Time is one of those things you just can’t get away from. It just keeps going at one second per second and never stops. Many of us don’t even think about it until we have a massive project due the next day and we haven’t even started. It’s not a problem for people with traditional jobs, they have bosses to schedule their work, but for a freelancer things don’t work the same way.
With Labor Day safely behind me, it’s time to start ramping up my freelancing again. I’ve been working all year, but with the kids home from school I didn’t have as much time to work and so my income dropped off. But they’re back in school now so I have my time back.
The teens leave for school at about 8:10 in the morning, and my six-year old gets home around 2:45, which gives me about six and a half hours a day to focus on working. I figure there’s no reason at all why I can’t be productive for at least four or five of those hours.
The only catch is that I’m going to have to do a better job of time management than I’ve been used to over the summer. The advantage of my light workload was that it was easy to find time to fit my jobs in around things like playing chauffer and listening to the stories my daughter made up. Once I get busier, it won’t be quite as easy, though I will have to factor in time for kid-based emergencies.
That means I’m going to have to bite the bullet and use time-management software.
Right now I’m looking at using Mozilla Sunbird because I like its standalone nature.
The key is going to be getting started on work bright and early (shortly after the kids leave for school) and also making sure I have time to look for new projects. Luckily I can probably do a lot of the searching in the afternoon after the kids get home as that doesn’t need the same kind of sustained concentration as paying work.
If any of you have any specific tricks you use, let me know and maybe we can all take advantage of them.
- What If You Don’t Get the Job?
- Your Voice: What it is and how to use it.
- Freelancer’s Toolbox Part 2, Software
- How to Close a Deal
- I Get Paid for Working in My Pajamas, and You Can Too.
Hmm…does being a DINK family count as a time management program?
Honestly, the only reason we’re able to get our work done is because we don’t have any kids…so we can afford to have our schedules fluctuate. Right now, I’m completely nocturnal…which is nice because I really hate getting up early…but it also means that any shopping I need to do will have to be done at 7-11 or Walmart.
Yeah, I think this was a completely wasted comment because I really have no solutions or suggestions for you and I’m kinda just rambling now. :\
The only wasted comment is the one you spend forever typing out and then don’t post.
Going nocturnal doesn’t work for everyone– but I went nocturnal when I had to write a screenplay many years ago as it was the only time I could focus on work without distractions.
You can also look at time management as minimizing the time you spend just surfing the internet– or reading any blogs except this one. The important thing is making sure you have enough time to do your existing jobs and find new ones– and that you use the time to do that.
Another great blog Dave. We’ll have to check out Mozilla Sunbird. Juggling all of the assignments (and keeping deadlines straight) is becoming a bigger job than we realized.