Better time management

Working as a freelancer means you’re not only fulfilling your role as a designer, but you’re also being your own manager, social media writer and analyst, accountant, boss and employee in any form. Because of that, you’re also often pressed for time and it can be difficult to set some time boundaries for when you’re supposed to be working. If you’re like me, a lot of your free time is also spent online, so sometimes even social interactions can be difficult to manage during your working hours. This article will present you with some good practice solutions for better time management.

Analyze your time

First and foremost, you need to be aware of the daily/weekly/monthly tasks that are occupying your time. This analysis can be more difficult if you have never had a habit of tracking your time, however it’s well worth to do this for your long term success.

Few ways you can start this analysis:

Set yourself a timer for every 2 hours. When your timer rings, you need to stop and think about what you’ve been doing for the last 2 hours. Write it down, and try to write down how much time you spent in all of those tasks. Do this for a week, and you’ll have a better idea of how much time your regular daily tasks take.
Use an app. The one I use is called Toggl - it’s really simple to use, you only have to remember to use it at the beginning and the end of each task. Going into a habit of using it may take some time, but it could be very helpful to use it long term, because you’ll get a pretty accurate overview of how you spend your time.

Other than finding out how much time you spend on specific tasks, this analysis will help you notice what times of the day you are at your best performance. You’d be surprised, but this may vary, depending on which kinds of tasks you are performing. When you get a good overview of this, you can use this info to better plan ahead.

Take smaller steps

We often fall into the traps of setting ourselves for some goals that are way too large and too far into the future for us to be able to appropriately accomplish them. In reality, our workday often revolves around a number of small tasks that ultimately lead up to a bigger accomplishment. So, that’s exactly how you’re supposed to be setting your goals, in order to actually succeed at them.

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“In reality, our workday often revolves around a number of small tasks that ultimately lead up to a bigger accomplishment.”

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You can use one of many apps or websites to help you set yourself some of these goals, and try to make them in small chunks - on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. Don’t set too many at one time either, because while you’re getting used to this system, as soon as you fall out of your set rhythm, you’ll feel bad and might stop using this all together.

I personally use Asana for this, but some good alternatives are Trello, Monday or Todoist. Don’t think too much about which one you’ll use, just start with some free options and in time, when you get used to this type of goal setting, you’ll be able to curate your tastes more if needed.

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Appreciate breaks

Breaks are often frowned upon if you’re working at an office, however, they are essential to keep you motivated and focused in the long term. As a freelancer, you have this wonderful opportunity to take breaks whenever you need them. Note, it's important to understand the difference between taking a break and simply slacking, so be honest with yourself - this is your responsibility. Taking a break when you don’t feel focused, or when you need time for brainstorming and finding inspiration is totally okay and you shouldn’t feel guilty about it.

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“It’s important to understand the difference between taking a break and simply slacking - be honest with yourself. This is your responsibility”

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When you’re planning your activities, try to include the fact that you’ll be taking breaks occasionally - the need for this will be highlighted if you end up using an app such as Toggl, to help you track how you spend your time.

Work on establishing habits

It’s great to have some spontaneous time to enjoy, however, habits can offer a stress relief in a very unnoticeable way. For example, if you as a freelance designer deal with your own accounting, you want to make sure that you establish a habit of always handling these tasks in established intervals. Small, seemingly meaningless habits - like drinking coffee in the morning before you start with work, exercising at some point in the day, checking out social media - can actually help boost your productivity if you’re approaching them in an organized way.

Even if you travel or move a lot for work, these habits will help you keep the same productivity levels and will help you keep your regular work rhythm.

Give it time

In order to establish some better time management habits and benefit out of them, you’re going to need to put some time and effort into it. For some, this may be easier, for some harder. But, the harder it is, the payoff will be stronger. Remember that all big changes in life need time, and focus your efforts into the changes that will help you achieve better quality of life in the long run.