The 5 biggest enemies of productivity for freelancers

1. FREELANCER TIPS The 5 biggest enemies of productivity for freelancers More freelancertips on www.freelancermap.com...

2. Enemies of productivity • Do you ever feel like 24 hours a day are not anywhere near enough? You eat, sleep, do mundane but unavoidable tasks like cleaning, doing your laundry and buying groceries. You answer emails, wait for people to pick up the phone. Where did the day go? If you often ask yourself this question, you are probably, like so many people out there, looking for the Holy Grail of productivity. • The truth is, there is no recipe or sentence or article or even a book that will make you productive with a snap of the finger, it is all up to you. But it doesn’t hurt to think about how and why your productivity suffers and then trying to improve on those things. Here are the five biggest enemies of productivity that most of us know all too well and some suggestions of how to act against them.

3. 1) Distractions • Distractions is a broad term, and everyone has their own personal things that slow their work down. Your kids, your pets, the countless fun, quirky and informative sites on the internet and more. Distractions are not a bad thin per se, but there is a time and a place for everything. So the easiest way to avoid them is to have a strict schedule that tells you when distractions are OK and when you should focus on your work. Stuff like the Pomodoro technique, where you take a five minute break for every 25 minutes you work can be helpful to many people. Try it out, it might be just the thing for you!

4. 2) Wrong priorities • Setting the right priorities is vital to being productive. You must think about what is really important and what isn’t. It can be very tempting to do all those little things that are not necessary, but make you feel productive. Make a list with priorities, from most to least important, and put it on your desk. Assigning a corresponding amount of time to them can help you focus on what really matters.

5. 3) Not taking enough breaks • Having a time out can be just as important as actually sitting down to work. I often find myself spending hours on something and realizing that it could’ve been done much faster, had I gone about it the right way. You need some time to clear your head and focus, so make sure you take those breaks.

6. 4) Refusing to delegate • Freelancers are especially prone to this. You build up your own business and are used to handling every single thing by yourself. But as you take on bigger projects and grow, you will notice it gets increasingly difficult to keep doing that in a productive manner. Don’t be afraid to hire someone who can help you out. Whether it is on the actual work, only an element of it or something like accounting, taking a load off your shoulders will allow you to concentrate on the big picture.

7. 5) Fear of failure • The fear of failure can be crippling and horrible. What if they don’t like your application or the work you do? The difference between not doing something because you are afraid and actually doing it is that the latter has a chance of success. Yes, things won’t always work out perfectly. But mistakes are something we can learn from and get better at our jobs as a result.

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