To keep our work ethic strong and have long-term success as an online freelancer, staying motivated is key.
When you are working flexible hours as your own boss, keeping yourself motivated can be a real tricky one.
As a freelancer, it is extremely common to reach a point where you feel less passion towards your work. This can last a day, or it can last a year!
Whether it’s due to your bed literally screaming your name when WFH (we have all been there – a cheeky nap, hello!), or simply not feeling passionate about a specific task you are working on anymore; we are giving you five proven ways to throw this freelance motivation struggle out of the window.
- Choosing the optimal location and schedule:
The time and location we choose to work as a freelancer has a BIG impact on our motivation level and productivity.
This is a real ‘trial + error’ situation, I’m afraid. But we can give you a few tips on how to find it!
OK – Time to self-analyse (let’s face it girls, we’re bloody masters of that, am I right?):
- – Do you like waking up early to complete a bunch of tasks before the day has even really kicked off? Try setting yourself a timer to do a chunk of work between 6am-8am to smash out as much as you can within that set time. No procrastination when a cheeky timer is by your side + you’ll feel like the most productive bad-ass before other people have even woken up!
- – Prefer a relaxing morning to set yourself up for a strong day? Try not looking at your phone until 9am. Meditate, take the dog for a walk, eat a delicious breakfast. Nail your headspace, and you’ll be set for a great day of ‘9-5’ work.
- – Do you find your energy spikes at night time, but feel like it’s not a ‘normal’ time to get your hustle on? Trust me, there is nothing wrong with it! If you prefer to spend your days adventuring, relaxing or running errands – that’s awesome. Just be sure to keep your evening time free, find a place you feel inspired (yep, even if that’s on the sofa) + you do you, boo.
- – OK, if working from the comfort of your sofa is not your vibe, have you tried creating a home office? Check out this blog post on how to create an amazing home office from a small space! (‘DIY office transformation’)
- – If you totally feel home is for relaxing and not working, then we suggest finding a co-working space nearby. Personally (hi, Lydia here), I love working from different cafe’s and co-working spaces each day. I go wherever my heart desires (*always* somewhere with amazing Tea/Cake/WIFI/Plug Sockets), and just get my head down. Find locations which are filled with other freelancers working from their laptops and I can almost certainly say it will give you a major motivation buzz!
2. Remember your WHY:
OK, this is a biggie. We sometimes look at those exceptionally positive people who have a perfect morning routine by starting it off ‘thinking of three things they are grateful for’ and think
“ugh babe… are you for real?”
BUT, they really are on to something. Stay with me here…
We have all had a ‘bad start to our day’ before where it set’s us up in a negative headspace, so, OF COURSE it’s going to work the other way too!
So, I’m setting you a challenge.
Every morning, try to just remember your ‘why’. Feel grateful for the freedom this life is giving you, remember how you felt when you were tied down to a previous job + remind yourself of what initially pushed you to start living this life.
3. Make a plan + stick to it:
Sometimes, having so much freedom as a freelancer can make us a little slack + lazy.
As badass and perfect as we may be, there is always the (very pleasant) struggle of not having a ‘big boss’ to keep you on your toes + check you’re sticking to deadlines.
So – let’s get planning.
Proper planning. You know, the type that elaborates on how we will arrange every task – right from our necessary daily home chores, to the urgent campaign prep which has an EOD deadline.
We all have such different work/personality types, so there is never a ‘one routine fits all’, but as a guideline to what I mean, this is my most productive day to day:
6am – Wake up, take a peek at the pretty sunrise + do 2 hours of work from home. The work I am wanting to just get out of the way. (Almost in sleepy zombie mode so it feels like i’m not really working yet… pre coffee vibes… you know.)
8am – Get myself ready, take some mindful minutes to remember my ‘why’, eat a bagel with a proper good brew + enjoy a relaxed hour!
9am – Set off out to one of my favourite cafes which I know will be filled with other hustlers! Complete 4 hours of solid work with a set to-do list, starting with the things I want to do least first.
1pm – Get myself a delicious lunch + usually take a 1 hour ‘break’ to go for a walk / do some chores / run errands.
2pm – Do a fun task!! This time of day is always where I struggle, so having a task to do which gets my creative brain running wild always powers me through those next 2 hours.
4pm – Finish my daily tasks, make sure i’m happy + won’t be thinking about leaving something off my to-do list all night.
5pm – Love life, do an instagram post, call my family/friends, eat some chocolate
6pm – Take myself off on a sunset run/walk. Soak up the beautiful world around me + have a real ‘sh*t I’m so grateful’ moment!
7:30pm – CHILL THE F OUT (usually whilst doing a little bit more fun ‘work’ + networking)
Let’s just remember ladies – i’m not a mum yet. Not even a dog mum.
I am in a real ‘hustle‘ phase of my life where i’m able to just work crazy amounts with no real responsibilities or dependants.
Not every day looks like this + YOUR ideal routine I’m sure will look very different.
(I also didn’t count my ‘Boozy Day Drinking Satur-YAY‘ routine where I drink cocktails whilst working. You know, to really get the creative juices flowing… I’ll save that for another blog post!)
4. Take a damn break:
Daily breaks are just as important as monthly or yearly breaks.
I completely understand the overwhelming feeling of having so many tasks to do, you think your eyes are simply never going to leave the laptop screen ever, ever again.
But let’s face it – nobody is productive when working so intensely!
Remember to take a step back + stop being so hard on yourself. We are human + we are doing a bloody great job.
Grab a cup of tea, take a walk around the block, even watch a cheeky feel-good episode of friends! Something to give your hard-working brain a little rest.
FUN FACT: Having an epic at-home dance party to ‘Party Up‘ by ‘DMX‘ is the best way to take a short break before jumping on to the next task. (Let me know how that goes for you… I would not complain at video proof, also!)
5. Have accountability friends:
There’s no doubt that we are our own boss as a freelancer, but that does not mean that we are not accountable to anyone, or alone in our mission.
It’s an obvious statement – but your reputation as a freelancer solely depends on how well you work for your clients.
So to keep yourself pumped up + excited to work hard – the best thing you can do is stay in contact with people who do a similar thing to you!
It is incredibly helpful to have a group of supportive chica’s who will remind you WHY you are doing this, how awesome you’re doing + to keep hustling on.
You badass, you!
No more lonely freelancer vibes around here – the We Got You Boo squad ALWAYS has your back.
Post on our forum any time you’re struggling for motivation and I promise you we will all be there to fire that energy right back up! We’re in this together.
We Got You Boo !
Such a fab article. Being self employed if you get down you’ve no one to turn to but yourself but having we got you boo is a massive help and source of motivation. The community is great and it’s so nice that there’s always someone out there who has your back xx