After my first layoff in 2016, I spent a week sitting in front of my computer, staring at Twitter, not entirely sure of how to handle this mass of time in front of me.
I’ve been freelancing for a decade. Whether it’s been after a long day at the office or when I moved to working for myself full-time. Organizing my time efficiently hasn’t always been easy.
When babies come into the picture, the lack of time for work diminishes to nearly nothing. But if we didn’t work, we didn’t get paid. Which meant any time not taking care of a baby meant caring for clients. Self-care, on the other hand, was drastically low on the priority list.
Now a few years into working from home full time, I’ve got a decent handle on how to make sure I’m using my time as best as I can. Here’s a few of the best ways to maximize productivity working for yourself at home.
1. Set phone times (and then ignore it)
I’m in a handful of group texts where we all respond when we can. But most of my friends and family don’t have their own business, so when they pick up their phone at work, it’s a distraction. When I pick up my phone, I’m losing money.
Most mornings I turn my phone and computer on Do Not Disturb. I don’t even want to see the alerts pop up, so I turn my phone over while I’m at my desk. It stays that way for about four hours. Around lunchtime, I’ll check my phone for updates.
This isn’t a hard-and-fast rule. If loved ones call me, I answer it. And when I set interviews, I’m on my phone. But when I have my mornings to hustle and write, I make sure they go as uninterrupted as possible.
2. Work when you feel most productive
I get the hardest assignments done first thing in the morning, but it’s not the only time I work. For most in-office workers, that afternoon lull is only the beginning of their spiral out of productivity. For me, I measure my productivity differently: in the mornings I’ll write my articles. In the afternoons I’ll respond to emails, set up interviews, check new leads, and handle things that might not require as much brain power dedication as writing an article.
This also fluctuates. Sometimes articles take a full day to write, or an hour. Sometimes I write one over the course of a few days. If the topic is particularly cumbersome, I like to take breaks. That way I continue to go into it with a fresh perspective.
Your most productive time might not be at 8 a.m. like mine; it might be at 9 p.m. Whatever time it’s at, arrange your schedule so you can work at your optimal time. I tend to get another surge of creative energy from 8:30-10 p.m. so I often written a few articles in a day.
3. Leave the house
Sitting at your desk, all by yourself, every day, can be exhausting, tiresome, and lonely. Even for the most secluded introvert, having some personal interaction can be helpful. Even if it’s simply being around them and not talking to them.
If I’m feeling buried and need some air, I head to my library. I’ll usually give myself a goal, like complete an article or reach out to editors, to complete before I leave. This makes me feel accomplished and better about leaving the house.
If you can’t leave your house, try just leaving your desk. Move to the couch or the kitchen table. Sometimes just a shift in scenery can change your productivity levels.
4. Procrastinate productively
When you’re avoiding work, it’s easy to pick up your phone, check the ‘gram, catch up on Twitter, and go down a YouTube black hole. Before you know it, two days have passed and you can’t remember if you’ve showered.
Then when you check your bank account and see it’s empty, you wonder where your time went. I get it – sometimes you just don’t feel like working. But what can you do instead?
If I’m not in the mood to work, I clean. Sometimes I can’t work without cleaning something very important to me. Usually it’s sweeping and mopping. Other times it’s doing the dishes. Every so often I’ll prep dinner because I’m worried I won’t have time to later. It varies.
The point is to do something that is still helpful to you when you aren’t working on work. That way, you aren’t wasting all of your time when you’re not getting paid.
5. When work is over, stop working
For awhile, the saying was when I wasn’t working, I wasn’t making money. And that’s technically still true. But in my mind, I had to always be working. And it wasn’t healthy.
I made myself believe that I needed to be doing something for work at all times when I had the chance. But I could tell that my work suffered and my editors weren’t happy when I was rushing through projects. They were sloppy and disorganized — and I pride myself on my organization and reputation.
Recently I shifted to stopping work when I was done. I want to have time for my family and myself, and I notice my work is better when I work on both of those things.
Giving myself a break when my work was done made me a better worker when the time for work came. It also made me a better parent. Devoting time to its proper place was invaluable to my productivity. Now I feel like I’m even more ahead on my work and the quality is better than ever.
What’s your one trick to maximizing your productivity?