An important advantage of being a freelancer is the fact that you are paid depending on how much you are working; a lazy freelancer may gain enough money to keep himself alive while another may allow himself holidays in exotic places to avoid the temptations of the summer. Each day I try to be more efficient while each freelancer is pushing him to the limits to evolve and become a real professional. This is pretty normal, but there are plentiful moments when the will power is very low and nothing can bring it to a satisfactory level. However, when the Sun is up and all people are going to picnic, can somebody stay and work? Not me…
In the Northern hemisphere summer is coming (or it is even here) and this can be a real threat for every person who works; a sunny atmosphere definitely isn’t ensuring the certain conditions of a full working day. During winter time there are enough pleasant things, which can make someone neglect the work but nothing can be compared with the sunny days, enjoyable weather or laying on the beach. Unfortunately, the living style of any freelancer depends on what projects he accomplishes, so we can establish a very simple logical enhancement: the more and powerful the temptations are, the less money is gained. The beauty of life consists in enjoying all these temptations; as a consequence the solution is a fine balance between work and pleasure (isn’t it, it is very simple to write this statement but to apply it, is a completely different matter…).
The bad news is still coming, there is no treatment against losing your will and determination to work and any method of fighting against it is case specific, it can either work for an individual or fail for another. In spite of this, there are some tips which seem to offer solutions to combat low power will caused by the sunny days!
1. Establish Clear and Realistic Deadlines :
A good indicator of the efficiency is to establish clear, realistic and short-run objectives. Embracing this manner assures a good control over the workload, while the checkpoints prove your productivity; much more, studying your most efficient hours of work may offer a better approach of scheduling the projects.
It could happen sometimes to encounter very difficult tasks and thus being unable to respect the deadline set; pay attention that repeating these unwanted situations may affect the optimism and this is a disastrous effect. Once again, set up your deadlines realistically!
2. Motivate Yourself in Order to Respect the Deadlines and Finish the Project Awarded :
Having well defined deadlines is very good, but it could be in vain without respecting these. A freelancer should always motivate himself to do so; each abandoned deadline is nothing more than another step to disaster. Across time, during one’s freelance career one is expected to know or at least to have an idea about how to stimulate one to work; it is simple, this really worked for me, and I would buy a new sci-fi mouse if only I finish the project in time. From the first time I saw the mouse I wanted it no matter the price so the temptation of the new tool was bigger than staying outside in the sun or watching a movie.
3. Make your Breaks Sources of Inspiration :
Maybe we aren’t aware of it, but human beings are very limited when it comes to working efficiently and breaks are necessary aspect, these are as important as the working periods. The difference between a successful freelancer and a less competent one is the manner of handling these, while the first one takes advantages from them, the second one is dreaming about another one. Anywhere in the nature are sources of inspiration and psychical refueling, the big problem is to use them. My personal advice: use smartly any break and keep their temporal length under control.
4. Try to Focus More on Your Work in the Working Time:
Apparently the previous tip and this are seemingly contradictory, but they are in fact complementary. It is highly recommended to avoid worrying throughout any relaxation time (which theoretically really means this) and instead enjoying the moment. On the other hand, it doesn’t mean that new ideas can’t be conceived when going on a trip. Imagine that in a trip can impress with so many panoramas or interesting images, which you need to “take home” and camera is the best tool to help with that.
5. Make the Work Space More Enjoyable:
Mostly you want to break out from your office because outside are more temptations, but how about inversing this? An enjoyable workspace is another strong point which can make someone resists the summery provocation. It depends on the personality of each one but a small change in the décor may have an energizing effect.
6. Try as Much as Possible to not Work in the Hottest Hours of the Day :
The majority of us are molted by the sunny days and no one can work. A solution to avoid these hot hours is to schedule the working periods in such a manner to avoid when the sun is shining at his peak. Enjoy the day and work in the night, not a much-recommended solution, but somehow realistic…
7. Be Optimistic in the Temptations of the Summer:
All the tips above may be in vain if the last one is ignored, life and work are more nicely when we are regarding these optimistically. Definitely, it isn’t a big deal if someone misses a deadline; the problem is when it is turning into a habit. Any bad move shouldn’t be a source of frustration; it is a sign that we, the freelancers, are still human beings not cyborgs ready to accomplish any web project.
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You have written a wonderful post mate,yuppee.