5 productivity hacks for Freelancers - that will work to your advantage

Freelancers have the luxury of working practically anywhere in the world according to their schedule. As a freelancer, you could struggle to be productive on your own without the right motivation. For freelancers to maintain a successful business, completing work as per schedule is essential. To increase productivity as a freelancer, you'll need practice, dedication, and a few of the tips listed below.

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Useful Ideas to be more Productive:

Freelancers are their own bosses and can choose the kind of work they want to do, can do, and decide when they can do the said work. That also leaves them with excess time on hand and with the internet filled with distractions, having a certain work style definitely helps.

👉 1. The Eisenhower Matrix

With a bunch of tasks and deadlines around the corner, it can be overwhelming to decide which task to complete first. There is a good possibility that all of them seem highly important. To figure out what to prioritise and complete first, it's best to use the Eisenhower matrix.

The matrix has four sections and all tasks can be classified into one of these sections.

• Important + Urgent: These tasks should be given the first priority, and includes any form of work such as scheduling a call with the client, or any other deliverables that needs to be completed within the next two days.
• Important + Not Urgent: These tasks can take a back seat for the moment. They need to be completed, but there is no rush to complete the order immediately. This includes tasks that have sufficient time before its deadline, reading a book that helps increase your skills, or even attending an online networking workshop that can be postponed.
• Not Important + Urgent: These tasks can be essentially delegated to someone else or to a time period when there is lesser work stress.
• Not Important + Not Urgent: These are the kind of tasks that can be completely ignored or forgotten. There is no stress in having to get them done immediately.

Categorising all work that needs to be done in these sections provides a sense of clarity, and priority of order in which they need to be worked on.

👉 2. Work Scheduling

One of the advantages of freelancing is to be able to work at any time of the day. But it also involves understanding when would be the best time to work. Some find themselves most productive early in the morning, while some are night owls. Some work at odd hours of the day and stick to that as they are able to bring out their best work. Such a work schedule has to be created with keeping in mind the other aspects of life such as household chores, taking care of family members etc.

👉 3. Find a Work Buddy

The most common side effect of working alone is that freelancers get distracted easily with things like YouTube videos or looking at memes on the internet. One way to make sure that the concentration remains intact is to find a buddy who you can work along with. Either of you can act as the moderator to get the work done quickly. To make things better, gathering a group of friends also might help.

To bring in a more professional atmosphere under such situations, the buddies or group can rent a meeting room and work together. Meeting rooms are the way companies in the future are looking to function. With state of the art facilities such as video conferencing, projectors, a round table in an air conditioned meeting room with a drawing board, like the ones offered by GoFloaters, might be the best suitable recipe to get some work done. A huge advantage being that such meeting rooms on rent are that they are available on an hourly basis.

👉 4. Eating Healthy and Taking Adequate Breaks

Surely everyone has heard the famous proverb, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” which is true since working at a stretch definitely leads to a point where the quality of work, and the level of concentration drops. One of the biggest advantages of being a freelancer is the fact that you can take adequate breaks during work to keep the mind fresh.

Likewise, if you’re unwell or feeling hungry, the mind doesn’t work at the optimum level. Having healthy snacks on the side while working helps to focus better. Many have tried this method of eating while studying. Eating healthy snacks keeps them focused by giving them short spurts of energy.

👉 5. Turning Off Notifications

Social media is prohibited in traditional workplaces because they induce employees to lose concentration and start procrastinating. This is true and applicable to freelancers as well. So it is better to turn off any notifications from any social media website. When things are out of sight, it gets out of the mind as well.

Before starting to work, it's better to log out of these sites because it makes it difficult to access them immediately. Mobile phones are an easy form of distraction. Turning off notifications until your work is done is a good step to take as well.

Ever since the pandemic set in, the world of freelancers and the availability of meeting rooms on rent has expanded significantly. Such productivity tips are a much-needed boost for everyone as hybrid work models become more prevalent in the modern workplace. If you are planning to work from a remote location or if you are looking to rent a workspace, check out GoFloaters.