Many of you are probably no stranger to the lifestyle of freelancing. There is no doubt that freelancing is much more than just a job. The freelancer is fundamentally different in the rhythms of his existence from the person, dwelling in the office for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week.
An office worker can afford to divide his time into working and non-working hours. Freelancers often tell chilling stories about how work slowly and surely takes over all the hours in the day that are not mercifully set aside for sleep.
The working day in the office most often begins in the morning and ends in the evening. Of course, there are exceptions, free visit schedules, but the synchronization of office workers still happens. And this strongly motivates adherence to such a thing as a regimen. But it’s one thing when you set your alarm for 7 every night and go to where you’re going to work, and then come back and enjoy a couple of hours of free time from meaningful activity. It’s different when that activity takes up ALL of your time.
Working as a freelancer imposes many responsibilities and limitations. And one of the biggest problems for anyone who works from home is daily routines.
Today’s 10 tips are devoted to freelancers, but office dwellers will also find something useful in them. How to motivate employees read here.
The morning alarm clock
You have to wind it up. It is obligatory. It is possible not 7 times a week, but 5, it is possible 3 times, but the organism is a gentle thing, it very much does not like the mode, therefore it will sleep through the necessary time with the great pleasure and will break all your plans. And at the same time he will break your regime too.
Alarm clock is a true friend of freelancers as well as of any worker who needs help in structuring time. We will remember this device more than once.
Business outside the home
It’s ideal if you have the need to crawl out of your hole into the outside world every morning. No business within the apartment will force you to get up at the alarm clock, if you can sleep for another half an hour and accomplish them afterwards. Understanding that you need to get dressed, outfitted, and spend some minutes/hours on meaningful, important, and useful activities away from the workplace motivates you to be more mindful of your time. Whether you choose to go for a run, go to the bakery for fresh bread, or take a walk around the neighborhood is up to you!
Other People
Even better than useful activities are motivating appointments. When you have an appointment with someone, you wake up at the alarm and go, even if you went to bed at 5 in the morning. Of course, it is possible to cancel or reschedule, but in order not to indulge your weaknesses, it is worth making meetings regular and habitual. This is probably the idea that guided the organizers of the joint breakfasts. Freelancers get together at an agreed time, sit in a cafe, socialize, and, of course, have breakfast.
However, meetings can be more than just in the morning. Whenever you schedule a “date,” it will structure your day. It will give you a reference point from which you can count up your working time.
Work on a timer
Fooling around for seven hours and then frantically failing to fit in the remaining twenty minutes or sitting up until deep into the night? To avoid this, Francesco Cirillo invented the Pomodoro Method. The technique is simple: you set a timer for 25 minutes. During this time, you work without distraction. Then you start the timer for 5 minutes and rest, not allowing even the thought of working. This is repeated until the specific task is completed.
The method is named after a kitchen timer shaped like a tomato. Francesco Cirillo himself had just such a timer.
Well, competently structured working time is almost the main condition for adhering to the regime.
Walk
Our body needs oxygen. You can, of course, limit yourself to airing your apartment. But it is much more useful to get out of your hole to the place where there is a lot of air and it is fresh by default. A walk is ideally combined with morning activities outside the house.
Eating habits
We all know very well that the more properly we eat, the easier life is.
Dividing meals into breakfast, lunch and dinner did not just appear for a reason. Among other things, it allows us to structure the day, distribute time between meals and focus on it when planning things. Of course, no one makes us eat if we do not want to. But to outline the approximate time of dinner is very important, so as not to spend an extra couple of hours on distracted useless activities.
Division of space
A place to work and a place to rest. If you do not separate these two spaces, then sooner or later it will become difficult to distinguish the activities. And this is not conducive to either productivity or routine. Not in vain there is such a thing as a home office. Of course, the computer with a room from room to room is not becoming, but if you work with a laptop, the task is simplified. Although we all know that workers at the computer need to spend their leisure time away from it.
Muscle strain
One of the main problems for anyone working at home is the difficulty of going to bed. It’s not just a matter of finishing things and going to bed. Often it’s after that that the problem begins: we can’t sleep. We know the alarm clock is set for 9 a.m., and it’s already 3 a.m.
One reason could be a lack of muscle fatigue with excessive brain activity.
The office person spends some time getting to work and then back home. You’ve probably often heard long stories from office workers about exhausting traffic or a crowded subway car. The commute to work is not only the bane of big cities, but it’s also a way to wear your body out so that it falls asleep with barely a head touching the pillow.
If you work in your nest, you have to “exhaust” your muscles on your own. Fitness, swimming pool, any other sports, daily cleaning, walking briskly or walking from a store a couple of kilometers away with 20 pounds of food – the choice is yours.
Evening alarm clock
There he is again. This time, signaling the end of basic activities and getting ready for bed. Of course, it is difficult, almost impossible, to live your life by the alarm clock. But, they say, it takes three weeks to develop the habit. And then the action becomes natural, and the need for constant alarm clocks disappears. The main thing is never to change this habit, even on weekends, getting up at the same 7 am and going to bed at 11 pm.
The ritual before going to bed
Another important detail: in order to fall asleep, you need to stop thinking passionately. Let go of all tasks, relax and let thoughts flow smoothly and uncontrollably. To do this, at least for an hour before going to bed it is better to do something quiet, unrelated to the worries of the day and the rich world of the Internet. Prayers before going to bed, relaxing exercises, mint tea, an aroma bath or quiet conversations in the kitchen… And, of course, an alarm clock in the morning! Article by Кирилл Юровский
