Freelancing Mistake #1 - Staying Busy, but not Productive
The Daily Productivity Question
As a freelancer and entrepreneur, every day I ask myself the same question:
Am I staying busy, or being productive?
It's so easy to use up the time in front of my screen reading emails, responding, following links, checking my favorite blogs, perusing Twitter or Facebook, and before I know it, it’s almost lunchtime. Some of these are blatant time-wasters, but some are a little trickier to categorize.
What about reading blog posts related to your career? Certainly this is important, but is there a limit to the value it provides? Am I a better freelancer because I spend 2 hours a day reading blogs as opposed to 30 minutes?
Of course, for every person, this is going to be a different amount. The key here is to ask yourself the question: How much is enough?
Challenge: Eliminate What Keeps You Busy
Here's the first challenge to kick off our series:
Ask yourself what you can eliminate from your day that keeps you busy, but doesn’t add to your actual productivity.
- What blogs can you stop checking so regularly?
- What email lists should you unsubscribe from?
- What websites should you limit to off-work hours?
Tips to Keep Time-Wasters in Check
Here are a few ways I've tried to keep my time-wasters in check:
- Use RescueTime (free) to track my computer’s activity and grade my productivity.
- Plan each day in advance, stating around 2 key productive accomplishments for that day.
- Reflecting at the end of the day, what worked today, what didn’t?
- Sending weekly goals to a friend or accountability partner.
Like I said at the beginning of this email, this is something that I struggle with every day. I’ve even gone so far as to send myself a reminder via my phone three times a days asking if I’m being productive. It’s just too easy to feel productive when really I’m just filling my time.
What’s next?
So now that we’ve taken a look at how we spend our time, keep your eyes peeled for our next email in this series where we share the one little trick that took us to six-figure freelancing.
