Freelancer Time Management: 3 Common Mistakes

The ability to manage your own time is a valuable skill for any freelancer. In the presence of professional qualities, competent time management works wonders. And vice versa – no matter how talented the performer is, he will never achieve success in freelancing if he constantly puts off all things for later, works in fits and starts and only by inspiration. Time is a valuable resource and should not be wasted thoughtlessly. All freelancers know what a pleasure it is to look at the to-do list at the end of the working day, in which all the tasks are completed. This means that everything is done according to plan, you have no tails and you can go to rest.

For a freelancer, time is as much a tool as a computer, fast internet, or software. They need to know how to use it correctly. Freelancers often make the mistake of believing they have more than enough time. They do not have a clear work schedule, so they can complete the task at any convenient time. This is a big mistake. Fluctuating work schedules, lack of a clear plan, and misplaced priorities can lead to failure in freelancing. Time management must be taken seriously, otherwise the freelancer will constantly live in stress and worry about unfulfilled obligations and deadlines.

There are several time traps that freelancers can fall into. Each of them takes precious time and reduces productivity. And an unproductive freelancer is a poor freelancer.

Trap One: It only takes one minute

There are a lot of simple things that can get you out of your working rhythm. For example, the performer needs information on work or needs to contact the customer. And he only communicates through the social network. And here the freelancer cannot resist the temptation to flip through the feed or chat with friends, exchanging a couple of funny memes. Entering the social network for a minute, the performer notices that he has been stuck for an hour and a half. As a result, he lost a lot of valuable time that could have been devoted to work.

How to deal with it? In order not to fall into the trap of time, you need to know your weaknesses. Understanding that viewing a message on a social network will take a lot of time, agree with the customer that you will get in touch at a certain time. And do not be afraid that he will not understand. Explain to the client that ad hoc communication interferes with work and increases the project time.

Be sure to plan your working time – combine everything that distracts you into a common temporary case. The main part of the work should be done at the most productive time of the day for you, and during this period the freelancer should not be distracted by anything. This means that you need to work according to a plan in which a certain time is allocated for each stage of the project. You need to plan for breaks. Try to work with a timer. And if you stick to the schedule and set realistic goals, then freelancing can achieve a lot. Gradually, the freelancer will understand how much work he can do in an hour, if not distracted. This will help with further planning.

Trap two: I have to agree

Freelancers are often distracted from their work. It can be friends, acquaintances, family members. Eliminate all distractions to be productive. Since remote workers work from home, they are often distracted by requests from their families. Since it is impossible to refuse relatives, they often postpone the task until later. After that, they fall into a trap – the freelancer fell out of the working rhythm, the head stopped giving out creative ideas, and the enthusiasm disappeared somewhere. Once distracted and all – now you need to start over.

What to do in this case? Remember that freelancing feeds you. But besides this, you need to devote a lot of time to everyday life, relatives and friends. In this case, it is better to make a schedule so that there is enough time for everything. The family should understand that you should not be distracted from work or only in emergency cases.

Trap Three: Planning Isn’t Inspiring

Since the profession of a freelancer is creative, you need inspiration to work. Sometimes this can take a long time. Most freelancers believe that too much planning will kill the creative spirit and turn an interesting activity into a boring one. This is a big misconception. If the performer is creative enough, then competent time management will only help to properly structure the workflow. Inspiration doesn’t have to wait, it can be planned. It sounds strange, but it really works.

Initially, any freelancer has the ability to create, create and think creatively. Therefore, he must know when he works best. Some people need to get up early to catch a creative impulse, while others start to get creative towards the end of the day or at night. And this means that you need to work only when the freelancer can concentrate on the work process as much as possible. Over time, a freelancer will get used to working according to a plan and inspiration will visit him on schedule. Perhaps there will be no crazy creative insights, but the creative mood will be present in the work all the time. Consequently, the freelancer will become more efficient and productive.

Perform an experiment to verify this. For example, plan in detail the next 2-3 weeks – every day, hour by hour. Just do not take on an unbearable load – it should be a regular job and a familiar life without increased obligations. At the end of the working day, conduct an analysis – determine what was achieved according to the plan, and what needs to be adjusted. The thing is that some points of the plan can interfere with the creative process, so they need to be rescheduled for another time or completely removed from the to-do-list. The main thing is not to retreat and not to give up!

And very soon you will realize that working on a schedule using the secrets of time management is very simple and productive. And you can apply all the methods of proper planning on the freelance exchange Author24. The site has many projects for freelancers of any direction: copywriters, designers, content managers. You can withdraw funds in any convenient way, and the level of earnings often exceeds the amount of income in the office. Therefore, take this opportunity – apply all the secrets of effective time management on the freelance exchange Author24 and make sure that here you can earn many times more than in a traditional job.

When, after many sleepless nights, the diploma is finally ready, I want to pass it and forget it. But the university will not lag behind the student so easily. After all, the full text of the diploma was read only by the supervisor, and a whole commission will gather to evaluate it. Therefore, in many respects, his assessment depends on how a student defends a diploma.

So what is a successful defense?

  • Competent protection text
  • positive diploma review
  • confident answers to commission questions

In the introduction to the course it is necessary to indicate many important points. One of them is methodology. The student is required to indicate what methods he will use in the study of the topic. This is not the easiest task, and often students cannot cope with this task themselves. In this case, you can contact us. Our experts will write you a paper of any complexity, and you can discuss the price with them personally.

In the introduction to the course it is necessary to indicate many important points. One of them is methodology. The student is required to indicate what methods he will use in the study of the topic. This is not the easiest task, and often students cannot cope with this task themselves. In this case, you can contact us. Our experts will write you a paper of any complexity, and you can discuss the price with them personally.

In the introduction to the course it is necessary to indicate many important points. One of them is methodology. The student is required to indicate what methods he will use in the study of the topic. This is not the easiest task, and often students cannot cope with this task themselves. In this case, you can contact us. Our experts will write you a paper of any complexity, and you can discuss the price with them personally.

In the introduction to the course it is necessary to indicate many important points. One of them is methodology. The student is required to indicate what methods he will use in the study of the topic. This is not the easiest task, and often students cannot cope with this task themselves. In this case, you can contact us. Our experts will write you a paper of any complexity, and you can discuss the price with them personally.

Speech structure

Of course, what exactly to say in the defense depends mainly on the topic of the thesis and on what exactly is written in it, but there are general recommendations that are suitable for everyone.

  • First of all, we need to greet the members of the evaluation committee. (“Dear members of the attestation commission! Your attention is presented to the final qualifying work on the topic …”)
  • Introductory part. Here you need to reveal the topic and identify the issues that are raised in the work.
  • Relevance of the topic. At this stage, it is important to prove the relevance of the chosen topic and the degree of its development in other people’s works. Indicate the subject, object, objectives and purpose of the study.
  • Theme disclosure structure. Here you just need to list the paragraphs that are in the work and briefly describe them.
  • Problem statement. To confirm the relevance of the topic, it is necessary to state the problem and indicate debatable opinions on this matter.
  • Conclusions. At the end of the speech, the commission should hear the conclusions that the student came to in the course of writing the diploma, in which there are ways and methods for solving the stated problems.

On the one hand, it seems that it is much easier to write a graduation speech than the diploma itself. However, high-quality speech is a skillful squeeze out of the work, as well as its competent presentation. And it often happens that a diploma is written with the highest score, and a student gets a worse grade. Therefore, if there is a lack of self-confidence, you can order a speech on our website. And then the probability of failure due to bad speech will disappear. After all, we give a twenty-day guarantee for the work, and if something does not suit you, you can demand that the author finalize the order for free. We make sure that students are satisfied, so if the final version of the work does not meet the stated requirements, you will get your money back.

Formal requirements

When writing a speech for a thesis, you must also take into account that there are purely formal requirements.

  • Time. Do not forget that there are many students, but only one commission. Therefore, the time for a defensive speech is regulated and ranges from 5 to 7 minutes. At the same time, you should remember about the time that will be spent on commission questions.
  • Intonation. Where, no matter how on the defense of a diploma, is it important to win over listeners? Therefore, it is better not to read the speech monotonously, making accents with intonation.
  • Style. When presenting a speech, it should be remembered that the main goal is understanding on the part of the commission. Therefore, you should not be too smart, but you can’t switch to colloquial speech either. In this matter, you need to observe the golden mean.
  • Pronouns. As in the diploma itself, it is important to remember during the defense that although the author of the diploma is clearly spelled out, there are a lot of true owners of knowledge reflected in the work (the authors of all the sources the student relied on plus the supervisor), so first-person pronouns are not appropriate here.
  • Questions. After the end of the speech, questions from the commission will inevitably follow, and you need to be ready for them. Suggested questions should be written down in the course of writing the thesis, work through all the questions that arose during the pre-defense, and you can also look at the questions at the end of chapters from textbooks on this topic.
  • Pre-protection. In such a matter as defending a diploma, it is better not to be presumptuous and neglect pre-defense. On it, you can practice giving a speech and write down possible questions from the audience. This will allow you to feel more confident in the official defense.

Of course, these are only recommendations, and no one forces you to strictly follow them. However, the rejection of some positions during the defense will create additional questions from the certification committee, which is not always loyal. Therefore, it is best to think through all possible questions and answer them in advance in a defensive speech. Then the teachers will have a minimum of questions, and they will be grateful for the saved time.