Managing your time can open opportunities to you that you didn’t even dream about before. Once you start managing your time as a writer, you will notice positive improvements. Here are seven ways time management can help your writing.
- More Flexibility
Being not flexible enough is one of the most widespread problems that freelance writers come across. There is no such thing as a typical day for a freelance writer simply because you don’t have a fixed schedule or a set number of tasks you do every day.
A usual office worker might have to search for some information online, type up some documents, and submit the results to their boss. The next day the cycle repeats itself. A freelance writer? They can’t afford such a luxury. Every day is different with article topics ranging from cleaning cat fur from your living room sofa to finding the best Internet provider.
This is why it is so important to be flexible and managing your time can help you with this tremendously.
- Greater Balance
Maintaining a balance is important to stay healthy. Many freelance writers find that they are unable to keep up with their work if they dedicate time to exercising and vice versa. Many writers don’t get enough sleep or don’t eat properly because they don’t have enough time to prepare food or even take a break to have lunch at the same time every day.
If you manage your time properly, you will be able to rearrange your tasks in a way that will free up more time for such things as exercising and preparing healthy food. Download an app that will tell you which exercises you can during half an hour or less to save even more of your time. You can also plan out your meals ahead and find recipes for dishes that don’t require a lot of time to make.
- More Focus
If you have many tasks to complete during the day, you may find that you get easily distracted in the moments when you switch from one task to the other. This is when you can lose focus almost instantly which leads to lower levels of productivity.
In order to stay focused, you need to rearrange your tasks in a way that will be most beneficial to you. You are the one who knows how well you can do each task and what is the right order for them to be done. Obviously, you are the best time manager you could find.
- Higher Expectations
Setting expectations is an integral part of motivating yourself to accomplish more. If you set them too low, you will end up thinking you are actually much better than you are. If you set them too high, you may start thinking that you are much worse than you actually. This is why setting realistic expectations is so important for your mental state.
However, there is one factor that may change everything completely. If you manage your time properly, you will have more time for working on what you want to achieve and you may perform way better than you thought you would. This is when you can start setting higher expectations for yourself and getting better results.
- More Satisfaction
Being happy with your life and your work is crucial for remaining mentally and emotionally healthy. If you are not satisfied with your job, you may start feeling anxious or even depressed. A lot of stress is also not very good for your health, so keeping that check is essential for you to feel happy.
With time management, you will start feeling better about your writing and about your job as a whole. You will have less stress and you will start viewing your job in a more optimistic and positive light.
- Better Multitasking
Working on different projects at the same time is something no freelancer is a stranger to. Multitasking is a fundamental part of any writer’s job, but it may still get tiring sometimes, especially when you have been balancing different projects for months or even years now.
Time management is an easy way to get rid of the stress (at least partially) that this practice brings. You will still be working on several projects and trying to meet deadlines, but it won’t be as difficult as it used too. To put it simply, time management equals better multitasking.
- More Opportunities
Last but not least, time management opens up new opportunities for you in all senses. Because you will now have more time for other things, you may decide to pursue a hobby that you forgot about a long time ago. Maybe that knitting obsession is actually worth it?
Moreover, by varying the things you do during the day, you not only make your life more interesting but also make yourself more satisfied and feel more productive. It’s a win-win no matter from which side you look at it. Managing your time is really that great and you just have to try it and find out about all of its benefits on your own.
Final Thoughts
To sum up, time management skills are very valuable, but they can be especially useful for your writing. Note the benefits of managing time outlined in this article and start making your life better by using different time management techniques.