Creative Productivity: Simple Planning Strategies for Freelancers

1. Introduction: Hi, I'm happy. Welcome to creative productivity. Simple planning strategies for freelancers As a freelance designer and illustrator, productivity is something very important to my day today. But as a creative, it can also sometimes be challenging to find the balance between functioning within a structure and also having that creative freedom and spontaneity. If you could relate, I hope this class will be able to help with some of those struggles. In the following videos. I'll be sharing my process for creating a productivity plan as well as strategies for staying productive that can be adjusted and incorporated to fit your work style. There will be downloadable worksheets provided along the way that will help you piece together your plan and also explore discover what strategies might resonate best you by the end this class, you'll have a variety of tools to help kick start your productivity as well as ideas for how to tailor them to your workflow and improve on them as you go along. Developing a framer for productivity doesn't have to be an intimidating or time consuming chore. It can actually be a very informative and insightful learning process. Let's get started 2. Why Have A Productivity Plan?: So why is it important to have a productivity plan if we used the analogy of driving tow a new place? Planning ahead is like searching for an address on Google Maps. It highlights the route you should go on and estimates how long it will take to get there. The actual driving of your car on the path would be taking action on the plan and following the route provided and deciding if the route was any good and checking if the drive actually took. How long the map said it would take is like reflecting and seeing what could be improved for the next time. Without a little bit of planning ahead, it's hard to measure if you're succeeding or be able to tell if you're going to meet your goals. It would be like trying to drive to a new place but stopping every few blocks to figure out what the next step should be. And it actually takes up more of your effort in time in the end. So as we go through this class, I'll be sharing some principles that will help us to create plans that improve our efficiency and allow us to measure our success along with some examples of how I implement those in my business 3. Principle 1: Prioritize: The first principle is to prioritize your work. Not all tasks are created equal. Some are bigger and more important than others, and it's important to take that into account. It's not just about getting a lot of things done, but getting the right things done. I'm sure some of you have heard the illustration of trying to fill a jar with both rocks and sand. If you pour in the sand first, there may not be room to put the rocks and afterwards. But if you prioritize adding the rocks first, then the sand can fill in all the crevices and gaps, and both conf it. This is a helpful way to think about prioritization, because it really illustrates that the order you do your tasks in makes a difference. And if you don't prioritise important tasks first, there may not be time for them later on. So how do we decide what's important and should be prioritized? There's no perfect formula, but to good guiding questions can help you decide. One is which tasks require more time and focus. For me, it's things like planning, a skill shirk loss, client projects and large commissions. I need several hours of focus work at a time to make progress on them. And I prioritize them because it's harder to fit in between other tasks which would break my focus and flow, as well as the fact that personally, I only have so much energy in a day. And if I use it all up on other tasks first, even if I have the time at the end of the day, I'll probably be running out of steam at that point and unable to do my best for me. Tests that require less focus or things like posting on social media, packaging products or answering emails. These can be done at any time of day and have a certain amount of routine and repetition as well. A second question to ask is Which tasks need to be finished sooner. Things that have closer deadlines are on scheduled timelines or with certain milestones that need to be reached. Also move up on the list of priorities. Another thing that helps me prioritize how urgent a task is is to label the size of all my tasks and break down the larger ones into smaller and more digestible chunks. I live with my tasks as small, medium and large, So I have a better general idea of how much time I should set aside for them without having to come up with an exact number. Next, I take any large and extra large tasks and break them down into small and medium ones. For instance, the large task of teaching new skills your class can be broken down into steps like brainstorm topic ideas, right, a class description creating outline, read a script, etcetera. From there, I can label each of those parts with the size, and not only does that break it down into more approachable pieces, it also becomes easier for me to put in my schedule, because I can spread out such a big project over a few days by scheduling a couple of small and medium tasks for each day, which then also helps me to prioritize those daily portions because there's more urgency to finish them in order to stay on schedule with publishing the whole class by a certain date . What things on your to do list require more time and focus from you, and what things on your to do list are more urgent and need to be finished sooner. Finally, which of your large tasks can be broken down into smaller chunks as he balanced these questions and break down your tasks. You'll start to get a feel for the importance and urgency of each one and get better at deciding how your priorities should fall. Feel free to download the worksheet in the class resources to help think through the importance and urgency of your different tasks. 4. Principle 2: Keep Track: the second principle after you've decided what's most important to accomplish is to keep track of all the things related to those priorities. The more things you track, the better you can plan. Keeping track of a bunch of different things can sound like a lot of work, but if you have effective ways of tracking, you actually have to do less thinking yourself. It's like having bookmarks in different chapters of a textbook, so you can pick up where you left off on different trains of thought, instead of having to hold your place with your finger or flip through the pages searching every time knowing I have all these physical bookmarks in place, let's me stop having to keep mental tabs on all my ideas and gives them brain the space to focus on doing something else more important. A couple ways that I like to keep track of things in my business are with lists and conv on boards. I keep a lot of lists, including a daily to do calendar of events, future instagram posts, ideas and projects, inventory and more because I add to these lists right when I think of things that belong on them. I can see the bigger picture and make future decisions a lot quicker. The key to effective lists is keeping them all in the same place that you can easily access . I use Google Drive to organize lists that I need to update and add too often, like future Instagram posts and blawg and newsletter content, And I find it helpful that I can access them from my phone and drop down ideas when I'm on the go. However, I prefer physical lists for my weekly and daily to do lists because I have to check those pretty often and there's less distraction from notifications that would pop up on my phone or computer. Figure out what works for you, whether it's a notebook with different lists tracked on each page or a word document on the computer for each list. Be consistent, so your lists are easy to locate when you need them. Another important way I keep track is with a conv on board. A condom on board takes a task and moves it through different stages of a workflow, and I use it for managing different stages of my projects and tasks, and it really helps me to see at a glance exactly how much is on my plate. I separate my convo on board into four columns. Backlog working on, waiting to hear back and done. The backlog is for projects that I know are coming up soon or that I want to start on soon . Working on is for projects that I'm actively in. The process of waiting to hear back is for things that I've finished my part. But I am waiting on someone's feedback or something else to move forward, and it also helps me to know who I might need to follow up with and done is for things that are completed, and it always feels best to move things to this column. When someone gets back to me with feedback and the ball is back in my court, I could move a task from waiting to hear back into working on. And when I'm ready to take on a new project, I can move it from the back log into working on. So, practically speaking, if someone comes to me with a new project proposal and I'm deciding if I have time for it, I can look at my board and immediately get an idea of how that new project would fit in with what I'm already working on. I really enjoy using my very minimalist sticky note conv on which you can download a template of and try out for yourself. But there are also other options online, such as Trillo. Cello is basically an online version of a condom board, and it has a lot more options for details you can add in like notes checklists. So depending on whether you prefer to track things on paper or digitally, and how much structure and detail you like to add, you might enjoy checking out Trela as a project tracking option. What things in your day take up brain space to keep track of? Think of some things that might benefit from being on a list. You can download my convo on board template and the class resources, or feel free to create your own with columns based on the steps needed in your workflow 5. Principle 3: Plan Ahead: the third principle is to plan ahead. Planning ahead prepares you mentally and helps you be more efficient and moving from one task to the next. It's like tying your shoe laces before the starting whistle goes off in a race so you can hit the ground running instead of waiting until after the whistle to check your laces. Planning is also better done. Unruh Eshed. So it's better to do when it's not competing with your work time. I'm going to be walking through my process of planning for the week and incorporating some of the things we've gone through about prioritizing and keeping track along the way. Feel free to apply these ideas to any timeframe you'd like, such as a day or even a month. So here's my week planning template that I use. The first thing I'll do is to block out times. I'll be busy because of meetings, appointments or events. For example, I have bouldering planned for Monday afternoon and a doctor's appointment on Tuesday morning, which will affect how a plan, my work those days and this gives me a good idea of how much time I'm working with each day and in the week overall. Next, I'll prioritize by first filling in big projects from the working on section in my conman board. I've broken it down into smaller parts, and I'll spread those across multiple days to make sure I make time for all the different parts to be completed. For example, this week I have a series of illustrations about Thailand that I'm working on, and I've broken up into smaller parts and spread them out over the week, as well as skill share, which have also spread out across a few days. Third, all fill in other tasks and projects. I need to get done that week and add items from my backlog if there's space for them. I'll also check the waiting to hear Back column on my convo on board and make sure I leave time for projects that will be getting back to me soon and schedule any following up. I need to do as well. Finally, I highlight them by size so I can see at a glance how many big and small tasks I've planned for each day. I'm using blue for large tasks like working on skill share or more extensive illustrations . Orange for medium sized tasks and yellow for small tasks like email, follow up or mailing out a batch of etc. Orders. You can come up with your own definition of what makes a task larger, small, but for me it's based on a gut feeling about how much effort or concentration of project will require for me. But it's helpful because over time I can develop an idea of how many big and small tasks I continue Klay take on in a day, for example, Maybe I discover that I can average one large task and three medium tasks a day, which would then help me be able to plan more accurately for future weeks. This also helps me decide how to group my tasks and where in the day to put them to fit best. So I might group together all my small yellow tasks and plan to finish them all before a meeting or appointment, so that afterwards I can focus my time on the bigger ones. I also like to leave some open space for the unexpected and unpredictable, like lots of clients getting back to me with revisions at the same time, or a project taking longer than expected. It's nice to have some buffer, and no, there's flexibility in the schedule. And that thing's not going exactly according to plan. Won't throw off my entire week. When can you make time in your schedule for planning ahead? I like to plan on Sunday evenings or Friday afternoons. What ways can you plan to set yourself up for success? I try not to over plan or overbook my schedule, which can leave me feeling discouraged at the end of the week. And I also try to leave more time than I actually need for more intimidating tasks. Doing that helps me feel more relaxed and that I have plenty of time to get it done well. And if it doesn't take up a long as I planned, I end up with more extra time in the day, which is always a win. Feel free to download my template for weekly planning in the resource is section. If you'd like to try it out for yourself, 6. Principle 4: Take Action: the next principle is to take action. All the plans in the world can't help you if you don't act on them, but sometimes it can be hard to get going. So I think it's very important toe. Learn what helps you personally be productive and lean into those things to push yourself along. The goal of this section is to create a backup plan for when we're feeling unmotivated. We'll do this by building awareness of how we work best and then having some concrete steps that can push us in the right direction when we're not feeling it. First we'll take a quiz to discover are working preferences. And then we'll brainstorm a list of strategies that encourage productivity so we can have it handy when we hit a slump. Feel free to print out the worksheet in the class resources as a guide to fill out as you go for the section, I'll be naming some different preferences for you to see which ones you resonate with. You might even gravitate towards both in different situations, but becoming aware of the nuances of your working style can help you make decisions about your work environments. That position you to succeed. For instance, I've learned that I work well with company if I have a long list of small tasks to finish and more productive in a cafe, if I'm lacking motivation and work best alone at home if I need to focus for hours at a time while working, do you prefer white noise or silence? Early morning or late night company or solitude home or an office, studio or cafe? Music or silence? Upbeat or calming music? Consistency in your schedule or variation. Clean bright spaces or warm cozier spaces. Feel free to add your own ideas to the list as well. I'll be kicking off this brainstorm session with some of my own strategies, and hopefully they spark some of your own as well. Number one. Just one thing. I tell myself to pick one task, no matter how small and just do it. And then I pick another one and do the same thing. It helps me get started and realized. My to do list isn't as bad as I thought, and I could get into a rhythm of productivity. And even if I don't, I still did get a few things done. Number two coffee shop. Going to a coffee shop with a list of things prepared to do helps me be productive for a few reasons. Spending money to be somewhere motivates me to make the most of my time. Being around other people. Doing their own thing encourages me to do mine, and a pleasant change of environment helps to reset my attitude. Number three timer strategy. I set a timer for an hour and see how much I can get done in 60 minutes. It can help to have a tangible end goal in sight and also makes work feel like a game or competition with myself. And sometimes seeing how much I achieved in that, our motivates me to keep going. Number four Break plan. Sometimes I choose my brakes for the day first and plan my work schedule around them. It helps me see my workday split into tangible chunks and to not waste time because every time period is basically a countdown to the next break. If I plan to break for lunch and an afternoon meeting, I can split my day into before lunch after lunch. But before the meeting and after the meeting, which encourages me to schedule different things to get done in the different sections of the day. Pair activities. I pair work with activities that make it more enjoyable, or that I'm more excited about because being in a good mood about at least part of the task can help trick my brain to be in a more willing and positive mindset. In general, for example, I'll watch TV or listen to podcasts while I package greeting cards, prepare a fresh cup of coffee before I tackled emails. Or listen to my favorite music when I'm starting work on commissions. There are lots of possibilities. Number six track hours, all right down starting end times of each task to make myself more aware of how long they're taking me to do, which usually helps me to focus a little more. This can also be a helpful tool in reflecting on your progress, which I'll go over in the next video number seven 10 minute break. Take a full 10 minutes to take a break and do something completely different. It could be taking a walk, eating a snack or anything to help your mind reset before trying to get on task again. try to come up with more ideas of your own that are personalized. How you like to work. You can download this list in the resource section with space to add your own strategies as well. 7. Principle 5: Reflect + Improve: the final principle is to reflect and improve. This is an important step because it's how we check if our productivity plan has been working. Here are some ways to reflect on your progress Number one. Compare your plans with the actual results. It's okay not to carry out the plan perfectly, and in fact, seeing where they don't match gives us clues to adjustments we can make to prepare more realistically in the future. And if you notice a huge disconnect, maybe something bigger needs to change. Number two. Track your time. This was mentioned as a motivation strategy in the previous lesson, but can also be a great way to reflect. Looking back on how much time you spend on different things can reveal new insights like being able to tell how many hours you tend to stay focused at a time or how often you need breaks or how much time a day you spend on emails. Number three journal Quick journaling can be a great way to see how things are going, and you can spend as little or as much time as you like on it. A quick way to journal is to choose the end of a period of time like the end of a day, week or month and just jot down three bullet points of what went well and three bullet points of what was challenging or needs improvement. Over time, you can read back and see patterns in progress. Number four rest resting and taking a step back from your work can be a great way to reflect. It can be very different thinking about your work while you're in the thick of it, versus while your brain is resting in a different environment and mindset. Resting helps us to reset our brain and our work cycle to be able to start again. Fresh in both aspect. How often and how long to reset your work cycle is up to you. I know a friend who takes every seventh week off from work entirely the whole week to rest and work on other projects. For me, I avoid working in the evenings after dinner as well as on the weekends. Unless I'm vending at an event in which case I'll make it a point to take a week off from the following week. How often can you plan to reflect on your progress and which methods for reflecting Are you drawn to trying? You can download my time tracker and journaling template in the resource section if you're interested in trying them out. 8. Conclusion: thank you so much for joining me in this course. I hope you feel empowered to create a productivity plan that fits your personality and also helps you to get things done so much of being productive. It's simply planning in a realistic way that you could follow through it and setting the bar at whatever level works for you. I hope these tips will also not only help you be productive but to help you feel productive about a plan that you've taken action on. I think we can easily complete a lot of tasks without understanding how they fit into the bigger picture of our goals, and that can end up making them feel like tedious, busy work. But when we can see how the smaller pieces fit into the bigger picture, it makes accomplishing them feel that much more rewarding. Finally, and most importantly, I hope you've gained a new perspective on planning and productivity that how you go about it can look different for everyone while still following the same core principles. Once you see that, it could be simple, approachable and empowering. I hope it's something that you can get excited about continuing to thanks again for joining