How I Plan My Working Week
Since I have evolved as a freelancer, my work schedule has started to go by in weeks rather than individual days. Because often times, I don’t know what I will be doing for the day until I wake up and check my inbox. During my 9-5, I would plan what to do the next day when I came into work at the end of the workday. These days, if I get to do plan what I would be doing the next morning the night before, it’s fantastic.
So after plenty of bumming around, and trying to navigate through this whole work from home thing, I’ve finally settled on a pattern that works best for me – the block method. This is actually very close to the timetable system we all probably in school. Okay. Before you mock me, hear me out. It genuinely works. Or at least for me. My days are so hard to predict, so I've let them passively roll over me and eventually running around like a headless chicken instead in the past. That's why I gave myself a structure over the things I can control instead of waiting around on work. One thing that I really longed for during my 9-5 was to have a really good balance between work life and my identity (watch movies, journal, cook, workout). Then, I started working from home and since I love what I do and it’s no longer work, I lost myself because I was working 24/7. Balance went out the window.
So here are some of my cardinal rules to max out my efficiency/productivity.
1. The golden rule of 3
I stick to no more than 3 major tasks in a day – this doesn’t count stuff like cooking meals. Things that make the list are work, and things like book of the week (not the actual reading per se, but the review I post on Instagram. Because I want to take the time to absorb what I have just consumed instead of mindlessly going through it all). Nor would I write something like “think of title for blog post, write blog post, export to Wix, publish”. It’s just “(date)’s blog post”.
2. Time Tasks!
When I have eventually figured out from my messages about what I need to do for the day, I quickly set a realistic time frame for each task – a blog post would take 2 hours, a specific data analysis takes 3 hours, etc. This way, I try to stay within the time frame as much as possible. Also, when I allocate time frames, I start to realise how little time I have to laze around. This is where my brain goes from “Meh. Let’s procrastinate” to “Oh I have to get things done.”
3. Balance
Equal respect and time allocation go to movie of the week, journaling, and gym. Just as much as work. If say a friend can only meet on Friday, I rearrange my schedule to work out on that Thursday or Saturday instead. I don’t put it off for too long, nor do I compromise. I know – this can be all words because if you have been following me on Instagram, you know I’m not the best at this with books. But you get the idea.
4. 10-15 min rule
When I start on a task, I usually give myself around 10-15 minutes to get into the groove of it. I have a bit of a starting problem. Once I’m in the zone, I’m IN the zone which is why I work in bursts but it’s really hard to get in the zone as well. This is especially the case in the morning which is why you may have noticed, my day actually doesn’t start until 1030. 9 times out of 10, I’ve usually managed to come around and focus on the task. For the 1 time, I simply pack up the task (as long as it’s not time sensitive) and move on to something else. I don’t try to fight the reluctance too much because why waste time forcing yourself to be productive when you can actually try and be productive at something else, right? Sometimes, this is something as simple as straightening out my room. Just to give myself that “boost” from having had things done.
5. Ride the wave
You guys know I struggle with my mental health. And on some days, it’s hard to feel inspired, it’s hard to feel motivated and it’s hard to do anything. This year, I’ve learned it’s best to just ride it out instead of fighting against it. If I’m feeling crappy, I produce crappy work. Then what’s the point right? If it’s something’s minor picking at me, I try to tell myself I’ll give it all the time I need after I have completed the task in front of me. If it’s too huge and impossible to ignore, I walk away from my workspace.
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