More Discipline Required....
Monday, March 2, 2009 at 10:32AM 
When I first started life as a full time creative person, I envisaged a relaxed approach to work. My own boss, working from my home studio, the ideal situation to be in complete control of my workload and my tasks.
I have to say that in reality, that's certainly happened to a extent, but being the master of your own workload and tasks isn't all that its cracked up to be.
Working for yourself makes it really hard to set boundaries and switch off from "work", a huge problem for most self employed people working from home. It's all too easy to nip back in the studio for "an hour or two" after the evening meal to crack on with that project or finish up something. Even if you do extricate yourself from the studio for some TV time, it's so easy just to pick up the laptop and spend another couple of hours fiddling about.
This is made even harder by the fact that I love what I do and it really doesn't feel like work most of the time.
But I know it can't be good for me (or the family)
So as of this week, I'm going to try and structure my working week slightly differently to see if I can impose some restrictions on what I do and when I do it. It my even make me more productive and allow me to spend some more quality time with the family.
So this is the plan....
- Monday: Admin and Website Development
- Tuesday: Commissioned Work & Special Projects
- Wednesday: AM: ScreenCastsOnline Show Prep PM: ScreenCastsOnline Recording
- Thursday: Editing and Encoding
- Friday: AM: ScreenCastsOnline Publication PM: Buffer
As well as trying to impose such structure to the week, I think I'll be a bit more disciplined in the way I work each day by setting aside some time to do specific tasks:
AM
- Inbox Zero on the overnight emails
- Reply to any Twitter @replies or Direct Messages
- Quick scan of RSS feeds - Zap any I don't read
- Quick review of OmniFocus tasks
- Daily Blog Post
- Switch off email and Twitter (OK we'll have to see if that happens)
Lunchtime
- Inbox Zero on the morning emails
- Reply to any Twitter @replies or Direct Messages
- Switch off email and Twitter
End of Day
- Inbox Zero on the afternoon emails
- Reply to any Twitter @replies or Direct Messages
- Switch off email and Twitter
Now I fully appreciate that there is probably no way I can stick to this religiously, but it may be a valid experiment for a couple of weeks.
Anyway, it's Monday so off to do my Admin and Website Development.
A cup of tea first I think!
Reader Comments (9)
Hi Don,
I don't work from home and I still find myself in work mode when sat watching TV etc, so can only imagine how it can be distracting for you. The only problem I can see with making it more regimental is this: will work start to become a chore ?
Nice routine Don. I especially like the breakdown of your day into three chunks of checking emails and then switching off.
I don't think it will become a chore as I still love doing what I'm doing. I see it more as a framework to help me focus more on the tasks that need doing.
With producing the show each week, I have a definite target of publishing on a Friday PM. The past few weeks have seen this get pushed into the weekend as I wasn't disciplined enough during the week.
This should make my life easier.
Providing I stick to it of course :-)
Hi Don,
From my personal experience I've noticed that I'm gaining time by switching off mail and twitter. I noticed that Twitter just distracts me from my work. It's way too easy to spend a minute replying to a tweet, and it's even easier to get distracted and read the rest of the tweets.
When I'm working from home, I recentrly started swithing off Twitter for that reason.
Best Regards,
Stefaan
Good luck in establishing your new routine. I face the same problem as teacher's in Germany (maybe in the UK, too) are pretty much self-managed and independent in their planning and working.
From my experience I can give just one advice. Go for a hobby that is as much fun and attractive as computer and screencasting work. Something completely different that pulls you away from your work and is so tempting that it pulls you away from your Macs. For me, it's photography and playing drums – and, of course, my kids. What would it be for you?
Think I'll have to start looking for something in that respect Christian!
Don,
My only comment is if you only respond to twitter replies and then switch if you, you won't get any more replies. Try to use twitter to micro blog your day. Don't read every tweet of those you are following.
The hobby sounds like a good idea too. I keep meaning to get into R/C planes but keep putting it off and spending time on the computer.
BOb
Excellent post Don, I work from home myself and can sympathise with the points you made here. I never expected the 'seamless' blending of work into personal life to be such a problem, but for me that's probably the biggest issue. It certainly takes strong discipline to stick to a schedule, but I think freelancers really need such restraints. Much as I love my Macs I'm aiming to physically shut them down earlier in the evening and leave that environment behind for a while. After all you work to live, not the other way around.
Cheers.
Hi Don,
I kind of struggled with the same problems as you did. For my part as an consultant for the oil and gas industry it is mostly commissioned work. I try to spend as much time during the day at my customer's location. Then it is more like regular working time and my evenings are time off. However, I need to spend a couple of hours each week to do administrative work. I solved this by getting up at 5.30 each morning to have some hours "all alone" with fresh coffee.
I admire the work you have been able to establish. The screencasts are very good. I'm considering to become a member. Since I've been on a Mac for some years now, I pretty comfy with most of the applications I use. However, I'm always open for tips and tutorials for new apps that may be of interest.
Best of luck with your schedule. I hope you find your way. Keep up the twittering as you are one of the few that I'm following that are on European time.
Rune