It has always amazed me that things usually all come at once. One month you actually have not much to do, the next month 10 really fun jobs come your way. My freelance life always went like this, and just when I thought “it will never be okay again, no one wants to book me” a week later assignments came rolling in one after another and I could hardly handle the work. I still don't know why that is, but I have since gotten quite good at dealing with it.

At least, good enough. I can still be overwhelmed by stress panic attacks and then can't see the forest for the trees. Right now, for example, it is very busy at Amayzine, I am also working on a big project and I am going to New York for a week on Saturday and then a week to Canada. That means: working ahead and organizing a lot and that means stress.

I am nowhere without lists. Not only with daily to-dos, but also with a weekly planning. I write down all my deadlines and then calculate back how long I need for them, and then schedule those hours in. At the moment, besides my work for Amayzine, I have another project running, and I do that in the mornings before I go to the office, in the evenings, and on the weekends. But you really have to plan that well, you can't say “yes” to all social things and you have to choose. So yes to that birthday on a boat, but not to that dinner the next day.

I am very bad at that, but it is important. I can really calmly be busy with 15 things at once for three hours like a headless chicken, which means that at the end of the ride I come to a halt panting and out of breath. Work through the things on your list one by one and try not to be tempted to still do that other thing.

Especially when you work as a freelancer, it is very difficult to say no to jobs, because you never know when the next one will come, so every invoice counts. But taking on too much is not good for you, but also not for your client. So sometimes say no, no matter how hard that is.

In times of great busyness I always look forward to the day when it will be over, and work towards that. This can also be a huge pitfall because with a somewhat busy job it never gets quiet and that causes disappointments and panic because “it never stops” but for me it always works quite well.

I always find that sounds very sticky but it is important. I am writing this on a Sunday and all my friends are on boats, lying on beaches, or hanging out on the terrace all day. I have a shitload of work to move but I don't do that inside, but on my sun-drenched rooftop terrace. It feels like being free while I am still working, and that is the best of both worlds. So treat yourself. Buy something nice, order delicious food, blow off steam in a spa, or park your laptop in the sun.