What
Review your workload, working habits and boundaries, to ensure you’re not putting your wellbeing at risk.
Why
Being in control of your working hours can be a double-edged sword.
When you’re in employment, there are some “built-in” boundaries and habits in place, for example, the rest of your time leave the office or log-off, your manager will be prompting you to take holidays, and when you’re quiet, there’s no need to worry about where the next project is coming from.
And to some extent, you’re not expected to work beyond your contracted hours - which might commonly be the classic 9-5, Monday to Friday.
But when you’re self-employed, despite the idea of having complete control over your working hours, it can be very easy to end up working longer hours than in employment. Our research shows that 30% of freelancers commit more than 8-10 hours a day, and 36.5% took less 7 or less days off each year.
If you’re working alone, it can be easy not to take breaks and work through your lunch.
Once you’ve finished your client work, it can be easy to switch to doing other tasks like finding new work, admin or marketing.
It can be very tempting to work late into the evening, or over the weekends. And even if you don’t have any work on, you might still be working hard on building your business, through training, marketing or keeping on top of your accounts.
And then there’s the issue of clients contacting you outside of your normal working hours, and the expectation that you’ll respond to them.
In some ways, you need to be more disciplined than you were in employment, to ensure you’re putting good boundaries in place, putting work to bed at the end of the day, and finding habits and routines which help you work in a sustainable way.
How
1/ Considering setting yourself some standard working hours - whilst you can be flexible, setting some core working hours and communicating these to clients upfront can help you switch off at the end of the day.
2/ Creating physical and digital boundaries - Set up a dedicated workspace if possible, and use separate profiles on your devicesz for work and personal use. Turn off work notifications outside of working hours.
3/ Create a ‘put-work-away’ routine - at the end of the day, put away your technology, notebook, and any work related items, and tell yourself you’re done for the day.
4/ Schedule regular breaks and time off - Block out lunch breaks in your calendar, take regular short breaks throughout the day, and plan your holidays in advance. Treat your time off as seriously as you would client commitments.
5/ Track your time and workload - Use time-tracking tools to monitor your actual working hours and regularly review your workload. This helps identify if you’re consistently overworking and need to make adjustments.
6/ Remember you’re in control over your time, not your clients - and you don’t need to respond 24/7 to clients emails or notifications on slack, and remember that more control over your work and your time was probably a factor in when you went freelance.
Remember
You’ll read lots of articles and advice which say how you should work, when you should work, how your boundaries should be set - remember that only you know what works well for you. Lots of people think that working on a weekends is a really bad things, others think that taking a day off is slacking off.
Routines don’t work for everyone - so explore different techniques or ways of managing your work time and not-working time. You’ll not get it right immediately, and there’s lots of unlearn after being in employment.
What matters most is that you’re working in a sustainable way - and that you’re balancing getting the work done, with rest and recovery. If you’re unwell due to exhaustion, you’re unable to work, which means you’re not earning income.
