Prioritization and Time Management
Freelancers are regularly tested on their focus and prioritization skills. How you cope and deal with time management challenges will impact your business, your wallet, and your physical and emotional health.
Someone invites you to lunch but you know you have to put your nose down and hit that deadline… A loved one needs you but you have to juggle and make them and your client happy, too…. One client wants to be put ahead of other clients that are important, too… A client is being a royal pain in the rear and you need to decide what to do about it… Sometimes the juggling act is tricky! The good news is that it’s your business and you’re in control. Sometimes you need to just remind yourself of that fact. I’ve had to do so recently.
Anyway, here are some tips for prioritizing that I’ve learned in the last few years. If you have any tips you’d like to share, please do!
- Pad your deadlines. Doing this will give you a bit of wiggle room for emergencies. And, if you treat that fake deadline as the real one most of the time, clients will be delighted at your consistently delivering early.
- If you’re outsourcing, pad even further! When you have to rely on anyone but yourself, you want some extra EXTRA wiggle room.
- Overquote. Overquote on money and on time. Give yourself extra time and don’t bid too low.
- Turn off distractions. Shut the office door, forward the phone to voicemail, etc. When you need to focus, don’t be tempted by email alerts or instant messaging applications. Focus on one thing at a time and the feelings of being overwhelmed will soon be diminished.
- Find a proven tracking system. Whether it’s a note pad, task lists on Gmail, a big desk calendar, or a digital time management application, find something that works for you and use it consistently so you never miss a deadline.
- Have a plan B. I’ve had some technology problems lately so I started keeping a small stockpile of offline work so that I could work if my ISP went down. I also invested in a Smart Phone so I can keep in touch with clients on the go. The phone also keeps me more relaxed when I’m away from the office for extended amounts of time. Beware you don’t stay plugged in to work 24/7, though. That’s something I’m working on…
- Get up early when you’re swamped. (Something I struggle with but when I do it, I always say I should do it more often!) Often the best time to work on a difficult project is to do so before the rest of your house is up and before your clients are calling, IM’ing, or emailing.Why? Fewer distractions and more time in the day to hit that deadline. It’s often said that ‘morning people’ are more productive than nighthawks. Not sure if that’s true but I’m much more relaxed and productive starting work early in the morning to working until the wee hours when I’m under the gun.
- Get the hardest and most important projects out of the way first. This was a valuable lesson I learned from a writing client who wrote career and life coaching books. It can be awful to feel dread about something that has to be done before you can go to sleep at night and worrying about it will slow you down all day long until the job gets done. Do the hard stuff first thing in the morning. Get it over with so you can move on with your day. If you do the most difficult and most vital things first, you avoid pitfalls of interruptions and being pulled in multiple directions later on in the day and you’ll feel accomplished earlier instead of later!
- Make time for family. I don’t know about you but there are more family flare-ups around here when I’m overworked. As the peacemaker of the house, if I’m somewhat available and plugged in to the family instead of just my office, the house seems to buzz along more happily and that results in less stress for all of us. Have you had a day off lately? Have you spent time reading a story to your toddler or having a leisurely cup of tea on the porch with your spouse? Keep the home fires burning and work will probably be smoother sailing for you.
- Speak your mind. If a client is being too demanding, push back a little. If a spouse’s help could make a big difference to you, ask for help proactively (if I ask when I’m calm, rather than wait until I’m on the verge of a meltdown, chances are I get better response anyway).
- Say No. I’ve said “No” more often lately and it has served me well. Be selective about the writing jobs and personal favours you take on. It’s your business and your life so you need to stay in charge of it!
Sometimes you have to take a close look at your priorities and do some shifting around. I’ve had to do that lately and when I do take the time to make decisions and action plans and then stick to them, I work and feel much better.
Please share your words of prioritization wisdom with us!
Article by Dana Prince
Dana Prince is a writer, web marketing consultant, and prolific blogger. She’s so prolific that she’s actively seeking a 12-step program for blogoholics. (Really, she's only pretending to seek such a program. Mostly, she just likes to talk about her addiction.)
Dana has written 43 awesome articles for us at Get Paid to Write Online
Twitter: @danaprince | Facebook
{ 8 comments }
Twitter: GeorgeAngus
August 1, 2010 at 15:52
Dana,
Now that is an article full of good advice. I’ve learned to underpromise and overdeliver. I’ve learned to pad my deadlines, too. I still suck at saying “No” and I’m worse at quoting a price that is worthy of my skills. One step at a time I guess.
George
George Angus wants you to read Friday Flash – Trouble In The Stacks
I’ve got to second George’s words first – this is article is packed full of fantastic advice. In fact, I’d go as far as saying that it should be one of the first posts a new freelance writer should check out.
I’ve got something to say about every point you made, Dana, but I’ll stick to the major ones (for me, at least).
Re padding your deadlines if you’re outsourcing – I CAN NOT EXPLAIN HOW IMPORTANT THIS IS!
I’ve been working with a writer for the past few months as my workload increased and personal / family time was at an all time low. The writer was great and the work delivered was of a great quality.
But the problem was they always sent over the work a few days – sometimes up to a week – overduee. I paddeed out the deadline by a day or two to start with, but when I realised I was going to have say a week, it just wasn’t practical.
Re plan b / smartphones – owning a decent smartphone is both the best and worst move I made. It allows me to keep in touch with my clients on a continual basis, no matter where I am, but I’m also finding I’m checking my e-mails A LOT more. I’ve even got into a habit of checking them before I go to bed and when I wake up, whilst I’m still in bed. Argh.
And re making time for family – this is something I neglected a lot in the first part of 2010. I was working 70+ hour weeks and whilst I enjoyed the work, it left no time to spend with my family (or at least in no major way).
I changed this a month or two back and now with the exception of an hour or two on a Saturday and Sunday, I’m managing to take (almost) every weekend off.
There’s so much more I could say here Dana – really, really great post.
DanSmith wants you to read What Made You Want To Go Freelance
Twitter: danaprince
August 2, 2010 at 10:09
@George,
Thanks! I bet prioritizing has been pivotal in your living without internet at home. I’ll have to stop by your blog and see how it’s been going
I don’t know that I’m quoting what I’m worth either but each year my per word rate has gone up so that’s progress, right?
Thanks @Dan!
Subcontracting *is* tricky. I’ve done it for 3 years and had people who’ve worked out great and people who’ve been awful. I’ve also had a few great writers on my team that just never met deadlines so regardless of how fabulous they were, it just couldn’t go on, especially when it was often a week+ late. I can live with a few hours or a day if I know to pad it but you can’t pad it by a week and eventually a week will turn into two, right?
I told someone about how my iPhone has made things so much better and the reply was…”So, you can work 24/7 now? Grrrrrreaaaaaaat!”. Point taken but it does ease the mind and gotta love being able to see PayPal notifications (and do the transfers) from the line-up at the grocery store!
I used to be unable to function before coffee but now I’m reading email BEFORE coffee. LOL
Dana wants you to read Gotten a Testimonial Use it to Market Yourself
Hi Dana, these are good points.
I usually start very early if I have an important project on (which recently means waking up before 5am every day … doh
. I have found that I am most productive before the world wakes up, the phone starts ringing and generally inquiries flow in from every side.
Another point in favor of working on most important task / project very early is, at least for me, that I do not expect any communication, emails etc. and I am not tempted to check my inbox every couple of minutes.
Twitter: LoriWidmer
August 2, 2010 at 17:11
Amen on this, Dana! I like especially the part where you say overquote. I have to do this on time for one project in particular. I’d much rather disappoint them at a time when they can change their deadlines than halfway through it.
Wonderful tips you’ve got. I particularly like the part when you do the hard projects first. Many freelancers want to eat the icing of a cake when they’re working. I’d say do the other way around. Also, there’s no such thing as time management since time is not constant. What you can do instead is manage… YOU. Cheers!
Issa wants you to read 50 Questions to Ask Before Building a Website
These are very good tips. Especially the one about getting up early. I find myself often working on a project until 3:00 am, causing me to oversleep the next morning. A very hard habit to break.
Clara Mathews wants you to read 31DBBB Day 4- Analyze A Top Blog In Your Niche
These are great tips! Distractions have been a major problem for me lately, so I ended up blocking certain websites that were a constant distraction during a certain time every day with LeechBlock. I also blocked my email. Now, I don’t check my email as often as I did, making my day more productive. LeechBlock is a Firefox plugin and I recommend it to everyone.
Some of these ideas are new to me, like making sooner deadlines and doing the harder projects first. I will definitely try them! I also completely agree with the latter. I find that if I wait to do a difficult or more complex project until later and get all the easy tasks done first, the dread that I get throughout the day just adds to my stress, and I end up not doing the difficult task at all. I’m going to try to do difficult tasks immediately when I wake up from now on. It should definitely help with stress.