Don’t get me wrong — I love what I do, and wouldn’t trade it for anything. But sometimes, I find myself envying people with 9-to-5 jobs. Things just seem so much simpler for them! They get to clock in and just work, without worrying about things like billing, organizing, marketing, pinging current clients, searching for new clients …
On good days, of course, these are all things I find rewarding and even fun (well, mostly fun). But there’s one thing that comes and goes, which makes doing those tasks much harder than it should be: motivation.
Every day, it is my intention to get up at a decent hour, to sit at my desk and work for a certain number of hours, to send out a number of job applications and cold emails every week. But I’d be lying if I said that I always achieved those goals. Especially when work is slow (and since I’m in my first couple of years of freelancing, it’s often slow), the snooze button seems more and more tempting, a walk around the neighborhood seems like the perfect way to clear my mind, and job applications feel like a pointless shouting into the void.
That said, I’ve been dealing with the temptation to slack off long enough that I’ve gotten pretty good at ignoring it. In fact, I have seven tried and true methods when it comes to getting my motivation back on track.
Set Deadlines
I talked about this last month in my blog about beating writer’s block. But it’s a good trick for motivating yourself to do anything related to freelancing.
Since you’re (essentially) running a business, there are going to be a lot of things you need to do that you don’t necessarily have clients breathing down your neck for — in fact, there are some things, like billing, that they’d probably be happy to let you forget.
If you don’t have a due date for all of these essential but self-imposed tasks, they’ll sneak up on you and overwhelm you. And being overwhelmed is the number one cause of losing motivation — at least for me. When it seems impossible to do, giving up begins to feel like a valid option.
So, I don’t let it get to that point. I start every month by scheduling the big things — billing, certain monthly tasks, etc. Then at the beginning of every week, I review my deadlines and decide what I’ll be working on.
This way, I always know what I have to do — which is the first step in getting motivated to do it.
Use Apps
If all of this scheduling and staying on top of things sounds a bit overwhelming, apps may help.
Personally, I’ve never found a to-do app that beats my paper-and-pen planner. But out of all the apps I’ve tried, I like Remember the Milk the best. It’s simple and easy to share with other people on tasks you want to collaborate on.
When it comes to billing, I know a lot of freelancers who swear by And Co. Personally, it was a bit involved for what I wanted it for, with a lot of bells and whistles that I didn’t need (although I think it will work great for some people). I prefer HoursTracker, which is a much simpler app.
At the end of the day, every freelancer is different, with different needs. And, for me, half the fun is researching apps or things that can make my life a little easier. Finding a new way of doing things is energizing, which helps me get my motivation back when it lags.
Get Rid of Bad Habits Slowly
I’ll admit something: when I write these blogs, I often feel a little like I’m in a job interview. I’m very aware that this might be a potential client’s first impression of me. So it feels very, very counterintuitive to admit this: I’m not perfect.
Like anyone else, I have some bad habits. And when I decided to pursue a freelance career seriously, I tried getting rid of all of them at once. I was going to become a model worker, overnight. You can probably guess how well that went over.
I burnt out and didn’t pursue any freelance work for a good month.
These days, I still have some bad habits — I have been known to be a bit generous with the snooze button, and while I’m good at getting bills out to clients on time, I’m not so great at keeping personal records of what I’m making.
But looking back on where I began, it’s easy to see how much I’ve improved. I don’t procrastinate anymore, and while I sometimes oversleep, it’s an occasional thing instead of the norm, and it’s only until 9:30 or 10 am instead of until noon. I am a pro at making phone calls — which used to terrify me — and I know when to reach out and ask for help or clarification from a client — which I used to be too proud to do.
When I see how far I’ve come from where I started, it motivates me to continue bettering myself. Which motivates me to keep working! I’m hoping that by the time the end of 2017 comes around, I’ll be the perfect worker I wanted to be from the start.
Learn a New Skill
If you feel like you’re stagnating, this is a great thing to do.
I love picking up a new skill. Most of the time I like to learn by experience — for example, when I put together this site, I learned how to put together a WordPress site! (Granted, I used a wonderful pre-made code to do so, but a lot of work still went into it).
I also try to connect with as many people as possible. Learning from people who were once in my shoes is a great way for me to avoid their mistakes. And most people are more than willing to help.
There are easy ways to pick up on new skills, too! I’ve heard wonderful things about SkillShare and plan on trying it out for myself soon.
Learning a new skill is a great way to motivate yourself. When you learn something new, you want to be able to put it into action.
Chat with Other Professionals
This is how I motivate myself specifically when I’m feeling down and overwhelmed.
Being a freelancer isn’t easy. A lot of us are isolated, so when we’re feeling like we don’t know what we’re doing, it’s easy to feel like we’re the only ones in the world who can possibly know what we’re going through. Which simply isn’t true, of course.
I like to chat up other freelancers because it reminds me that we’re all in the same boat.
A great place for me to do this is r/freelancewriters. The people there are all super friendly and willing to lend a helping hand to newbies and experienced freelance writers alike.
There’s probably similar subreddits or message boards for you to chat up people in your industry.
And if all else fails, my email is always open!
Decorate Your Office
If you don’t have an office space, you should start by making yourself one.
For a few months, I worked from the couch. I found that I wasn’t being as productive as I could have been. It was hard to get into the working mindset when I was sitting in the same place where I took my afternoon nap.
Then I moved to the kitchen table. It was a little better, but it made me more hungry than motivated.
I finally moved to an old desk we had in the guest bedroom. We got rid of the ancient desktop that was sitting there (no, really, it was Windows 95), and I decorated it with little gifts from friends along with practical things (my planner, a notebook, etc).
When I sit at my desk, I know this is a place for work and only work. And since it’s my space, I’m able to decorate it however I want! When I’m feeling bored or unmotivated, I clean up or get myself a new candle or organizer to keep things fresh.
Know When to Give In
So, there are plenty of ways that I avoid the various distractions around me. But, sometimes, giving in and taking that nap or going for that walk can be more motivating than anything else.
After all, there’s a reason I’m not in a 9-to-5 job. I love having the freedom to work on my own terms. And, sure, sometimes giving in and taking an hour or so off means that I’ll have to work a little later in the long run. But it also means that I can come back to the work with a fresh outlook.
So, whenever I find myself wanting to take a break, I ask myself:
- Can I afford to take this break? (i.e. no pressing deadlines, expected calls, etc.)
- Do I think it will make me more motivated instead of less?
If I can answer yes to both of those questions, then I go ahead and do whatever distraction is calling to me. And knowing that I have the freedom to do that whenever I want can sometimes be the most powerful motivator of all.
