You’ve finally made the change and ditched the daily commute. But now you have to get yourself together. No one is there to push you. Having zero motivation can be a real issue for all freelancers. This post is here to save you and gives you 9 tips to increase productivity.
Increase productivity
Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are ‘affiliate links’. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission.
#1 Develop a habit
Developing a habit for working from home takes time, consistency, and perseverance. Develop a habit by choosing to do one new thing that will help you to increase productivity. When this new habit becomes instinctive to do, then develop a new habit to increase productivity.
#2 Get inspired
Get inspired by listening to a podcast, reading blogs, and networking with people who inspire you. Inspire you to where you want to be both personally and professionally.
Get further inspired and motivated with these 5 podcasts for productivity
#3 Take regular breaks
Instead of taking the long lunch break, take short mini breaks throughout your working day. If you’re someone who after a lunch break is feeling sluggish and lose motivation to keep working, mini breaks are ideal for you. Schedule in a mini break after each big task you do.
#4 Exercise
To do exercise, you do need to do a full-on gym workout. Instead, do a little bit of exercise for 5 – 15 minutes. 5 – 15 minutes of a gentle walk, bicycle ride or do some home workouts. By doing exercises you can increase productivity by 72%.
#5 Remove Those Destractions
Working from your sofa can be hard to do. You’re in a place where you would normally watch the TV or mindlessly scroll through social media. Work more effectively by setting up a home office.
A dedicated space to your freelance business. Here are 3 ideas for your own home office.
Home Office Idea #1
Home Office Idea #2
Home Office Idea #3
#6 Be in tune with your body clock
Everybody has a different body clock, although there are 2 specific types of body clocks. Which do you identify yourself with?
- Night Owl
- Early Bird
Nothing is wrong with being a night owl, not everybody needs to be an early bird. You’re not lazy if you are a night owl.
Everybody needs to work when they are at their optimum time to focus on their work. When you work at your personal best time of day, you increase productivity.
This situation obviously, cannot always work if you have to work specific times. For example, once I worked doing appointment setting and I had to work specific times the client wanted me to do the phone calls. Long story short, it didn’t work out as I couldn’t work when I was at my best.
After all, we are running a freelance business. We want to be able to work the hours that we want to work. So, always check with your client if they have specific times of day they want you to work.
#7 Get Ready
Get ready and put yourself in the right frame of mind. When we go out to a job, we get ourselves ready for the day. We don’t turn up in our pajamas. No, we show up looking like a professional. You need to use this mindset for your freelance business.
Here are 4 quick tips on what you can do before you start working on your freelance business.
- Get dressed into an outfit that makes you feel good and professional
- Clean your face
- Do your makeup (even its just some foundation, mascara, or a bit of lippy)
- Sort your hair out and style it like your a boss babe
#8 Drink Water
Stay away from that coffee! Drink water instead
- Brain function
- Making your muscles stronger
- Hydrates your skin making it youthful
Most importantly by drinking water, you increase productivity which can only benefit your freelance business.
#9 Be Intentional With Your Time
Be intentional with your time by allocating specific time to do
- Replying and Sending Emails
- Social Media
- Marketing
- Doing Client Work
By being intentional with your time, you are more focused on the task at hand. Not being distracted by what’s going on everywhere else.
On social media, we are even more distracted with conversations and funny videos. Instead, you need to be on social media working it like a boss.
5 steps to help you work social media like a boss
In A Nutshell,
Even if you absolutely love what you are doing, there are times when you won’t. Using the 9 tips, you won’t just increase productivity but it will help keep you motivated.
You have provided some great tips here, I feel more focused when I have a bit of background noise like a podcast or music. Another great tip is to write a to-do list, I find this really increases my productivity! Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for reading the post, Kelly. Yes to-do lists are great to increase your productivity and I do loads of them.
You were totally on point with so much. I try to balance my work life and my projects (between them both, that’s my entire life lol), alongside jogging regularly. You mentioned “get inspired”, and I thought that was an interesting idea in relation to increasing your productivity. I never thought of it like that, and I certainly have been networking a lot more lately, and in the process, feeling inspired. Good post! Thanks!
Thank you so much Kade for reading the post. I am glad that you found inspiration from the post, it makes it all worth while.