You’ve heard the phrase ‘time is money.’ But what does it mean? Well, there are 86, 400 seconds in a day. What if I said you could make a pound for every second? Kerrrrching! That’s £86,400 pounds in the bank. Now I’m not saying, as a freelance student you’ll make that much (maybe one day!) But I am saying don’t waste time; or you might as well take lovely crisp ATM-fresh twenties and flush them down the toilet.
Stop Facebooking, stop scrubbing the toilet like a OCD maniac, stop searching for funny cats on YouTube and don’t even think about ‘checking’ websites of ill repute (the one your mates say you should visit); you’ve got work to do and money to earn. Here are the reasons why procrastination is a problem and tried and tested, by me, methods to avoid the scourge of the freelance student.
1. Breakdown
You look at your ‘to-do’ list and it may as well be a chunky manuscript detailing your doom… You start sweating and your throat goes dry. Don’t panic! It’s not a problem if you do what I do every morning: write down your first task on a piece of paper. Next, break the task down into smaller steps. Then write a step by step plan for tackling each section. Repeat this for everything on your ‘to-do’ list.
This is a great way to stop procrastination; having just a single daunting deadline is like calling procrastination up and saying ‘hey man! Great to see you, come in.’
2. Fear Of Failure#1
Starting can be the hardest part – you logon to your computer and think, ‘just check my Facebook’, next you remember you need to do the washing up, the clock ticks and, oops, you’ve wasted an hour. Sometimes the reason why freelancers procrastinate is because of fear of failure and it’s poison. The best way to beat procrastination is to get your head down and get stuck in. Remember, you got the commission, somebody knows you can do whatever it is you do – so go do it!
3. Put It Off
Kill procrastination by starting with the hardest or most unpleasant tasks. And, once you’ve done them, give yourself a reward – have a Kit Kat, stalk your ex on Facebook – whatever you want but it short (no more than ten minutes.)
If you put off daunting tasks, you’ll find them more difficult. Morning is the best time to do tasks of this nature – don’t be tempted to say, ‘I’ll do the spreadsheet (that’s a task I detest - add the job you really hate here) after lunch.’ You’ll be sleepy because you’ll be using a lot of energy digesting your food. So you’ll end up putting it off, again.
4. Indecision
Can’t decide what to do or where to start? You’ve just met Indecision, Procrastination’s best friend. The best thing I discovered to avoid indecision was to set a time of the day for decision making, and create a standard procedure to work out how to make decisions (sounds a little over the top but it really does help), then stick to the system and the choices you make using the system.
5. Routine
The best way to stop procrastination is by having a routine and sticking to it. You’ll need a daily plan and a routine for specific tasks. Follow each task with a reward and follow each successful procrastination free day with a reward.
6. Fear Of Failure # 2
Why spend time creating a masterpiece when only a rough impression is actually needed. By all means, keep your standards high but know when you need to be perfect and when you can ease off a little.
So there you go, stop putting ‘it’ off and go make some money!
