10

Oct

How to Beat Procrastination and Become a Better Freelance Writer

Procrastination is hard to beat, especially in freelance writing. Sometimes you  find yourself pushing tasks ahead and you never find out the impact it has on your freelancing career until it’s too late. Take action now and salvage your career today.

List Down Your Tasks and Prioritize on the  Urgent Ones

The other name for this step is planning, something that most of us find too mainstream to do. However, you will find that you work better and more efficiently when you have goals and targets to meet.

Take some time to put pen to paper and plan what to do with your time. Making plans does not guarantee a win against procrastination dear writer. You still need to employ self discipline to be able to follow your schedule.

Identify Your Productivity Hours

What are ‘productivity hours?’ These are the hours when you are at your best, when your brain is at its best. Some people find it difficult to work in the heat of the afternoon or too late at night. Others can’t do anything productive early in the morning.

It is true that sometimes freelance writers don’t have the freedom to choose when to work but when you do, pick an hour that suits you best. Take advantage of your peak performance hours.

Avoid Interruptions

If procrastination was an animal, I guess it would be a cat. Yes, because only a cat knows how to draw your attention to itself. Cats do stupid and unimportant things but still succeed in getting all your attention.

Your cat will stare at you for an hour and you find yourself staring right  back  and you cannot explain why!

Procrastination will find the most minute excuses to lead you off the track and you end up pushing all your tasks to the future. Stay away from things and persons who give you reasons not to ‘do it now’ because they are not helping your career in any way.

Reward Yourself After Completing Boring Tasks

Boring tasks often end up in the ‘to do later’  list and I cannot blame you for loving yourself. However, the boring task might be that lucrative writing project that you fought tooth and nail to land on. It goes without saying that you cannot lose such a rare opportunity to taste success in freelance writing.

Promise yourself a reward which you only get once you  have completed such tasks. This should give you enough motivation.

Take a Rest

You need to rest, just as much as you need to work. Take a break and stretch your legs on a brisk walk or play with your dog. Whatever you need to do to relax, do it once in a while. You will find that you are more rejuvenated and you procrastinate less.