Setting your own schedule and working from home is one of the big perks of freelancing.
No more epic commutes or even needing to get out of your PJs to start work. It’s not all rainbows and #likeaboss unicorns though. When you’re totally in charge of your own time, new challenges present themselves. Like a million distractions hijacking your work day.
We don’t just need to get a handle on the way we distract ourselves…
Me: I’ve got like a thousand hours of work to do and all these deadlines.
Also me: I totally need to take this quiz to find out if I were cheese, what type would I be?
… It’s also dealing with friends and family who seem to think working from home means you’re available any time.
When I began freelancing from home, I struggled to deal with interruptions during the day from other people. It really began to bust my productivity. I realised I needed to put some boundaries in place around my working hours in order to minimise time sucking interruptions.
Communicate And Keep Set Working Hours And Break Times
Being able to choose your own working hours is a big plus for freelancers.
While the flexible hours of the freelancing lifestyle are great, I’ve found it to be most beneficial for myself and my family to keep the same set hours where possible.
12pm – 1pm is my usual break for lunch, another break around 3.30pm and I try to wrap up by 6 pm in the evening.
Not only does this help keep me focused, consistently keeping this schedule clarifies when I am available during the day and when I’m working. My husband also works for himself, not at home but he is often home during the day between jobs. Getting really clear about my working hours has helped resolve the earlier frustration I’d feel when he’d arrive home and kind of just expect me to be available to chat, have lunch or help him with something.
Say ‘No’ To Requests And Favours
Sometimes working from home leaves you open to requests for favours during the day from family and friends. They assume it’s easier for you to pick up something from the shops, drop off a delivery or collect them from the airport.
You need to be assertive in saying “No” without any guilt.
Respect and honour your working hours as if you were under the eagle eye of a boss who wouldn’t say yes to you taking an hour out each day to run errands for everyone.
I’m also careful about accepting lunch invitations or coffee catch ups during my working day. Unless you keep to a tight schedule, these things can quickly end up sucking up an entire afternoon.
It’s also a good idea to mention if you’re working on an especially pressing deadline that day and reiterate you can’t have any interruptions. On those days, it might mean taking off to a café for a few hours to laser focus and plough through the work.
Use Noise Cancelling Headphones And A ‘No Interruptions Please’ Sign
You can’t spell out more clearly that you don’t want to be interrupted by hanging a sign on the door of your home office or desk.
Even small distractions add up. Research from a UC Irvine study showed refocusing your efforts after even a single interruption can take up to 23 minutes.
A sign might sound a bit over the top but I’ve frequently done this on days when I’m in the thick of working on an article.
Writing on a whole range of topics from natural skincare to moving out cleaning, I need the portion of my day I schedule for client writing to be uninterrupted. Otherwise, the time it takes to write even a simple article can really blow out. As I charge a set rate per project, this directly impacts my bottom line.
Noise cancelling headphones are also a great investment. Even if things get rowdy at home, pop them on block everything out. Super handy if you’re working from a cafe or public space too.
Spell Out The Cost Of Distractions In Dollars
When it comes down to it, the bottom line is this; dealing with too many distractions limits your income.
Family time is important obviously, but so is paying the rent, mortgage, bills and putting food on the table which is your job as a freelancer during the hours you set for yourself.
You can help your partner or family to understand the cost of unscheduled interruptions by breaking it down to a dollar figure.
For example, say your hourly rate at $40 for freelance work. If each day you’re taking an extra hour to have a long lunch with your partner or run errands for someone just because it’s ‘easier’ for you to get to the shops than them, that’s $40 per day.
$40 per day x 5 days a week = $200 a week.
$200 x 4 weeks = $800 a month.
$800 a month is a pretty hefty price to pay for random distractions and requests.
It’s taken a little time for my family to understand that just because I work from home doesn’t mean I’m accessible any time but I’ve found these strategies have really helped.
Using these techniques hasn’t just help me communicate my boundaries with family and friends, they’ve increased my own focus and productivity too.
So has avoiding online quizzes about the type of cheese I am.
“The opinions expressed by BizWitty Contributors are their own, not those of BizCover and should not be relied upon in place of appropriate professional advice. Please read our full disclaimer."
