Boosting your productivity as a freelancer is critical if you want to increase your earning potential. After all, if you can finish a project in half an hour rather than in one hour by using a few simple techniques, you could use the time saved to work on other projects for more money.
In order to help you increase your earning power, here are some tips you can implement into your work process to solve your productivity problems and get more done during the workday.
Tips to Help Freelancers Fix Their Productivity Issues
1. Use The Pomodoro Technique
Do you really want to boost — perhaps even double — your productivity as a freelancer? Try the Pomodoro Technique.
Here’s how: Work on your project for 25 minutes minus any distractions, take a five-minute break and, following four sessions, take a longer time-out of, say, 30 minutes.
What the Pomodoro Technique is supposed to do is teach you the art of single-mindedness so that you will concentrate on the task at hand and resist the urge to engage in time-wasting things like checking out your social media messages or watching online videos.
You’ll start by focusing on work for 25 minutes. And you’ll do this knowing that you’ll have the chance to do what you want thereafter, albeit for a brief period. Then, after four rounds of this work-and-break method, you’ll get to enjoy a longer break to do whatever you want.
While there are apps you can download to practice the Pomodoro Technique, you can easily time the work-and-break sessions with a timer on your smartphone.
2. Use Checklists
While the idea of using a checklist might not seem to be all that innovative, a checklist will help you to boost your productivity. And, best of all, it’s simple.
Whether you want to create one on a notepad or you want to use a checklist app on your mobile device, it’s easy to get started.
So, if you’re working on a project, use a checklist to list various parts of the project that you need to complete before submitting it by a deadline. As you complete each task, tick it off.
You’ll find that the checklist keeps you focused so that you can get things done fast and to exact specifications.
3. Smartphone Apps
While there are some sources that question whether smartphones can indeed boost worker productivity, there are reports that demonstrate that there can be benefits.
For instance, a survey by Samsung and Frost & Sullivan that focused on 500 managers and executives at businesses in the U.S. has some interesting findings. By using smartphones, people gain 58 minutes of work and 58 minutes of personal time each day and experience a 34% productivity boost.
Now, obviously, smartphones could potentially sap your productivity if you’re always checking your email accounts, instant messages, and social media updates. But they can also be useful to your freelance practice given the wide array of apps — productivity, time management, and more — that you can make use of.
4. Keep Your Smartphone Powered Up
A smartphone can definitely increase your productivity as a freelancer, but you need to ensure that your smartphone battery doesn’t die on you when you’re out and about.
You can reduce the odds of your device shutting off due to lack of battery power by doing the following:
- Use auto-brightness adjustment;
- Run an ad blocker;
- Stay in air-conditioned spaces if your phones has nickel or lithium-ion batteries;
- Disable GPS;
- Avoid push notifications; and
- Avoid quick-charge options.
If you follow these tips, your smartphone will be the productivity-enhancing device that it most certainly can be.
5. Turn Up the Volume
Do you listen to music when you work? While there is some disagreement as to whether or not it can help, there does appear to be some evidence showing that listening to music can be helpful when doing tasks that are repetitive in nature.
Part of the reason that music can help productivity when doing repetitive tasks is that it can boost satisfaction and put the listener in a better mood. And happy workers are more productive workers.
So, if your daily grind includes some repetitive tasks, consider experimenting with the music on your playlists to see whether or not it puts you in the right frame of mind for productive work.
By implementing these productivity-enhancing recommendations, you can get more done with the time allotted. And this, of course, will allow you to earn more money for your efforts.