A Guide to Lazy Freelancing
Are you a lazy freelancer? Do you often find yourself sitting on the couch, munching on your favorite snack, doing quite the opposite of work? We’ve all been there, but some of us seem to be lazier than others. How lazy we are can depend on our own personalities, other things going on in our lives, and the amount of freelancing experience we have.
In this post, we’re going to talk about ‘lazy freelancing.’ If you feel you are always in a lazy rut and are never getting what you need to done, this post is for you. Embrace your laziness, and make a profitable freelance business around that wonderful attribute!
Work 3-4 Hours per Day
Many lazy workers prefer a shorter day to a longer one. There’s no need to work the standard 8 hour day to get everything done. Just work 3-4 good, productive hours a day and get everything done that you need to get done. Try out the Focus Booster App to get you in a focused mood for those few hours. It let’s you take regular breaks, and works around a proven technique that boosts productivity in short time sprints.
Work during the time you work best, and make it a habit to do so. For me, it’s right when I wake up (whether that be at 7am or 2pm!). Despite the occasional change in wake up time and schedule for me, I do usually wake up around 10am. Stick to a similar schedule, but according to your own circadian rhythm. You’ll work when you’re in a working mood, so it won’t be as painful. Then, after those few hours and when you have everything done, you can truly relax and be lazy.
Set Less Goals
If you tend to not reach many of your goals, and then get down on yourself for not being a hard worker, then try the ‘no goal’ approach. Check out Zen Habit’s post to see what we’re talking about: The Best Goal is No Goal. It gives the idea that for some people goals are inhibiting, and just doing what you’re passionate about everyday, as long as you’re actually doing something, can be much more productive.
Try setting no goals, or try setting fewer. If you want, just try setting life goals in accordance to your passion, and work from there.
Stop Doing Things That Aren’t Important
That’s right, we’re allowing you to do less things, because we know you are lazy. Many lazy freelancers aren’t that lazy at all; they just spend all their energy on useless, repetitive, and boring tasks. Then, by the end of the day they don’t have a lot to say for their work day, and wonder why they didn’t work harder. Or, they’ll expend all their energy in the first few hours, and feel fatigued and lazy the rest of the day.
Re-prioritize what’s important. What will get you where you want to be? What are the tasks you enjoy doing? What do you want to know how to do in the future? Work like you see yourself working 10 years from now as a freelancer. Don’t work how you feel you have to work just to “get by” today.
Make Fun Plans at the End of Your Work Day
If you decide your work day ends at 4, make plans with a friend at 4:30. This will make you get what you need to get done before this time, instead of slacking off all day until you’re fatigued. It will also give you a reward when you’re finished, and a balance between work and non-work. When you’re done for the day, you ‘leave the office.’
Kill Procrastination
I’ve seen a lot of advice lately that says if you’re procrastinating, use that to your advantage by procrastinating with something else that is productive. That’s great advice for getting those other things done, but it really doesn’t help get the original task you’re avoiding done any earlier.
I disagree with this advice. It’s useful in some situations, but it can only cause stress if done regularly. Get the most daunting, important task out of the way first thing. Then, procrastinate away in any order you please. How does this work with a lazy freelancer? It seems to be just the opposite. Well, for one, this builds your self-discipline muscle. Secondly, it also gets the most stressing and fatiguing thing done, accomplished, and out of the way. Then, the work day can be cut shorter, things are better prioritized, and you can spend the rest of the day doing things you’re passionate about — work related or not.
Just get that one thing done, and reward yourself with laziness.
How Do You Embrace Your Laziness?
How do you take advantage of your laziness by the power of freelancing? Do you outsource, refuse to do certain tasks, or take way too many breaks? Please share your thoughts on what works best for you, and what you feel may only inhibit you.
I like to get my work out of the way in the morning so I try to be at my desk around 8:30 and be working by 9. That half hour in between is usually spent checking e-mail, twitter and facebook. I get lazy and start to lag in the afternoon so having a majority of my work out of the way in the morning makes me feel less guilty if I want to quit early.