Are you productive, or just busy?
As a freelancer, it makes good sense for you to review each day's work.
Just for a few moments at the end of the day, look back at what you have done, and ask yourself…
"Did I either maximize my billable hours during the course of the day, or did I take an action that will lead to significant income in the future?"
If the answer to both of those questions is no, then you may find you have been busy, but not productive.
There will be exceptions. There are hours and even days that need to be spent on administration, taxes etc. There may even be days when you deliberately choose to take it easy, if and when you can.
But most of your days should be devoted to working billable hours, or taking steps to secure future income.
This sounds obvious. But we are not always being productive, even when we think we are. We may have had a "busy" day, but that isn't the same as having a productive day.
Being busy without being productive can be a symptom of a number of things.
- Lack of clarity about your goals
- Spending too much time on low-value clients
- Being inefficient in how we administer our freelance business
- Spending too much time on unproductive networking
- Organizing and spending our time inefficiently
- Marketing our services in a cumbersome and unproductive way
- Feeling depressed about some aspect of our business
The list goes on and on. But the most important thing is to identify WHY we are busy, but not productive.
Once you have figured out the "why", you can then take steps to remedy the situation.
That's why I always suggest that freelancers put aside a few moments at the end of each day to conduct a quick mental review.
And don't think this is a minor issue, it isn't. I can think of periods during my own freelance career where I more or less "lost" months at a time. During those times I still made a decent income, but wasn't nearly as productive as I should have been.
What were my problems? In hindsight my biggest issue was a lack of clarity about my goals, which meant I spent too much time chasing off in too many different directions.
What keeps YOU busy and prevents you from being productive?
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