Feeling a little drained? That’s not uncommon for busy freelance professionals. We have so much that needs to get done. Usually by an insane deadline. (No wonder we drink so much coffee!)
But…
“It’s not what we do that makes us tired,” says Steve Chandler in his book 100 Ways to Motivate Yourself. “It’s what we don’t do.”
You see, as freelancers, we’re often juggling multiple tasks and projects at any give time. In your business, for example, you might be brainstorming ideas for a client project… preparing for a teleconference call… dealing with vendors and partners… planning a prospecting campaign… updating your website…
All in the same day!
So it’s easy to have a lot of things started, but nothing finished. And all that unfinished business can make your energy drain faster than Triple Sec at a cocktail party!
What’s the solution?
Here’s a simple technique that works very well.
Each morning, as you review your schedule and plan your day, pick one or two things that you are absolutely committed to finishing. It doesn’t have to be a major project. Even something that takes just a few minutes, such as clearing away the stacks of papers on your desk or brainstorming three ideas for a client project.
Each time you complete a task or project, highlight that accomplishment in some way in your schedule or planner. If you use a paper system, mark it off as “done” with a bright yellow highlighter. If you use an electronic system, use the bold or highlight features to do this.
Then, when you feel overwhelmed and your energy begins to fade look back over the past few days and notice all the things you’ve got done. This will give your energy level a significant boost.
I started doing this myself several weeks ago and I’ve noticed a real difference in my overall oomph and productivity. Because I can see the progress I’m making I don’t feel as easily overwhelmed or discouraged.
“What you’re doing,” explains Chandler, “is building a track record that proves you’re a finisher.” This keep you energized, even when you have lots to do.
You already know that finishing a task or a project feels great. Finish something, anything, each day and you can have that feeling all the time!
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Great suggestions, Steve. What I find most helpful / motivational is to knock out as many of the smaller projects as I can first thing in the morning. It’s an extra boost if I can tackle a larger project or two as well.
Just looking at a long to do list first thing in the morning – and see it dwindle in half (or more) by mid-morning is something I find extremely helpful for my frame of mind.
I have a white board mounted in my office – lots of sections as far as the info I have up, but relevant here – I have an overall to do list with deadlines for the upcoming week. I draw a box next to each item and check everything off as I complete it. I’ve also got a daily to do list (with an hour by hour list) that I try to follow as well. It’s great to see the items get checked off as you go.
Do you keep your completed lists? Mine gets erased daily/weekly… I wonder if having old items to look back at might be more motivational, as you say with the planner or electronic to do list, etc.
I use Post-It Notes to write down my “to-do” list almost every day. You know, I tried all those electronic to-do list programs, and they were more trouble than they were worth. It took like 30 seconds to open a new entry, type the entry in, decide on a background colour, decide on the order… and then to strike it off the list you need to do it all over again.
Low-tech is the way to go. I write the date at the top, list the things I need to do, and stick it to my monitor. Takes about 30 seconds to do the whole thing PLUS I get the joy of striking off the task with my own pen. And my tasks are always right there in front of me so I don’t have to find that program running in the background…
BTW Steve, I think you’re showing your age here. Not much call for Triple Sec anymore — or cocktail parties for that matter! (‘Course I’ll show *my* age by saying I don’t know what the hell the young’uns have substituted it with, though I suspect it has something to do with fizzy shooters and rap music…)
Great post!
~Graham
I myself use a white board like Selene – but I use it to track projects and as a ‘parking lot’ for ideas that I want to glance up at and think about from time to time. I’m also with Graham when he says low tech is the way to go. When it comes to planning my day, I’ve tried it all – and even became very proficient using MS Outlook and all its features like Tasks, Projects and Categories, etc. But, I have to say, I’ve never been more consistently productive than this year, when I switched to using a pretty low tech process of using a standalone Excel spreadsheet, marked out with half-hour increments, to plan my day. Personally I’ve found that when it comes to time management, simplicity is paramount… if something is simple it’s much easier to do it consistently.
I’ve always been a list maker. I keep notepads everywhere in the house. My main one right next to my laptop. I love scratching off items with a big OK in red to make myself feel better about accomplishing items and removing them from the list. I do have a slight problem in prioritizing though. Skipping around the list to what might seem a lttle more convenient at the time seems to work better for me.
I’ve recently hit upon a motivational strategy that I’ve never seen anywhere else, but works for me. It’s this: rather than make a “To Do” list, I keep a “Done” list. I find I’m usually well aware of what I need to do and/or am stalling about completing. Rather than look at a depressing list of things that need to be done, I like looking at a blank page and filling it up with things I’ve actually accomplished, big or small. It’s a simple tweak on an old technique, but wow–it’s worked wonders for me.