It has always surprised me that things in general all occur at once. One month there’s not much to do and a month later all of a sudden you have 10 fun assignments on your schedule. My freelance life was like that. Just as I was thinking: “This is it. No one is going to book me”, a week later the orders started rolling in, one after the other, so many I could hardly cope. Why that is, I still don’t know. How to deal with it is something I have learned.
Pretty well in fact, if I may say so myself. I can still be caught off guard by a stressful panic attack and get flooded. Like now it’s very busy at Amayzine, I’m working on a big project and I’m leaving for New York this Saturday followed by a week in Canada. That means: working ahead and lots of planning and that equals – stress.
MAKE LISTS
I am nowhere without lists. Besides my daily to-do’s I have a weekly planning. I write down all my deadlines and work out how much time I need for them, then I plan my hours. Aside from my work at Amayzine I’m working on another big project, I work on it before going to the office, after work and in the weekends. But it requires planning, you can’t say yes to every social event you have to take your pick. So yes to the birthday on the boat but no to the diner the next day.
ONE THING AT A TIME
I’n not very good at this but it is important. I manage to run around like a headless chicken keeping busy with 15 tasks at once with a total breakdown waiting for me at the end of the line. Manage your tasks one by one and try not to get distracted by thinking I’ll just do this in between.
BE REASONABLE
As a freelancer it’s difficult to say no to an assignment because you never know when the next one will come in. Every job is a paycheck. But taking on too much isn’t good for you nor for your employer. It’s hard to do but sometimes you just have to say no.
LOOK AT THE FINISH LINE
In busy times I always look at the finish line and work towards the day after. This can be a pitfall, with a busy job you never reach it and this will only cause panic and desperation for it will ‘never end!’. It still works for me though.
BE NICE TO YOURSELF
Sounds a little gooey but it matters quite a lot. I’m writing this on a sunday and all my friends are out on boats, beaches or hanging out on a cafe terrace. I have a shitload of work to do but don’t plan on doing it indoors, I’m out on my sun kissed rooftop. Zo it feels like free time while I’m working, the best of two worlds. So give yourself a treat. Buy something pretty, order good food, go to a spa or park you laptop somewhere sunny.
