It’s a Freelancing Miracle!
In my post Extreme Productivity in early August, I talked about how I had my husband change my password to a time-suck writer’s forum and I downloaded a free Firefox extension called BlockSite to block other distracting sites. For a couple of days my fingers itched to type in those web addresses, but then the urge passed and I’ve been happy without these distractions.
Fast forward to a couple of days ago: I said to myself, “Gee, I’ve hardly been working. I need to start hustling.” But then I realized that I had plenty of work: Due in September I had four blog posts (about 500 words each), eight pages of website copy for a corporate client, a Writer’s Digest column, a short article for Muscle & Performance, a feature article for a major women’s magazine, and a profile for Antioch University. And yet, although I made good progress on these deadlines, I took off three days last week. That’s right — I worked only two days last week.
That’s when it hit me: Normally, I would have ass in chair for several hours each day — but that didn’t mean I was working that entire time. I would often click away from an article in progress to one of those distracting websites. What I didn’t realize was how much time I must have spent doing that, as I got done in two days last week what would have taken me a whole week before I blocked the time-sink sites!
Wow, this is an amazing feeling. To think that one simple change has boosted my productivity so much.
This week I’ll be working three days. I always worked fewer than 40 hours per week before, but now I’m putting in even less time. I’ve been using my newfound free time to go to the park with my husband and son while the weather is nice, meet up with other moms for lunch and coffee, hang out with our new exchange student, exercise, and generally relax.
As I also mentioned on this blog, I’ve made a vow to no longer take on assignments that have red flags and to stop working with clients that treat me badly. I haven’t had the opportunity to turn down any PITA clients yet (because none of them have approached me), but just knowing that I’ll only be writing for clients I like compounds the great feeling I have from gaining so much free time while still earning full-time income.
Here’s your challenge: Determine where the time-sucks are in your work life (Internet? TV? eating? sleeping?) and think of tactics — even extreme ones — to get your time back under control. What will you do this week? [lf]
If you liked that post, you might also like:
Sep 7, 2009 Advice, Ass, Observations, Personal yammerings, productivity
It’s the websites for me, too. So. Many. Websites. And I have 12 chapters to polish up in the next six weeks for the interested agent. Which is a task I’m not sure I’m up to, given the house, the kids, the husband, the volunteering….which is all the more reason the websites must go!
I made a similar discovery during the icestorm last December. After having no power for 5 days, I drove to a nearby town (with power) to access the wireless at the library. I buckled right down to work, and got a lot done before my time was up – and then I sat looking at the keyboard for a moment, thinking, “What’s missing here?” Oh, yes…the four hours of typical timesuck, spent noodling around online.
I have to remind myself of this periodically, and break up my routine with a day or two of Work Only web-access, to recognize how much time I am wasting. For me, it’s a slippery slope!
I sooo hear you on this one! A week or two ago I made myself agree to limit time spent on some of my own time wasters. For example, I won’t let myself read others’ blogs until my own posts are ready for the day, or I won’t go to my favorite forum more than once a day in the morning (I help moderate it, so I won’t wipe it out completely). Those little changes made a huge difference. I’m supposed to be finished with work by noon each day, but was finding myself stuck working into the afternoons and evenings. Once I cut back on those time wasters (didn’t realize before how much time they were taking up), I found myself finished by around 10am. The first day I literally sat there twiddling my thumbs not knowing what to do with myself. It’s an awesome feeling to be more productive and get things finished earlier than expected.
It’s so, so easy to get sucked into fun, time-wasting sites … darn it! Because, you know, they’re FUN. But, yes, the antithesis of productive. I try to turn my wifi off from time to time so that I can’t visit distracting websites, but since so much of my writing is done on blogs and such, that doesn’t really work very well (grin). Helps, though.
I second the issue with the websites: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr … etc. I still want to keep my accounts & visit these sites, but I have to find a way to be more disciplined & only do it when I’m done with all my work, or during a particular 30-minute break during the day. Maybe the BlockSite extension is just what I need?
I’d be an unhappy woman without my timesucks. Should I stop coming here?
This is so true, I’ve stopped using a few websites just as you did and realized how much of my time was going down the drain. But new sites (and old ones too) inevitably creep up on me. Even if it might be ‘pseudo-work’.
Congratulations, Linda — Wow! Of course, what most people don’t realize is that you’ve always been amazingly productive. I’ve learned a lot from you.
So…necessity is the mother of invention. Now that I have a full-time news reporting job, I have to find the time to freelance on the side, while still being a mom, etc. I used to procrastinate on setting up interviews. Now I try to set them up as soon as I get an assignment, and work as early on a job as I can, knowing my time is quite limited. This allows me to fit in more work without being completely insane. And be working hard early in the process, you can identify obstacles, places where you need more information or more interviews, etc., before you’ve written that first draft. So it’s not just extra quantity, but better quality. You can really maximize your per-hour wage AND impress clients this way! (And I, too, have let go the time-suck writer’s forum; I hardly ever look at Facebook, and I spend a minimum of time on Twitter and the Internet in general. It helps immensely.)
Elaine
Thanks for your comments! Elaine, I also start setting interviews as soon as I get an assignment. It helps a lot.
Star, RW is not a time suck…it’s an invaluable professional resource! ;->
Yes, oh, Linda…I will come here… LOL.
I hear you loud and clear – I have so many fave bookmark sites that I use to escape work and procrastinate. Granted alot of them are helpful and very frequented but in the long run, I doubt they are productive. Thanks for being so candid. I’m glad I’m not the only one who struggles with digital distractions.
It’s called research! OK, so maybe I slack off from time to time. I shall take on this challenge. Goodbye, FaceBook and World of Warcraft.