BLOGFive Time Management Tips To Improve Your Daily Routine
June 3rd, 2008One of the biggest mistakes people make when they enter into freelance copywriting, marketing, or SEO is an ineffective use of their time. A normal 9-5 job gives an individual the structure and routine that usually makes their time spent more efficient and cost effective. But as a freelancer, you set your own structure.
Time management is the first step that anyone interested in being self employed needs to take to properly market themselves. Here’s a few guidelines that I’ve used to get myself in the right mind set and not waste too much time:
- Wake Up Early
It doesn’t matter if you have all the time in the world to do that contract you just landed, by starting your day out at 7am you’ve got the entire day ahead of you. Those of you who sleep in until 10 or noon will still waste your first full hour up on getting ready, losing yet another hour in your now dwindling day.Also, for gods sakes, SHOWER. It doesn’t matter that you might not have to leave your home at all, but by showering, shaving, and actually getting dressed, you’ll find that you have a lot more energy then you would sitting around in your pajamas all day. Promise.
- Set Aside Reading Time
There are tons of blogs (like this one) that are worth your time to read up on, you just have to determine which ones. Now this can be a hard process, but the fact of the matter is you don’t have the time to read them all and you certainly won’t learn something new or useful everyday from all of them. While it’s clearly a waste of a day, set aside a few hours to actually pick which ones are beneficial to you. I’ll make a post at some point listing the best blogs to follow.When you first get up, grab your breakfast and coffee and sit in front of your computer. Use this normally wasted time to multi-task and really start your day off right. After digging through the RSS Feeds of all the blogs on your list while you eat, you’ll have plenty to think about during your SHOWER. I guess I can’t emphasize not wearing PJs all day enough. - Stay Portable
The luxury of avoiding the daily commute is an added bonus to this type of work, especially with gas prices the way they are. But after awhile you’ll go stir crazy. By having even the most basic of laptops (the Eee PC being my personal favorite), you can easily pick up and go to just about any location with WiFi. Coffee shops usually have a good amount of plugs and free WiFi to take advantage of, so I recommend starting there.You’ll know when you need to change location because you’ll realize just how ineffective you’ve become at working. It happens at least once a day to me, so with this nice weather and the range of my WiFi, I’ve been sitting in my back yard a good deal. - Write Out A Schedule
Get an idea of how much time each of your projects is going to take and write it down. Getting yourself to actually follow it to a T is a difficult task and will probably take you a few weeks to master, but by having everything written out you’ll at least know where to go to after you’ve finished your current project.Set aside time in your schedule to write on your personal blog. It will help clear your mind and provide a decent segue to your next project. - Know When To Call It A Day
Sometimes you’re just burnt out and you can’t make any more progress. Instead of wasting the rest of your night and not giving yourself the chance to recover, shut down the computer and go watch a movie or hit the bar. You’ll do more good for yourself than you would staring at your monitor.
What steps do you take to better manage your time?
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