course there are things that you do regularly, whether every day or once a week. This may be billing. Or it may be archiving. Or it could be something that you do in any of your projects.
These are the things that you must rationalize and optimize. Analyze these things to determine if they can be combined. If you are a web designer, this could mean creating your own template files for creating websites. Or for example the use of billing applications.
One of the biggest pitfalls in time management is taking an excessive number of orders at the same time. You have to learn to say no to some people. If you take more work than you can do, then you will have problems not only with the application on completion dates, but also the quality of your work will suffer, and this will affect your relationships with clients, both personal and professional.
Before you take a new order, look at your work schedule. Do you actually have time for another project? If not, just explain to the client that you have too many orders at the moment and you simply cannot spend time on his project. Most will thank you for it. And if you cannot refuse a client to accept an order, give him a realistic forecast of when his project will be submitted. Do not tell the client that you will hand over the project next week, if in fact you already have projects for delivery next week.
The same principle applies to personal obligations. Nothing forces you to join a homeowners association. You are not required to enter the local football league. And the fact that you did something during the last 10 years does not mean that you are obliged to do this for the next 10 years, too. Learn to say no to your friends, family, neighbors, and others so that you have time to say yes when this is especially important to you.
One of the advantages of freelancing is that you can determine the hours of your work. Pay attention to when you are particularly productive. For me personally, it is from 9 o'clock in the morning to 2-3 o'clock in the afternoon, and then again from 6 and 7 o'clock in the evening until midnight. I do not force myself to work during those hours when I am not productive (from 2 pm to 7 pm). But I work in the mornings and evenings, in those hours when I know that I am productive.
This is about when you work better. You should have regular work hours, which you will have to adhere to every day. If you work better from 4 am until noon, then work during these hours every day. It also means that you have to finish work at noon and go do something else. The same goes for the weekend. You should have at least 2 days off per week, if possible. It is not necessary that the weekend be Saturday and Sunday, you can choose, for example, Wednesday and Thursday, or Monday and Tuesday.
Think about things that simply waste your time during the day. Do you constantly check Facebook or Twitter? Go for a glass of water? Drive your dog on his sixth walk in a day? No matter what these things are, determine ways to minimize their ability to interrupt you. Take the dog for a walk once in the afternoon. Check Facebook or Twitter once an hour (or once every two hours), do not open them at a time when you do not need them. Take a big bottle of water so that you only have to go for water a couple of times a day.
Multitasking will work in some cases. But when it comes to doing essential work, multitasking hurts more than it helps. Work on one project. This does not necessarily mean that you have to work on one project until you pass it. This means that you do not have to work on three projects at the same time. Determine for yourself the standard time interval, it can be fifteen, thirty minutes, or even an hour. And work in this interval on a specific project.
Multitasking advice also applies to working while checking your mailbox, playing solitaire, talking on the phone, and all other things that can divert your attention from work.
Overloading is a major obstacle to productivity. When you are overwhelmed, you will not be able to focus on work and work as quickly as you can while being rested. Frequent breaks will help prevent overloading. This could mean going for a walk in the middle of the day, watching the news after lunch, going shopping for noon instead of evening, or a couple of weeks leave each year.
These small breaks refresh us and give us strength to work. Without interruptions, we cannot concentrate. I usually go out for a couple of hours at noon. This may be a trip to family, shopping, walking or swimming in the summer. I also take short ten-minute breaks throughout the day to give my eyes a rest.
Service is an incredibly important item for any time management system. But you must maintain not only your system. You must serve all parts of your life so that you can complete the work.
This means day-to-day maintenance of your computer (backing up files, cleaning the dustbin, cleaning the mailbox), day-to-day maintenance of your workplace (cleaning, cleaning the basket, etc.) and housekeeping (washing up, washing .d.)
Do not forget to take care of yourself. Exercising in the morning, eating on time can increase your productivity.
You can ask yourself, what does this have to do with finding time for everything? Here's the point: if you do not serve those things that require support, then one day something will fall. It may be necessary to spend the working day doing the laundry, as you no longer have clean clothes, or it may be something larger, for example, a preventable disease. Unexpected disasters negate our productivity. You end up spending more time correcting problems than if you spent a little time on daily maintenance. And if you include regular maintenance in your work schedule, it will not take long.
Successful time management can be a daunting task, especially for newcomers to freelancers or those who work for themselves. When you have a boss who tells you what to do and how to do it, it will be easy enough for you to set priorities and determine what needs to be done and when you need to do it. But when you think about not only completing a project on time, but also have to take care of all aspects of your own business every day, time management can be a difficult task.
This article contains 16 tips to help you better manage your time and find time for personal needs. There are also several other resources that will improve your time management skills.
1. Be organized.
A waste of time finding something, be it searching in your computer or on your desk, can be a reason for losing a lot of time. This is one of those things that differs depending on the industry and personal preferences. But you just need to organize a system for keeping on hand the information, files, tools that you use in your work. These can be folders or tags in your computer or physical folders on your desktop.
')
Experiment with different organizational systems until you find the one that suits you best. For example, I have a “work” folder on my desktop, which contains a folder for each of my clients, with whom I work on a regular basis. For one-time clients, I will create a folder while working on his project and this folder will be transferred to the “completed” folder when the project is delivered (and usually transferred to my portable hard disk, instead of remaining on the hard disk of my laptop). I have a little paper work, so I have no problems with that.
2. Separate the workplace from the rest of the space in the room or apartment.
You need a dedicated workplace. If you work in an office, this is quite easy to achieve. But if you work at home, then you will need to try. Here are some tips for creating a workplace if you do not have space for a dedicated office:
- Give yourself a desktop . Do not try to work on the coffee table or the kitchen table. This is inefficient and you will need to move away from the workplace for things needed in the work and then carry them back. It is much more convenient to have a workplace where you can leave your work tools and materials,
- Enter the “work” state when you are at your workplace . This may mean wearing work clothes. It can also be dressing shoes during work (I myself do this most of the time).
- Assign unused space . Do you have a room in your house, a corner of the room or a closet somewhere in your house? Will the table fit there? If yes, then maybe you just found your dedicated cabinet. If your office is part of a large room, then buy an office cabinet to hide work items at a time when you do not need them. If the office is in a closet or in another closed place, the built-in drawer or shelves will serve for this purpose in a better way. Assign unused space in your home to your workplace.
3. Take advantage of time management tools.
There are hundreds of tools for organizing and managing your time. Be it a paper diary or a calendar or an online application, take advantage of the ready-made tools. I use several tools. The Remember the Milk service keeps a list of my tasks (with the Pro version, you will also have access via the iPhone). I also have a calendar on which I write down plans for the month. I also check the boxes for important emails, until I’ve finished using the information in this message.
I used to use yellow sticky papers to organize my task lists (I attached them to my desk, next to the keyboard) and also a black pocket-sized notebook. Both coped with their task perfectly, but I decided to switch to a tool that would be available from anywhere.
There are many other time management tools. Experiment with several of them and see which one suits you best. There is no single way that will be convenient for everyone. But for everyone there is a suitable tool.
4. Set yourself a goal.
Setting goals is one of the most important things you can do to manage your time. If you have no goals, how do you know what is important and what is not? What deserves your attention and time? The short answer to these questions is “no way”.
Goals should not be formal. They should also not be long-term (although long-term goals can also help). Their goal is to focus your attention on important things.
One of my goals may be to complete the whole project by Thursday, so that I may not work on Friday, or on Friday to do personal matters. The goal sets me to focus on working with greater efficiency, so that I can complete the work in 80% of the time. Reducing the deadline by 20% is not a big change for most projects. Just turning off TweetDeck while working (or just setting it to update the records every 30 or 60 minutes) can save some time for work. Also, the time for work will be saved during lunch or if you get up half an hour earlier than usual (or work half an hour more).
Your goals should be feasible and specific. You can set recurring goals (“I don’t want to work on Fridays”) or one-time goals (“I want to complete the design of the new site until next Thursday”) or any combination of the two above. You can write down your goals somewhere, or just memorize them. Just make sure you always have a goal. Your goal may even be very simple, such as “finish this logo before dinner.”
5. Set deadlines for completion.
Completion date is a pre-set project goal If you know that you have to pass some kind of project next Monday, then you will organize your work in such a way as to be in time for the project’s delivery date. (If not, you need this article more than others).
If you do not have deadlines set by customers or the boss, then you need to set the completion date yourself. Think about when you want to complete a project, or when you want to move on to the next project. Write this day in the calendar or task list as the project completion date. For greater accountability, tell someone else about the project completion date. I sometimes write such notes about the completion of a project on Twitter or Facebook so that my friends can reprimand me if I do not meet the deadline. Outside pressure can help you work better.
6. Plan ahead.
Keep something similar to the big picture of the plan. This could be a monthly calendar, a two-month or annual plan, depending on your industry and the specific types of projects you are working on. As I said earlier, I keep a calendar for the month for which I write down my plans for the month and the deadlines for completion. I can also record meeting days, important dates, or other information that relates to a project or schedule. Most of my deadlines are weekly or less. Based on this, the calendar for the month suits me completely.
7. Define priorities.
You must prioritize the work you do. In most cases, a project that is due to complete in the next couple of days should be completed first. Next comes the project, which should be completed in the next week or two, and then everything else.
Do not forget to decide on family priorities. Your son's first football match is important. Then make sure to include it in the priority list. Meetings with the doctor, games at school, meetings with teachers should also be included in this list. Decide which tasks you should prioritize work (this list should not be large), what tasks you want to accomplish when you reach a specific point in your work (also decide on this particular point in your work).
Create a system to mark the priority on your calendar. This can be like using colored pens or you can mark priority tasks with an asterisk.
8. Assign work to third parties or do outsourcing.
There is nothing wrong with bringing help. This may be the assignment of responsibility for the work of a certain employee from your office or assistant. It can also be the outsourcing of any part of your project (research, programming, etc.) to someone else, so that you can concentrate on more important tasks.
It is not necessary to outsource or delegate work to someone for greater efficiency. Why not hire a housekeeper to come and clean the house once a week? Or, for example, to hire someone who would wash your car, and not do it yourself? These types of outsourcing can save you time for more important tasks (for example, spending time with your family, or playing a game of golf).
9. Optimize your processes.
Of course there are things that you do regularly, whether every day or once a week. This may be billing. Or it may be archiving. Or it could be something that you do in any of your projects.
These are the things that you must rationalize and optimize. Analyze these things to determine if they can be combined. If you are a web designer, this could mean creating your own template files for creating websites. Or for example the use of billing applications.
10. Learn to say no.
One of the biggest pitfalls in time management is taking an excessive number of orders at the same time. You have to learn to say no to some people. If you take more work than you can do, then you will have problems not only with the application on completion dates, but also the quality of your work will suffer, and this will affect your relationships with clients, both personal and professional.
Before you take a new order, look at your work schedule. Do you actually have time for another project? If not, just explain to the client that you have too many orders at the moment and you simply cannot spend time on his project. Most will thank you for it. And if you cannot refuse a client to accept an order, give him a realistic forecast of when his project will be submitted. Do not tell the client that you will hand over the project next week, if in fact you already have projects for delivery next week.
The same principle applies to personal obligations. Nothing forces you to join a homeowners association. You are not required to enter the local football league. And the fact that you did something during the last 10 years does not mean that you are obliged to do this for the next 10 years, too. Learn to say no to your friends, family, neighbors, and others so that you have time to say yes when this is especially important to you.
11. Determine the time when you work better.
One of the advantages of freelancing is that you can determine the hours of your work. Pay attention to when you are particularly productive. For me personally, it is from 9 o'clock in the morning to 2-3 o'clock in the afternoon, and then again from 6 and 7 o'clock in the evening until midnight. I do not force myself to work during those hours when I am not productive (from 2 pm to 7 pm). But I work in the mornings and evenings, in those hours when I know that I am productive.
12. Determine regular work hours.
This is about when you work better. You should have regular work hours, which you will have to adhere to every day. If you work better from 4 am until noon, then work during these hours every day. It also means that you have to finish work at noon and go do something else. The same goes for the weekend. You should have at least 2 days off per week, if possible. It is not necessary that the weekend be Saturday and Sunday, you can choose, for example, Wednesday and Thursday, or Monday and Tuesday.
13. Do not waste time in vain.
Think about things that simply waste your time during the day. Do you constantly check Facebook or Twitter? Go for a glass of water? Drive your dog on his sixth walk in a day? No matter what these things are, determine ways to minimize their ability to interrupt you. Take the dog for a walk once in the afternoon. Check Facebook or Twitter once an hour (or once every two hours), do not open them at a time when you do not need them. Take a big bottle of water so that you only have to go for water a couple of times a day.
14. Avoid performing many tasks at the same time.
Multitasking will work in some cases. But when it comes to doing essential work, multitasking hurts more than it helps. Work on one project. This does not necessarily mean that you have to work on one project until you pass it. This means that you do not have to work on three projects at the same time. Determine for yourself the standard time interval, it can be fifteen, thirty minutes, or even an hour. And work in this interval on a specific project.
Multitasking advice also applies to working while checking your mailbox, playing solitaire, talking on the phone, and all other things that can divert your attention from work.
15. Take frequent breaks.
Overloading is a major obstacle to productivity. When you are overwhelmed, you will not be able to focus on work and work as quickly as you can while being rested. Frequent breaks will help prevent overloading. This could mean going for a walk in the middle of the day, watching the news after lunch, going shopping for noon instead of evening, or a couple of weeks leave each year.
These small breaks refresh us and give us strength to work. Without interruptions, we cannot concentrate. I usually go out for a couple of hours at noon. This may be a trip to family, shopping, walking or swimming in the summer. I also take short ten-minute breaks throughout the day to give my eyes a rest.
16. Service.
Service is an incredibly important item for any time management system. But you must maintain not only your system. You must serve all parts of your life so that you can complete the work.
This means day-to-day maintenance of your computer (backing up files, cleaning the dustbin, cleaning the mailbox), day-to-day maintenance of your workplace (cleaning, cleaning the basket, etc.) and housekeeping (washing up, washing .d.)
Do not forget to take care of yourself. Exercising in the morning, eating on time can increase your productivity.
You can ask yourself, what does this have to do with finding time for everything? Here's the point: if you do not serve those things that require support, then one day something will fall. It may be necessary to spend the working day doing the laundry, as you no longer have clean clothes, or it may be something larger, for example, a preventable disease. Unexpected disasters negate our productivity. You end up spending more time correcting problems than if you spent a little time on daily maintenance. And if you include regular maintenance in your work schedule, it will not take long.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/70015/
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