The number of freelancers worldwide has been growing significantly in recent years. This has been driven by the rise in digital technology, the number of online platforms that offer job matching, the financial crisis, and the work-life balance that freelance jobs provide.
The distribution of professional work is constantly changing, with changes driven by advancing techniques and information flows. According to international estimates, in 2006 already about 19.1% of all “knowledge workers” engaged in freelancing, commissioning, and interim management.
As of 2024 this number skyrocketed to 38% of workforce with an estimated 64 million freelance workers nationwide in the US. That results in a lot of competition and a reason to make sure you’re working as efficiently as you can to satisfy and impress clients!
Creating a Productive Workspace
Designate a specific spot at home for work. You don’t need a separate room with locked doors, but a defined space will help you to shift your mindset to the workplace when you’re “at work”. Consider a few things when choosing your base of operation: it should be quiet or at least relatively so, it should have enough light and all the electrical outlets that you need, and it should be clean and uncluttered.
As much clutter as possible really should go. Clutter-filled rooms and cluttered desks are distracting. Also, be sure your “office” chair is both comfortable and offers good support. You’ll be sitting in that chair for hundreds or thousands of hours in a year. It’s worthwhile to invest in a proper ergonomic chair, or even an ergonomic desk setup. If you are in for the long haul, office furniture – especially a high-quality desk and chair – is usually worth the spending money.
Always dress for work. Working from home allows you to dress casually, no doubt about it, but wearing “real” clothes is a small trick to mentally prepare yourself for the work that needs to be done. When you’re dressed crisply, you will often work with more focus and lessening of distractions.
You face work with more control. The fresh clothes you slip into can serve as a sort of trigger for a cortisol boost. You should be dressed just as if you were going to leave home to head to work.
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Even now that many of us are dressing more casually all the time, small, physical cues like getting dressed can help to make that shift into work mode, or to dial those feelings of separation up just a bit more. It turns out that your daily work-from-home routine can be disrupted if you dress the same way.
When you dress the same for work and leisure, you mix today and the future, which can affect your strategy. The working day becomes more artificial when wearing work clothes, which can increase your work productivity because the level of separation keeps you focused.
Establishing a Routine and Boundaries
Understanding freelancing as a profession would help to shape beneficial work ethics and other routines. Because freelancers earn based on completed work, as opposed to the number of hours worked, a flexible schedule approach is implemented. In actuality, successful freelancers believe that one of the most crucial work habits would be an established routine.
Punctuality should be a frequent attribute, as clients and projects place varying requirements on freelancers. Furthermore, working a few scheduled hours daily would promote a healthier balance between work time and leisure. People who have too much free time without a lot of structure or routine often find themselves unfocused and less productive.
Beginning and ending the workday at the same time would make balancing work and a personal life simpler. As it is, working from home already possesses its set of negative images associated with it, like the concept of never being able to leave the office. In order to be productive, it is crucial to respect business hours far from personal commitments.
Suppose family and friends were aware of the hours you were available and those of non-availability. In that case, it would be easier to maximize free time to share with loved ones. Small interruptions being minimized by informing others of your business schedule would be a great reason to stick to a timetable.
Any scheduled break should be adhered to strictly as well, and those hours – that are dedicated to leisure and family time – should be embraced. Typifying behaviors that should be maintained both at home and at the workplace is an additional crucial part of maintaining a consistent routine.
Utilizing Time Management Techniques
As a freelancer, you do not have traditional office hours, but you do have a due date on your work, and you should have a realistic work plan that allows you to complete and submit that task on time. Every day is a working day for purposeful freelancers who churn out work with consistent ability.
Your most important work tool subsequently becomes time. You are not only the staff, the intern, and the floor warden. You are the manager, and you must work responsibly with every minute so that you can complete the job at hand. Work does not wait for you. You chase it, catch it, and then complete it within your delivery time frame.
Good time management is what separates successful freelancers from mediocre ones with the same skill set. They recognize the worth of every moment and are not just minding time but maximizing it. You must discipline yourself and stay focused on productivity while working from home.
Remember that time is the most perishable commodity, because it does not stop for anyone. There are no bank savings for time or lockers where you can deposit moments. You can only run around trying to save time, because once lost, it is gone forever. If you do not work intentionally you will leave windows open for everyday deterrence to heist your precious time.
Watching television for hours, recreational web surfing, long telephone conversations, long grocery shopping trips at 11 am when you should be working, and other avoidable home distractions. Smart work for freelancers does not happen by chance; it happens by choice.
Maintaining Work-Life Balance
Creating a tangential workspace at home is essential to maintaining work-life balance. This is the most important portion of the day because it requires you to think from one frame of mind and switch it into another.
It is not fair to your boss or clients who are paying you if you are doing personal work when you should be on the clock. As a freelancer, your clients are paying you for a devotion to their projects. When you are not 100% focused on their project, the client is not getting their money’s worth.
Mentally, every task you do helps draw attention to its framing, and the most framing activities win. This is what researchers call “salience”, the greatest consideration, time, and mental processing will go to the area with the greatest salience. This means that work tasks will grab all the attention, and you can easily work until midnight without realizing it.
Personal tasks have to be just as salient so that personal life does not lose out. This will keep work and personal time balanced. The better you are at managing your work and personal time, the more you will appreciate the sense of freedom that comes between the balancing act of the two.
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Elizabeth Richey
About the Author: Elizabeth Richey, living and thriving in rural Arkansas, Aquarian and iced coffee enthusiast. When she’s not writing, gardening, playing with her chocolate lab Maple or sharing videos on YouTube (Elizabeth’s Many Adventures) you can find her enjoying time with her family or traveling somewhere new! Most of the time she’s dreaming of being kicked back in her hammock in her cottage garden listening to the birds sing.
