The Freelancer’s Time-Saving Cheat Sheet

I was reading an article yesterday that was encouraging — nay, teaching — us to work just four hours a day. And be more productive.

Yes, I was skeptical, too.

Then I read the article.

Damn. Those aren’t hard steps. In fact, many of them I can do. Some of them I do already. But I’ll admit it here — I do them only when I’m too busy to breathe.

Why not all the time?

We freelance writers waste time.

No, no. It’s true. Just as I was starting this post, for instance, I stopped twice to check emails, then got sidetracked by a Groupon deal.

So I’m admitting one of my worst habits:

I have a click-through addiction.

It starts like this — I begin writing. The creative juices are flowing like crazy. My semi-hyperactive brain reacts like I’m about to go under if I don’t find some air.

I open a different program to create a diversion. There. I can breathe.

In fact, three times since I’ve started this post, I’ve had to stop myself from checking an email in box that I know looks exactly as it did right before I started writing. I know this because I have email notifications turned on. It’s been quiet.

That won’t stop me, though. I’m not really looking for the email — I’m looking for the brain to simmer down a bit. And I want to give it time to decide where I’m going and not just jump all over the place.

It’s a conundrum, and one I’ve recognized in me for a while. I have to learn how to harness the spewing of ideas and directions and just sit down, exhale, and write.

Because if I don’t, I’ll be sitting here 45 minutes from now, lost on solitaire. Or eBay. Or Amazon. Or Twitter.

Not that that’s a bad thing entirely. Had I not opened Twitter, I’d not be writing this post (I was inspired).

Yeah, flimsy excuse, I know.

So I looked back at the article (okay, one distraction allowed), since it was the thing that inspired me. And I thought how can I apply this to my own freelancing?

Quite easily, it seems. We can decrease the number of hours we work and still get stuff accomplished.

Here’s how:

Keep track of time.

Really easy, right? Until you forget to, like I do. But try this at first — track just one hour. One. Look at what you do that entire hour — how many times you open your browser for non-work stuff, how often you check your email, how many times you allow distractions in during that hour. Don’t cheat, either. Don’t restrain yourself and act differently than you normally do. Not just yet. You’re just measuring right now.

Lose one more thing.

All those bad habits you just identified? Time to lose one. If I could lose a bad habit, it would be, well, any of the myriad distractions I let in. I’d check emails once an hour, maybe once every two hours. Hell, maybe I could just turn it off and check it right before lunch and 30 minutes before the end of my day. The point is to remove that distraction. Then if you get really good at it, remove another. Do you really need to play those online games in the middle of the day? At all? Facebook is rarely interesting when you need it to be, too. So just don’t.

Accelerate the deadline.

This became easier for me when my father was gravely ill. I never knew when I’d be called home unexpectedly. The work I got in each day was started within 24 hours, even if I had a three-week deadline. I had to be smart with my time. I didn’t know how much of it that week I’d actually have. It can work that way all the time, actually. We can work on the assumption that sooner is better because there could well be something that comes up to interrupt our schedule. If not, you may have planned far enough in advance to take a day off. Who wouldn’t want that?

Work hard when you’re working.

The author of the article suggests being productive even if it means you accomplish just one thing. I agree. If you get one thing done and you’re struggling all day with the rest of your projects, stop. Walk away. Get that one thing done and be satisfied. Tomorrow, focus on one more thing.

Plan ahead.

I’m a big fan of putting things on a list and prioritizing. My own system is to use Calendar and set reminders (and move the list forward so I can keep track for invoicing at the end of the month). What are you doing tomorrow? Don’t just wake up and see what happens. Know at least what the first thing will be. It will make your day run so much more smoothly.

Charge more.

The article said something similar, and it’s true. The more you charge, the less you’ll have to work to make the same amount of money. That’s just common sense, and a great idea. Isn’t it time you gave yourself a raise anyway?

Writers, how many hours per day do you work?
How many hours per day would you rather be working?
Where are you able to save time?