Accountability thread for freelance procrastinators - anyone?

[Runningoverthefields]

I've made a resolution to become more productive in my working hours - and then to switch off the computer sometimes and take a proper break.

Anyone want to join me?

We could check in on the thread each time we're going to start a work 'sprint' (eg in the next 30 minutes I'm going to do task xyz) and then check in when task is done. Or we could just check in every time we feel our attention wandering during the day to say 'drifted off for a second there, right now, I'm going back to do xyz') and let each other know whether we achieved it. Or we could swap any tips for staying productive... whatever everyone would find useful.

For me this is partly about getting more work done, but it's also about stopping work on time. Sometimes I procrastinate all day and then don't go to the gym because 'I really must finish this work off', or check email over the weekend because I feel guilty that I didn't work hard enough in my work hours.

Maybe I'm the only one who struggles with staying motivated through the day when being my own boss and with working from home. But I suspect not

Or maybe this thread already exists and I've missed it???

To kick off - I am now going to send 10 emails chasing clients for feedback/payment/paperwork and then I'll come back and say 'DONE'

Right - I need the power of this thread to make me get through all the work I MUST do today

1. Write up blog article from notes
2. invoicing
3. Update social media accounts.

This must all be done by 1pm which is tight. Hence the need for zero procrastination! I will be back when item 1 is done. Wish me luck!

Hi all - joining so I can stop wasting time noodling around the internet.

Work today:

1. Finish blog post
2. Finish 'Training page'
3. Scope out 2nd blog post

Finish by 4 so I can play in the sun with the kids!

My top tip is quite harsh - I get paid by the hour, as I imagine many of us are? - and when I want to properly motivate myself I bill in 10-min increments and strictly only charge for the time I am productively working.

Hi ohgood so hard to work from home/for self in the beautiful sunshine...I want to go outside!!!!! What are you writing about?

My blog article is done. Going to do my invoicing now then go back and proof the piece I just wrote before I send it off to the client.

Onwards...

Hello all! What a good idea this thread is.

I am going to:

Get off MN
Finish editing something
Make two phone calls
Send four emails
Make a cup of tea
Then get back on MN....

Invoicing all done - must proof and send this article then pick up DS - phew, keyboard is on fire!

I have more hours of work to do than hours actually left before my holiday I promised myself I wouldn't end up working on holiday this year, but it's that or no sleep until Sunday.

To do:
Small job for client#1 by 11.30
Finish pp.1-54 of large job for client 2 by 12.30 (am on p.22)
Collate all chapters for client 2 and format headings etc. by 2.30 pm
Smallish job for client #1 by midnight

Aw Primal is there any way you can get an extension?

I got everything done yesterday and just had 2 hours of social media to do today which is done...am meant to be baking for the school fete but it's too hot!

Prima can you outsource any of it?

I've had a productive day here today, and a much better week than last week which kind of escaped from me.

One thing that came up today was that I did a piece of work that benefitted two clients equally. I split the time involved between the two of them, but I'd be interested to know what other people do when that happens.

Hi everyone, been too busy to join in lately, I started my new part-time job and I don't like it and really don't want to return next week. Oh God I want to freelance full time.. but I wont have time to network and market myself and work and the summer hols are around the corner. I hope you are all in a better place than me. will check in when I have more to tell.

Grumpyoldblonde I did that in March. I knew before I even started that I shouldn't have accepted it. I resigned after day 4. It wasn't fair on them for me to carry on for a few more weeks, when they could recruit someone else from the same interview pool.

However, I hated my last job when I started - cried several times in the first week. Then I stayed 9 years because I loved it so much.

PrimaLass I have been in that position before when I ended up loving the job but this one is really not for me, they want far more from me than the pay suggests, and are already talking about me doing more hours which was not what was agreed, there is no-one showing me what to do and this position is not what they told me they wanted, in fact, for this position the going paying scale would be 3 times higher in the corporate world. My stomach is churning at the idea of going back, I want really to enjoy the summer hols without worry and carry on bits and bobs of freelance work and try to get more clients come September. I would really appreciate any thoughts on this.

That sounds very stressful, Grumpy. Is it worth sticking with if they are already messing you around? And are there any ways you could send out feelers about summer work before you decide?

Hi RedLentil it's been a very stressful few days, but decision made, I am not returning, and I feel great relief, however, this decision was made on the basis that I have a potential new and really fantastic client who needs my kind of skills and we have emailed today, he is a positive can do type (no maybes or mights) so there are still irons in the fire and I have let existing clients I will be around more.

So. Phew! How are things with everyone else?

Oh, that's great news, Grumpy. I'm recovering from a nasty bug picked up from the children here and they're on holiday already. The motivation to slog through some hours has not kicked in, though the kids are old enough and well-trained enough to be very good about working around me ...

I'm slightly tormented by people asking me to do non-billable little bits and pieces for them that eat into my time. It's an issue for a good reason, because I've manged to make myself the go-to person for advice in my area, but I need to find a way to manage that kind of thing better.

OK, I have been slacking off from the thread and started procrastinating again. Yesterday I read loads of random articles instead of cracking on :( Bloody internet!

Sounds like others have been busy. Grumpy - what a shame about your job, I'm sure you can freelance full-time, you just need a plan, right?

Lentil - get well soon. I totally get the non-billable stuff, v distracting but I get the strategy, such a hard balance to strike. I think it can totally pay off, this has done so for me only this week in terms of extra week, but it's definitely a long-term thing.

Does anyone do those networking type coffee meetings to get new biz? I have done 2 in the last year and whilst they may help with awareness, I haven't had any actual leads yet!

So - what are your tactics for getting the kids to work around you in the holidays pray tell?? I am going to be working every evening unless I can figure out some way of working whilst chauffeuring etc... I can get the 6 year old a little project for something he's interested in, but the 3 year old gets stuck in front of a screen... oh the guilt.

OK, some child free time, so I need to

• draft 3 small client projects
• respond to 2 client emails

- check I've been paid :)

If I can do this by 8.45pm I will be happy. If not, I'll be relying on the kids being on Netflix tomorrow...

ah, I was slinky by the way... have name changed

hello all, Bueno sounds like you have a similar situation to me, argh! in my limited child free time I still try to do some work and mostly it's while toddler is engrossed in iPlayer, or maybe buy him some new (second hand!) toy/s to distract him. But it's interrupted by demands for food, drink, changing the show on iPlayer, tugging at legs, trying to shut my laptop for me etc. Crazy making. So hard!! And so guilt inducing.

I've been seriously rubbish lately, must try to get back on track. I find working from home so hard, my nursery hours are also very random and change every few days, e.g. a morning, a half day, a full day etc changing if I had more of a routine and regular hours I might find being in the swing a bit easier.

I am wondering if I need a new tactic of getting up super early before toddler then getting ready, poss doing some work and then while he's having brekkie etc I could do some more. Thing is I am not not not a morning person!! And evenings I am often too tired to work.

Anyway - maybe I will come on here a bit more while I try to get back in the swing of things....!

Bueno, I'm out of that phase now, but it is ridiculously difficult. I used to work v. late at night and juggle that with childcare. The problems aroae when I put all my exhaustion down to that and took years to realise I had an underlying autoimmune disorder.

If you are going to try to keep all the balls in the air, try to be kind to yourself.

redlentil, i've been wondering about the tiredness thing, I am a LP of a 2.5 year old, and constantly exhausted. So much so I am wondering if I might have an autoimmune condition. i've had some other symptoms as well so it wouldn't be entirely out of the question (although tests at the gp for certain things like thyroid came back negative). But I have mostly put it down to stress or being a LP parent to a young child and am just wondering if there's something a bit more to it!

Back to earth now after getting very little chance to procrastinate, in fact I'm enjoying doing a bit right now!

Had client from hell for 3 weeks, think vague briefs, deadlines agreed without my input with end client, extras added in that I only found out about accidentally. Put up with it and tried to work with it but finally actually had to ask her to find another poor sap after 3 warnings. I'm the third person at least who now has said they will not work with her. Still chalking it up to experience and am now working on terms and conditions and service level agreement for the business to combat p* taking. I guess I've been spoilt by nice clients!

griselda Stress can make you awfully tired, I was signed off for a long time from work with stress and before that and during I was always tired, in fact I couldn't get going at all and had no motivation. Had a repeat of it during this recent experience and realised that just being stressed takes it out of you enormously, you literally expend all your energy just being stressed. Once I got rid of problem client I instantly felt a surge of relief which seems to have recruited my energy. Having said that if it continues while you're not particularly stressed it's always worth getting checked out as a whole host of things have tiredness as a symptom.

I'm now going to do an hours work and then fold the washing and hoover!

Hello! How are you all doing? I'm a freelance procrastinator and found this thread last night and love it!

Please can I join? Am worried that my biggest, and biggest-paying, client is on the way out so I NEED to start being so much more productive in looking for new work.

DH is at home quote often (shifts), so I'm going to spend Sunday creating an office at my parents house, so I'm ready to start working hard next week when the DC are back at school.

Anyone still here? Fancy a new September start? :)

I'm lurking...summer hols have played havoc but i'm clinging on doing the minimum until back-to-school when I will need to work extra hard to catch up again! My child-free morning tomorrow is now in jeopardy so i probably won't even have that At least my main client is still happy...it's me that feels I should have done more!

I'll be around next week enrobed in to-do lists and plans for more efficient working...also a very exciting meeting in late September to look forward to that could be just what I need to move forward work-wise

Can I join the club?

I've procrastinated so much on my major project that I've ended up 'delivering' another project in the meanwhile.

Hard deadline October - and my diversionary project won't sleep anywhere but my arms!

I'm doing terribly. I have more work than I can possibly do in the time, so of course I've wasted all morning on here. About to shut the internet off and work until 3pm.