I’m a freelance web developer, game designer and filmmaker; I manage several clients and just released my first game. Here’s my process and things I learned.
The typical day
Long term project schedule may not be for you. I say so because for me it backfired miserably – I wasn’t always motivated to do a particular task at particular time so would shuffle around. This made me feel I was falling behind, thus stressing me out even more!
Try a loose weekly ToDo list and establish daily blocks of “work time” (9-5?) to accomplish them in. Including work, projects and daily errands and treat them equally, but prioritize the order. For me, being able to pick tasks each day depending on my mood and circumstances worked MUCH better! And treating work and errands (like shopping) equally gave me sense of satisfaction from completing them.
Review and update your daily tasklist each day I’d usually spend the first half hour of my work day sipping tea, checking emails, and figuring my schedule for the day.
Good enough really IS good enough
Another important lesson I learned – it’s ok to miss tasks or fall behind. That’s the whole point of prioritizing them; accept it and ease your mind. On my game, I stressed so much around deadlines, sometimes unable to cram everything in and… It all worked out fine. The world didn’t collapse.
Some features got pushed to next week/deadline; some just got cut. And my game still turned out great.
So don’t put 80% of your focus on the last 10% – it’s not economical and your energy is better spent on accomplishing other things. Some tasks really aren’t worth the mental anguish because…
Your sanity = your efficiency
Your mental well-being directly translates to your ability to finish work, so it is more important than smaller tasks. And being well rested will make you more productive and you will accomplish more in less time. It took me a while to finally understand that, and once I did, I could “indulge” in my off-days way more easily.
Thus, when done with your work-block, STOP. Period. Even if you didn’t finish. Trust me on this! It will be difficult at first but over time, forcing yourself to stop will actually teach you to prioritize better and become more efficient! After 3 weeks of doing this, I found myself finishing my day early, because I completed all the tasks already.
Oh and schedule mandatory off days. You will forget to or meander back to work if you don’t. Trust me on this! Your mind needs a reboot every once in a while.
It will take time to learn to Relax and trust yourself
Initially I could not really enjoy my off time, my mind wondering to work or game or my game. That is why it’s key to force yourself to relax after work or on off days in the beginning.
It will take time to adjust and “trust” your schedule. Initially you won’t trust yourself or will get urges to do work after work time or off days. But it’s important you don’t. It took me some two or three weeks before I finally realized the system was working and was actually able to enjoy my time off.
Closing Words
Big credit goes to Carl from StudyHacks whose brilliant article inspired my own work process and some of the tips above.
Also, experiment and adjust these ideas – just because it worked for me doesn’t mean it will work for you. But it’s worth a shot!
(Dedicated to my sister, Alex, whose schedule is probably more hectic than mine yet she manages to remain all around awesome)
If you’re curious about my indie political adventure game where you play an Agent of Death in a conflict-torn Nation on brink of Industrial revolution, Support us on Steam Greenlight!