(Charleston Harbor on the 4th of July)One of the big changes (and there were so many recently) in our move was that I now work at home as a freelance graphic designer and illustrator. Trying to create a schedule to stick to so I don't waste the day watching hours and hours of bad reality television has been hard. Not a feel bad for me kind of hard, just hard for me to get myself into a routine when no external force is actually making me stick to that routine except for my own will power. I've found that I work better when under pressure and I can get my head down and bulldoze through my work then when I foresee myself having lots and lots of time and then I tend to get more distracted by things that seem to need my attention that moment. Like cleaning up the kitchen. Trying to wrangle the dog hair tumbleweeds that are trying to take over our wood floors. Taking care of issues that come up that fall into my hands since the husband is at work and doesn't have that kind of flexibility now.
One of the biggest surprises about working freelance is how fast the day goes by. At my last job I would count the hours till I got home. Those hours have grown wings and turbo jets now because the day seems to fly by now and I seem to always be looking at a stack of "to do" lists that never got my attention that day.
Anyone have any tips or things that works for them when it comes to time management or from keeping the day from totally getting away from you?
I find that my outlook calendar and reminders help me stay on task during the day.
ReplyDeleteThe picture of Charleston Harbor is lovely
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I have a feeling we are BOTH asking ourselves how to be productive at-home task-do'ers! I guess writing and designing have their similarities, but for me, the hardest part of writing articles is interviewing people, especially ones I've NEVER met, and especially over the phone! I loathe phone convos.
ReplyDeleteAssuming that you're not running into the same speedbump, I'd say the #2 most difficult thing is just being STUCK INSIDE. I cannot get into a good mindset after being in the house for more than 24 hours, so I always schedule some relaxation time at a café, with a good old-fashioned notebook to scrawl stuff in, or go to a class at the gym, or just hang out in our hammock for 20 minutes. That seems to get the creative mojo going!