Is Time management more important in freelancing than in salaried job!
Time management is become very important especially during this post-pandemic phase. Here are some quick bites, scenarios that people usually fall into with a bad time management (along with a small back story)
Ideally freelancing gives more freedom (as the term says)! You don’t have a boss upon you, it’s not needed that you login and logout on time, doesn’t need to be available as per other’s calendar, you are free and you have all the time in your hands!!
If you are already freelancing I hope you are already attaining it! If not, then this small post would help in sorting it out!
Freedom would be a myth if not worked out properly
Yes, freelancing gives freedom at all the aspects – time, location, choose clients, say No, choose projects you love, work breaks and so on.
But, we need to realise that, if not managed properly, there are many chances that all of the above mentioned freedom bites can be lost. The main reason behind that is, the nothing but the career which is freelancing. In which we tend to be free in every aspect.
So, even if running the things positively, overdoing the things will certainly throw us into loop without out even realising it.
The freedom that freelancing gives often tends the individual to not set boundaries and overdoes working on 3-4 projects at the same time. People run after multi tasking for paying bills or even for high monetisation. I have seen people working for 14-15 hours a day, nights, weekends, holidays to fulfil client’s deadline with no time for themselves or family. This even burns out the energy because of continuous hustle, too little rest.
This kills the freedom even more than that of the traditional job where we have scheduled calls, hours, only weekdays (at least 5-6 day week with a day weekend), fixed projects/tasks and so on!! At least I would say, in salaried job, time is managed decently by others on behalf of us 🙂
In Freelancing, while there are many killing aspects such as Overcommitment, Scope creep, Underpricing, isolation and so on, time management is one of the most important aspect that kills the freedom if not done properly and impacts other areas. Here are some problems that freelancers would face if not managed the time properly.
| Problem | Causes because | Result | How to avoid |
| Procrastination | Lack of motivation due to hard tasks | Poor Quality, Guilt | Plan and break tasks into small ones. |
| Working all the time | Fear of losing clients/projects | Destroys family/personal time | Setting clear working hours and sticking to them |
| Late night working | Delaying work until last moment | Health & Productivity | Schedule the tasks as per priority and work on high priority ones at day time |
| No time for learning | Belief’s that learning is not urgent | Skills become outdated, poor monetisation | Schedule certain time weekly (let’s say 1-hour!) |
| Scope creep | Not setting boundaries | Extra work load | Define deliverables. Maintain a template and keep updating it. |
| Projects Overlapping | Saying yes to everything | Overwhelmed, low-quality work | Use a project calendar or Grantt chart to plan commitments |
| No time for marketing | Too focused on client work only | You stay stuck with same clients, no growth, boring sometimes! | Like for learning, schedule 1-2 hours a week only for outreaching, personal branding! |
| Can’t say NO to clients | Fear of losing clients | Get buried by saying yes to everything | Pre-plan your capacity. Helps to know when and what to decline. |
| No breaks or rest | Burnout, low creativity, poor health | Schedule breaks like meetings, Use Pomodoro (25-5) technique |
These tips might save lot of energy and save from stressing out. I am sure many you might have faced similar/other many scenarios due to poor time management. Please comment them and also let know how you eradicated to gain back the control!
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