9 Productivity Hacks For Freelancers.

I’m sure you have your own way of doing things. From email management, writing weekly content, to providing 5-star work for your clients.

But when was the last time you did a self audit on your productivity?

Here are my 6 symptoms of an unproductive freelancer:

1. Distracted AF

2. Work all piled up

3. Missed some deadlines

4. Feeling fried & uninspired

5. Changing goals without direction

6. At least 1 client following up on you via DM (Are you still there?)

If you resonate with these symptoms, I’ve got 9 productivity hacks for you.

1/ Do goal-settings on Mondays.

I keep saying this but it sets the tone for the week. If you start with productive energy, you end with productive energy.

Take 30 minutes on Mondays and write down your goals for the week.

Be kind with your capacity.

Don’t overbook yourself with 100 tasks in one day.

2/ Set ‘productive hours’ everyday.

For starters, have the same set of hours through the week.

If you know you’re productive after lunch, then dedicate 1pm-5pm for deep work sessions.

It helps you do more in less time and establish a routine.

My productive hours in a nutshell:

• 10:00am - 1:00pm

• 9:00pm - 1:00am

3/ Classify tasks - high priority vs low priority

Tackle the urgent tasks first.

• High priority tasks = high value items to be done TODAY

• Low priority tasks = flexible

No time to do it today? Then carry them over for tomorrow.

Here’s what my daily task list for Monday looked like:

Tasks with an * before the checkbox are high-priority.

4/ Bite-sized for the win!

Sometimes we’re not productive because we get overwhelmed by hard tasks.

Break it down to smaller tasks.

For example, you want to create your freelance landing page.

• Big task - create a landing page

• Bite sized transformation:

  • pick out the website creator

  • outline the content and format

  • draft the info that the page needs

  • list down 5 Call-to-Action ideas

5/ Use Toggl

Okay, I might be biased but Toggle is my go-to tool for doing more in less time.

Because you see the time running in front of you, the more you’ll feel like there’s no time to lose focus.

Trust me, tracking your time does wonders.

6/ Turn off notifications.

Don’t let FOMO consume you.

Each time you get a notification, you’ll have that urge to click on it. The feeling’s all too familiar.

But it’s better to miss out on Taylor Swift’s latest Instagram story than miss out on your chance of staying productive, right?

7/ Fall in love with deep work.

If you time block and dedicate specific hours for deep work, you’ll end up doing more in less time.

The result? A more productive and happier you.

I’ve been deep working for 6 months now and I’m never not doing this anymore.

8/ Listen to your body if it needs a break.

Feeling a strain on your eyes?

Getting a nasty headache from too much screen time?

Take a short break.

Some people mistake productivity as work, work, work with zero breaks but that’s completely false.

The less importance you have for your wellbeing, the less productive you are.

9/ Inbox zero in the morning.

The first thing I do when I sit down on my desk is do my ‘admin work’.

I check my e-mails and aim for inbox zero.

This means categorizing my new emails into:

• action - emails that needs my further attention

• dealt with - emails that I’ve responded to

• references - emails for future use; aka golden nuggets

• archive - emails that i don’t need

This inbox zero strategy helps me stay focused throughout the day. No more checking emails every hour!

These productivity hacks are tried and tested by yours truly.

I do everything it takes to stay productive because I don’t have the stability of a 9-5 and I’m 100% responsible for putting food in my mouth and a roof over my head.

So if you want to see your freelance career soar into new heights, put in a little more effort on productivity.

Have an awesome week,

Francesca

If you’re new to freelancing, I made a free downloadable Notion checklist for you.

I also recently just launched 60-min 1:1 consultation calls on Gumroad.