6 Smart Strategies to Improve Your Freelance Productivity

6 Smart Strategies to Improve Your Freelance Productivity

Working hard is not always enough. In a time when smart work is preferred over hard work, you might want to stop for a minute and reconsider your take on how productive you should be. As an employee, productivity could mean making sure that all your objectives for the day are accomplished before heading to get some rest. You're solely focused on getting the job done well and hitting the road to get home when the workday is over. 

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However, this is not the case for freelancers. Most times, freelancers have to struggle with a lot of distractions and interruptions while working from home. Infact, productivity problems are very common among skilled professionals working from home. This gradually reduces overall productivity and slows down expected career growth in the long run if not dealt with proactively. 

Even though there's a fine line between being a freelancer and being a regular employee, both parties face similar levels of productivity issues every day in order to meet deadlines and objectives. Working from home has some great benefits, but freelancers often face many different distractions that interrupt their level of focus, reduces the ability to concentrate, and lowers productivity. 

Whether you are a beginner freelancer or professional, it is very important to learn practical strategies that you can integrate into your work, life and daily routine in order to become a more productive freelancer and a better individual. We have listed be5 smart ways to improve your freelance productivity: 

1. Set a Realistic Goal

Avoid setting ambiguous goals. Every great accomplishment starts with a realistic goal. Your project goals should be feasible, flexible and achievable. Setting a goal is a great start to ensure you have the focus and purpose required to achieve an objective. Also, having a clear goal gives you a sense of direction and perspective.  

Interestingly, you're more likely to live a life without direction if you don't have a goal. Furthermore, being intentional about your goals has a great impact on your productivity. As a freelancer, setting realistic goals can help you become better at your work and also provides a blueprint for tracking your progress in the long run. 

Establish realistic short term and long term objectives. Consider your objectives, then pen them down in a diary or to-do list. This will increase your productivity. The fact is: long-term objectives influence short-term objectives, and short-term objectives have long-term implications. 

2. Follow Your Passion

Being productive in your industry as a freelancer doesn't only start with just having goals. In reality, it also begins with doing what you love. Focusing on your passion is a great way to ensure that you're doing stuff that makes you happy. This also applies to your choice of a freelance niche - focus on an industry you're passionate about. 

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Passion and freelance work goes hand in hand. Whether you're a beginner or pro freelancer, ensure to turn your passion into a profitable business because your chances of success will be greater when you're passionate about your work.

3. Do One Task at a Time 

The only way to get quality work done is to focus on one task at a time. Although multitasking is a common phenomenon among many freelancers, try to avoid doing too many things at a time while at work. Keep a simple routine and cut down the number of tasks you handle per day. You may think that you can get more done by doing many things at a time, but that's never the case. 

In reality, however, the quality of your work will suffer, and you'll be far less productive if you divide your focus across many jobs by multitasking. Focus on one task at a time to increase your concentration and take breaks in-between tasks to keep your mind sharp and ready for more work. 

4. Keep a Simple Workload

The everyday lifestyle of a freelancer involves pitching for more jobs and hunting for new clients to ensure a steady workload and workflow. While this is not entirely bad, it could also have some very serious implications in the long run. Handling more work may mean earning more money, but it also means bad mental and physical health. 

Everyone has a breaking point, so ensure not to stretch yourself beyond that unique point. Ensure to take on as much work as you can handle. Be very intentional about your capacity and availability. It is always better to overestimate your project duration. This will give you enough time to cater for any other unexpected happenstances that comes up in the course of your work.

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It is very important to note that accepting to handle too much work will have a negative effect on your mental health, and it gets super overwhelming when looming deadlines threaten your peace of mind on a regular basis. Always maintain a simple workload and learn to say NO when the load of work is too much on you. 

5. Use a Calendar and To-Do List

A Calendar and To-Do list can help you stay organized with tasks and how to manage your time effectively. While having a visual representation to fall back on is very helpful for the brain, it is also super rewarding to check off or cross an item on a Calendar or To-Do list after it has been accomplished. This gives you a sense of fulfilment and accomplishment. 

Always keep track of your activities everyday by using a Calendar preferably synced to a cloud server. You can write out your tasks on a To-Do list and use reminders to help you track your progress. As a freelancer, you're in charge of your time. Managing your time and tasks effectively with the use of cloud-based Calendars and To-Do lists can assist you greatly in planning and achieving your daily, weekly and monthly objectives. 

6. Use Technology to Simplify Your Work 

To be a successful freelancer, you need to be a master of time management. Working remotely means that you're in charge of your work schedule. You are in charge of your ship and the outcome of your freelance journey depends solely on the decisions you make everyday.  

While working from home provides the cushion of comfort and eliminates the disturbing thoughts of having to commute every day to work, there are some challenges too that make the freelance lifestyle a serious hurdle for many skilled professionals. One such hurdle is time and project management. 

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A lot of freelancers find it super difficult to manage their time effectively. This may be attributed to the constant distractions and interruptions that are common when working from home. Thankfully, there are lots of time management software available to help you keep track of your time and maximize productivity. 

Install time management software like Clockify and Google Calendar to help you stay organized. Trello, Todoist and Evernote are to-do lists that can help you know what's on your plate for each day and time. Use technology to your advantage and avoid spending too much time on social media. 

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