Make December 2024 you grateful to December 2023 you
Two things you should be planning for next year, if you aren't already
Hi Friend,
So here we are, at the end of the year (if you’re a pessimist, based on the glass-half-full analogy) or at the start of a new year (if you’re an optimist). This is a time when every old-school freelancer pulls out the next year’s calendar, looks at all the shiny, empty, unmarked pages and gets excited about the possibilities ahead.
It’s also the time new-school freelancers pull up their computer calendars and start typing in their goals and dreams.
I’m torn between the two worlds. I loved having a physical calendar I could flip through, but I don’t love the implications for the environment. Some days I give in to nostalgia by wandering through the local Calendar Club store that opens in the mall from November to January and picking up the day planners to get a whiff of that “new calendar smell.” Side note: Even Calendar Club recognizes that physical calendars are on their way out, so it now offers board games, stuffed animals, and cards. I’m not sure how I feel about that.
Prefer to hear this article? Listen to my “podcast” version of it instead. It’s attached at the bottom of the article.
In December, we mighty freelancers pull out the imaginary crystal ball to peer into the future and forecast what we might be capable of pulling off in the next 12 months. We break the year into quarters and set revenue goals for ourselves. Like an overworked single executive who’s relearning the meaning of Christmas in every Hallmark December movie, we stare reflectively out windows while orchestral music plays in the background.
We contemplate what went right, what could be improved, and what makes us want to crawl into bed and binge-watch Suits. (Confession: I wish I ran my business with the power and confidence of Jessica Pearson, but I think some of the things she says to people wouldn’t be legal in the real world.)
We imagine future us being grateful to present us for taking the time to plan and strategize the year to come.
Amid all this planning, thinking, and reflecting are two very important activities that typically don’t get included in our thoughts for the upcoming year: vacation time and professional development time.
We don’t plan the activities that move us forward
There’s a weird, almost contradictory reason for this: freelancing is highly flexible—we can take our vacation time any time. We can also engage in professional development when we feel like it. But because our schedules have the flexibility of an Olympic gymnast, we often put off vacations and professional development because “there’s always next month.”
Faster than a reality TV star finds drama, a few years have gone by and we still haven’t taken so much as a week off. We tell ourselves we have flexibility but then put ourselves in a position of never taking advantage of it. There’s always one more project for us to take on, one more client demand. We worry we haven’t given our clients enough notice, or our business might fall apart without us, so we may as well just keep working.
We tell ourselves we’ll plan our vacations around our work, but that’s almost impossible to do. Instead, we need to plan our work around our days off.
That starts with scheduling our time off.
We need professional development to grow in our career but we rarely plan or budget for it. And so it gets put off and we never get around to it. The days are too long and we don’t have the energy to add anything else to them, so professional development gets pushed aside, like the runner-up in a beauty pageant. Then we become stuck, and our business stagnates.
And we wonder why.
It’s a mindset thing
Freelancers work best with deadlines—the projects we focus on are those with set due dates. “It’s not important if it’s not in the calendar,” is the message our brains have.
If we don’t give ourselves “vacation due dates” or “professional development deadlines” we push them off like a low-priority project. But as soon as we set dates for those activities, they become more tangible for us. We take them seriously and we’re more likely to take the necessary steps to make them happen.
So what do you do?
This December, when you’re thinking about 2024, include your vacation time and your professional development in your calendar and budgetary planning.
For your vacation
Decide how many weeks off you want next year and schedule them. That’s right, now. Choose your dates and put them in the calendar. Block them off. Look at the whole year. Do you want a week off in each quarter? An entire month off in the summer? Six weeks split into two-week segments?
If you need to coordinate with someone, have those discussions now. You don’t necessarily have to decide what you’ll do on your time off, but you need to figure out the dates now and hold yourself to them (you can make minor adjustments as needed, but otherwise, act as though those dates are set in stone).
From there, you can plan to give your clients notice, work ahead, and take any other steps you need to ensure your time off actually happens.
I’ve been there, friend
After a few years of taking no more than a long weekend off, I set my vacation schedule in December for the upcoming year and I held myself to it. It was glorious having actual, multiple weeks off. And guess what? My business didn’t fall apart, and my clients didn’t lose their minds. I planned months ahead and gave clients notice of my days off, worked to ensure there were no loose ends that would need tying up before I left, and left a clear out-of-office email for anyone who reached out to me while I was gone.
For your professional development
Set goals for things you’d like to learn or change over the next year. Do you want to better understand SEO? Do you want to learn more about a particular niche? Is there a service you want to include that you aren’t comfortable with yet? Research courses, find out when they’re offered and how much they cost, and include those in your budget. If you don’t currently have the money for them, now is the time to start saving.
Note the dates in your calendar. If the courses have open enrollment (that is, you can enroll any time) set a deadline for yourself to enroll and to complete the course. Put it in your calendar.
Both professional development and vacation time are important to our success, but we rarely include them in our planning. Now is the time to start.
Feel like connecting? In the comments share one place you’d love to visit this upcoming year or one area you’d like professional development in.
Here’s to your ongoing freelance success,
Heidi
One place you’d love to visit this upcoming year or one area you’d like professional development in.
In 2024, I plan to learn more about content strategy and quiz funnels, because those are areas I want to move more into. I’ve already signed up for professional development on content strategy and am currently researching courses on quiz funnels. By the end of 2024, I want to feel confident offering both services to clients. I’ll let you know how that works out.