1 00:00:00,600 --> 00:00:03,030 In addition to developing a proper workflow, 2 00:00:03,560 --> 00:00:07,650 one of the essential skill sets for a freelancer to develop is good time management. 3 00:00:08,100 --> 00:00:14,510 Let's take a step back from some of the more technical stuff we've been talking about—proposals and all—and let's talk about time. 4 00:00:15,330 --> 00:00:19,380 There are 2 separate areas of time management that are important as a freelancer. 5 00:00:20,360 --> 00:00:25,070 First, you have to manage your time efficiently when it comes to working on your projects. 6 00:00:25,790 --> 00:00:28,800 Then, there's time spent on non-project-related activities. 7 00:00:29,370 --> 00:00:35,740 Projects bring in direct revenue, and most freelancers don't have any problem dedicating time toward these tasks. 8 00:00:36,290 --> 00:00:39,380 It's the non-project-related activities that get neglected. 9 00:00:39,870 --> 00:00:41,780 While they don't bring in short-term revenue, 10 00:00:41,780 --> 00:00:46,780 they contribute to your long-term success and need to be considered on a recurring basis. 11 00:00:47,900 --> 00:00:50,400 The danger, when you work on your own and work at home, 12 00:00:50,760 --> 00:00:53,530 is that it becomes hard to compartmentalize time. 13 00:00:54,430 --> 00:00:57,350 Certain people tend to work all the time, which is unhealthy, 14 00:00:57,820 --> 00:00:59,970 and others tend to get distracted easily. 15 00:01:00,510 --> 00:01:04,849 Setting aside time strictly for work and knowing how to say, "I'm done for the day" 16 00:01:04,849 --> 00:01:09,600 will make you more efficient in getting your tasks done and you won't burn out so quickly. 17 00:01:10,200 --> 00:01:12,550 But how do you get better at time management? 18 00:01:13,030 --> 00:01:16,780 There are so many approaches that you can follow and plenty of books have been written on them. 19 00:01:17,220 --> 00:01:21,520 We're going to look at some of the ways you can get a start on how to handle your time. 20 00:01:22,500 --> 00:01:24,620 Start by being goal-oriented. 21 00:01:24,870 --> 00:01:27,830 If you start your day without a specific objective in mind, 22 00:01:28,290 --> 00:01:31,380 then you're going to just work on tasks as you remember them. 23 00:01:31,930 --> 00:01:35,430 This won't help at all when it comes to delivering the final project on time 24 00:01:35,430 --> 00:01:39,290 and making sure things fall into place when you need them to. 25 00:01:39,700 --> 00:01:43,360 The best way to tackle this is to start a project with high-level goals. 26 00:01:43,970 --> 00:01:49,980 If you created a timeline like we did earlier, then you have milestones that you need to hit at the end of each week. 27 00:01:50,400 --> 00:01:54,260 Take a weekly milestone and break it down into specific daily goals. 28 00:01:54,840 --> 00:01:57,120 Now, you don't have to do this for the entire project at once. 29 00:01:57,750 --> 00:02:01,650 At the end of each week, set your daily goals for the following week only. 30 00:02:02,110 --> 00:02:06,650 That way, if things change and you need to accommodate, you are flexible enough to adapt your goals. 31 00:02:07,860 --> 00:02:14,130 Having a goal that you are working toward will make it much easier to stay focused until that specific goal has been accomplished. 32 00:02:14,910 --> 00:02:19,970 Once you have set goals, you can become even more efficient by setting deadlines on these goals. 33 00:02:20,710 --> 00:02:23,230 If you followed our plan and started at a higher level, 34 00:02:23,230 --> 00:02:25,580 you probably already have these deadlines in place. 35 00:02:26,120 --> 00:02:32,240 Now, that's great. Set deadlines on your daily and weekly goals as well, and you will get things done much faster. 36 00:02:32,950 --> 00:02:36,460 The key is to have a good balance between flexibility and efficiency. 37 00:02:37,200 --> 00:02:42,260 One of the reasons you probably branched out into freelancing is because you wanted your own flexibility. 38 00:02:42,260 --> 00:02:45,660 Don't shy away from this—the deadline is there as a reminder 39 00:02:45,660 --> 00:02:48,460 that if you want to deliver the project on a certain date, 40 00:02:48,970 --> 00:02:54,060 these are the dates and times you need to hit to get your work done and keep your client happy. 41 00:02:54,170 --> 00:02:58,440 If you miss a deadline, don't work late into the night or work on the weekends. 42 00:02:58,440 --> 00:03:02,720 This gets us to our next point: Have a set ending time. 43 00:03:03,350 --> 00:03:05,470 Don't be tempted to work longer than you want to. 44 00:03:05,940 --> 00:03:11,090 You may think that working late into the night and delivering the project faster will get you bonus points, 45 00:03:11,090 --> 00:03:17,000 but there are 2 reasons why this won't work—actually, there are plenty of reasons, but we'll just go over 2 points 46 00:03:17,480 --> 00:03:22,060 First is the law of diminishing returns. Now, this is a concept borrowed from economics. 47 00:03:22,800 --> 00:03:26,900 To explain it very simply, the longer you work, the lower the quality of your work. 48 00:03:27,420 --> 00:03:32,460 Your brain will get tired and you won't be producing your best results if you work 15 to 18-hour days. 49 00:03:33,390 --> 00:03:37,070 The client may be ecstatic that you delivered earlier than expected, 50 00:03:37,590 --> 00:03:41,140 and that's great, but the next time, they will expect the same results. 51 00:03:41,820 --> 00:03:45,340 If you work normal hours and take a few days or weeks extra, 52 00:03:45,340 --> 00:03:50,160 they're going to be unhappy that you're working slower, based on their past experiences with you. 53 00:03:50,600 --> 00:03:53,030 So avoid all these situations. 54 00:03:53,500 --> 00:03:57,760 If you're being goal-oriented and producing quality work, but consistently missing deadlines, 55 00:03:58,230 --> 00:04:01,240 that doesn't mean you should be working longer or faster. 56 00:04:01,790 --> 00:04:05,310 It probably means that you didn't set realistic deadlines to begin with. 57 00:04:05,930 --> 00:04:08,470 Take notes about how long it takes you to finish tasks 58 00:04:09,050 --> 00:04:11,870 and use what you learn to set more realistic expectations, 59 00:04:11,870 --> 00:04:15,190 both with yourself and when communicating with the client. 60 00:04:16,339 --> 00:04:21,070 Finally, understand your time. We're not great at every single thing, and that's fine. 61 00:04:21,589 --> 00:04:27,220 Working to become more efficient with our time management means not only utilizing our time better, 62 00:04:27,220 --> 00:04:29,940 but also understanding where we waste time. 63 00:04:30,400 --> 00:04:33,020 Certain activities take us much longer to complete 64 00:04:33,020 --> 00:04:36,350 and we can compensate by allocating more time to those activities 65 00:04:36,790 --> 00:04:40,540 or educating ourselves on that activity to become more efficient at it. 66 00:04:41,290 --> 00:04:45,400 Roughly track your time on each activity to get an idea where you can improve. 67 00:04:45,970 --> 00:04:48,350 Be as granular as you want to be. 68 00:04:48,350 --> 00:04:50,220 Now, I'm not asking you to punch in and out of work, 69 00:04:50,600 --> 00:04:53,000 but if that's the kind of day that you want, go for it. 70 00:04:53,940 --> 00:04:56,900 As you get better at managing your time and understanding your workflow, 71 00:04:57,190 --> 00:05:00,390 you will start to learn how to group tasks to be more efficient, 72 00:05:00,390 --> 00:05:03,100 and form good habits as a result. 73 00:05:03,100 --> 00:05:07,970 Another tip to keep you focused is to take breaks often—as paradoxical as that sounds. 74 00:05:08,220 --> 00:05:13,660 Now, I prefer the Pomodoro Technique and it works great for me, but it may not be the best for you. 75 00:05:13,980 --> 00:05:17,250 Understand when you're starting to get stressed or mentally fatigued 76 00:05:17,250 --> 00:05:19,750 and take a break to get you back on track. 77 00:05:20,400 --> 00:05:22,490 If you want to know more about the Pomodoro Technique, 78 00:05:22,490 --> 00:05:26,330 check out the Quick Tip I made in the link provided below. 79 00:05:26,570 --> 00:05:29,850 Incorporating what we have learned about project workflow and time management, 80 00:05:30,320 --> 00:05:33,430 we should be able to get a good grasp on how to work on projects. 81 00:05:34,160 --> 00:05:37,090 But that still leaves us with non-project-related activities. 82 00:05:37,440 --> 00:05:39,560 Let's figure out how to tackle those next.