Hi Friends,
I have a problem with time, in that I’m terrible with it. Legitimately. I tend not to be late for things, but that’s because I have a million alarms and alerts set on my phone to ensure I get where I need to be on time.
My problem is in estimating how long things will take me. I tend to grossly underestimate my time (or maybe I’m overestimating my abilities). When I guess that something will take me 30 minutes, it might take me 30 minutes, but more likely it will take an hour or three.
I’m a words person, not a numbers person and time is pretty much a numbers-based system. It’s not good for my head, I don’t think.
“I have to leave in 5 minutes and I still need to shower and get organized, but I definitely have time to write up this email and proof this article before I go,” is the sort of thing I think, and then wonder why I feel rushed all the time.
When I plan my day I’ll tell myself that everything will take about 30 minutes, whether it’s a 5-minute job or a 2-hour job. Of course, something rarely takes me less time than I think it will. It’s almost always that I estimate low and then fall behind.
This is terrible for freelancing because project costs are estimated based on how long the project will take. A client will come to me with a project that seems like it should only take an hour, so I’ll say I have the time for it, only to realize it’ll take me much longer than I thought it would. I’ll either get underpaid or overwhelmed with too much work in too little time (or both).
Planning my day requires an understanding of how long various activities will take me. I frequently have to-do lists that are 30 items long and predictably, by the end of the day, I’ve only crossed off 4 items. Then the same 26 items get carried over to the next day. And the next. And the next. It feels a little Sisyphean to continually be moving tasks from one day to the next.
That is until I started monitoring my time. (If this is familiar to you, you might remember Erin Ogilvie mentioning time tracking in her interview.)
Enter: the solution
A while back, I started scheduling my day and it has had a massive impact on my focus and my productivity.
I use a platform where I list all my activities and how long they take. As I begin each task, I start the timer on the platform and it counts down how long I have left to complete the task. When the timer hits zero a little chime sounds. I can then “complete” the task and move on to the next or add more time to the timer if I’m not done. If I get done early, great! I can complete the task early or I can use that time as a bit of a break or reset.
(Note: I have not been paid to mention this platform, which I will name below, nor have I been asked to endorse it, nor am I an affiliate for them. The platform is simply something I’ve started using that has worked well for me. Honestly, it’s worked much better than I could have imagined it would.)
By monitoring my time, I’ve become much more aware of how long each of my projects takes me. As a result, I’ve gotten better at estimating my time. Because the timer is counting down to zero, I have a deadline, so I stay more focused. My time spent distracted is way down. I’m also able to plan my day based on when I have energy and which tasks are the highest priorities.
The platform I use, which now has an app that I haven’t tried, creates a report so I can see how I spent my time and adjust my estimates accordingly. In the past, I might have started the day with a list of 10 items and assumed I’d be done in time for happy hour. The platform lets me see how I’ve laid out my day and what time I’ll finish if I do every item on the list for the amount of time allotted. From there, I can decide if I need to complete the entire list (and work until 6 pm to get it done) or put off lower-priority items until tomorrow.
And I can add little animal emojis to every task so they all feel a little whimsical.
What’s best about scheduling my day like this is I feel more in control of my time. I use the Notes app to lay out all my ongoing projects, their due dates, and their priority. Each night, I look at my list of tasks on my Notes list and then set my list of tasks on the platform to plan out my day.
If you find you’re terrible at managing your time or truly don’t know how long various activities take you, find a tool that helps you monitor your time and schedule your day. You may be surprised at how truly effective it is at keeping you on track and giving you time back.
(For the record, I use Llama Life, which was recommended to me. But there may be other apps and platforms that work better for you—I just wanted something simple and fairly inexpensive that added some whimsy to my day. Plus, that llama mascot is pretty cute.)
If you have suggestions for apps, platforms, or solutions that have helped you manage your freelance business, share them in the comments!
Here’s to your ongoing freelance success!
Heidi
If you have suggestions for apps, platforms, or solutions that have helped you manage your freelance business, share them in the comments!
As mentioned, to manage my time I use a combination of Notes and Llama Life, but I'd love to hear what other people use to manage their time.