THE SECRET TO FREELANCE PRODUCTIVITY
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Do you do yoga, meditate, journal, exercise, work on the cure for the common cold before you even contemplate opening your inbox at 9am?
No, of course not.
This writer will always steer away from the term ‘hack’ but I’m sure we can agree that the internet is overloaded with ways to boost productivity.
Far too many listiscles are quick to throw wildly unreasonable suggestions to ‘tackle’ your mornings, your to-do list, your inbox etc. What these don’t take into account is that in order to function as a human we must eat and sleep. And none acknowledge the one, arguably most palatable, thing that they all have in common; routine and structure.
Despite being found to consistently outperform office workers, remote working is still seen by a few as a means to get the washing done, go for a long lunch and still finish early. Add an hour of actual work thrown in there and maybe the odd Slack message just to somewhat prove your presence.
If you hire terrible employees, that may well be the case. However, a good freelancer will get in tune with their ways of working and this is the part I find endlessly fascinating.
Two fellow freelancers I know couldn’t be more different.
She’s a night owl, preferring to let her creativity flow into the early hours and is no stranger to the odd midday lie in. He’s an early bird and routinely gets his best work done between 6 and 8am, and really, don’t bother asking for anything after 3pm because he only has a head for admin in the afternoon.
While a very small insight, I think it’s a good example of the breadth of ways that working and achieving productivity are changing.
And throw as much as you want at it; routine and structure will always be there. That, in this writer’s humble opinion, is the great secret to productivity.
