If only it where that easy… just walk into your local
neighborhood convenience store and buy a bottle or two of extra hours in your
day! But that concept is no more than a delightful fantasy.
As a free-lance writer who works most of the time from home,
the biggest time problem I have ever experienced were people who didn’t respect
the fact that I WAS WORKING. I had to grow a backbone and tell them they were
intruding on my “office hours”; I received phone calls, quick visits at the
door to chat and even child drop-offs when schools were delayed (or closed!).
One mother even argued that since my own children were home I had nothing
better to do! Nowadays most of my phone calls are kept brief, to be honest I
only answer our personal phone (unpublished number) because only family and
close friends call that. My other number is almost always answered with voice
mail and I check messages periodically through the day to see if anything MUST
be returned before the end of my business hours.
Yes I do sometimes have the TV on during the day (mostly
news) and I take meal breaks (usually 15-20 minutes). The most important thing
I’ve learned is to make lists and use an online calendar which syncs with my
smart phone. It’s rare that I miss appointments (business or personal) and
honestly have a 99.9% success rate with deadlines because my phone substitutes
for a personal assistant and the list staring me in the face keeps me on track.
When I do have personal errands, doctor appointments, grocery shopping, I
include those in my list and actual appointments in my calendar.
Most people say to put off checking email until after the day
of work is done, but since a few of my editors contact me with assignments that
way, I have to start my day that way. I browse through the amil list looking
first WHO sent it and obviously opening those from editors asap, and then quickly
browse subject lines; anything that doesn’t catch my attention as important
waits until later to be opened and read. The same goes for social media, I use
Facebook and Twitter mostly, I browse notifications for anything I feel is
relevant to my day’s work and the rest waits until later although I do try to
devote extra time at least once a week to update posts and network. I also
schedule time periodically to send out invoices and record them on an Excel
sheet. Every time I complete something on my list I cross it off, this gives me
an enormous amount of satisfaction and actually eases my mind that I am not
forgetting anything.
Invariably at the end of the day I think of something that
needs to be done the next day; that’s when I take my smart phone with me while
I prepare for bed to either send myself an email with a list or enter items on my
calendar. Then I rest easy knowing that I won’t forget to do anything the next
day. The worst poison to creativity is feeling overwhelmed which can happen
when you forget things, miss deadlines or rush to complete an assignment that
you knew you had more than enough time to do.
Here are the basics to time-management for the self-employed:
1) You are AT WORK and expect respect and cooperation from the people around
you and yourself. Allow yourself a bit of flexibility for work hours but do set
a schedule; 2) Make lists and use a calendar to keep track of deadlines and
chores you need to get done (and yes, include personal commitments on your calendar,
it will help to keep your life uncomplicated); 3) Eat well and stay hydrated.
Work in “movement” (exercise or simple walking). “Feed” yourself emotionally
with relaxation and ME time; 4) Spend
time with loved ones every day, the last thing you need is guilt feelings for
time missed out.
Writing Exercise:
Put a radio on to “easy listening music”, set the time for 15 minutes,
and write whatever the songs make you think of. Hopefully whatever you write
will flow as a story.
Writing Prompt:
Open a book, any book, turn to a page (whatever your age is), and scroll
down the lines (equal to the number of the month you were born). Read the next
sentence out loud Begin a sentence starting with EACH word in the sentence.
(for instance “The cow jumped over the moon”, 1st sentence starts
with The, 2nd Cow, 3rd Jumped, and so on). The sentences
do not have work together but it would be great if they did.
Challenge Assignment:
Write a detailed account of how YESTERDAY went. Now rewrite this account
as if you had to do it over again and this time incorporate more diligence and
productivity.
