10 Super-Productive Time Management Tips for Authors

As an author or freelance writer, working for yourself means you have so much more freedom than the average worker, but this means you need to be disciplined and controlled with what you do in your life. In order to be a success and make a profit, one of the most important aspects you’ll need to master is time management.

This can be extremely difficult when you’re stressed out or find yourself reaching deadlines or trying to tackle the million other things on your list, so we’re here to help. Today, we’re going to talk about ten of the best time management tips all freelance writers need to know about.

#1 – Get Up Early

It’s common knowledge that our most productive times of the day, whether we agree with it or not, is the morning. This is because we’re fully refreshed and have more energy here than we do at any other point in the day.

“Get up around 7-8 am and start work not long after. Really knuckle down and try to get as much work completed here as possible and you’ll soon find your workloads a lot less stressful,” shares Tina Page, a freelance writer for WriteMYX and Brit Student.

#2 – Research a System

There are plenty of self-help books and articles out there that can help you create habits and a system in your daily life that can help you manage and optimize the time in your day. However, with so many out there, don’t be afraid to research them and see if there’s any that work for you.

Then, simply implement them into your daily life!

#3 – Schedule Your Emails for Certain Times

As a freelance writer, it’s understandable you want to keep up to date with your emails and keep your clients happy. However, nobody expects instant replies, and nor do you need to reply instantly. In fact, keeping on top of your emails at all hours of the day is very counter-productive to your productivity.

Instead, learn to check your emails once in the morning and once at night during set hours. This way, you can keep on top of everything, and there’s no need to keeping cutting up your focus on certain tasks.

#4 – Optimise Relaxation

Not all forms of relaxing mean you’re actually relaxing. If you’re sat in front of a computer all day, you’re not going to want to watch a film or TV or play computer games to unwind. Sometimes, even reading a book may not be a good idea.

“Find a balance between doing the things you love, working, spending time on your own and seeing friends. Have set relaxation hours with work times to maximize productivity and know when you’re going to have your breaks,” shares Sarah Manby, a writing trainer at Nextcoursework and 1Day2Write.

#5 – Minimise Distractions

No matter what you’re thinking about in your life, make sure you’re minimizing the number of distractions you have. This means turning your phone off and putting it in a drawer or another room. It’s amazing how much time you’ll waste if you chop and change between the things you’re doing. Always work on one thing at a time. Multi-tasking is counter-productive.

#6 – Plan Your Days in Advance

One of the best ways to manage your time is to take the time to plan your days. You can do this either planning for the week ahead or planning your next day the day before. Plan how long you’re going to work on each task and how you ’re going to organize your day.

#7 – Use Set Working Hours

Don’t try and work 24 hours of the day every day. This is counter-productive to how focused you are on each task, how effective you’ll be, and just generally for your health and well-being. Instead, work set hours of the day.

If you say you’re going to work nine hours a day, five days a week like a typical working day, you then have time to solidly grind at work and time to do the things you want to do. Your health and productivity depend on this.

#8 – Set Goals

Another great way to manage your time and to keep you dedicated and on focus is to set yourself goals. You can do this hourly or weekly, depending on the tasks you have, but ideally, you’re going to want to set them daily.

Setting daily goals means you know exactly what you want to accomplish in a day, meaning you won’t overwork yourself and there’s no need to waste time thinking about what you want to do next.

#9 – Do Hard Work First

Hand in hand with the point of working early in the morning, it’s also best to get your hardest tasks out the way. This is because you can get the main bulk of work done in the morning, and then start to relax, unwind and slow down towards the end before then entering your free time.

#10 – Be Discipline

You can follow every single rule or time management tip you want, but if you don’t have the discipline to keep you going, they’re not going to work in the long-term. Stay disciplined and focused, and you’ll soon be able to manage your time like a pro.

Katrina Hatchett is Academic Brits lifestyle blogger and a writer for Origin Writings. She is keenly involved in a variety of business ventures. Her key skills involve problem identification, along with solving these problems, which she achieves through focusing on her goal of improving effectiveness of communication. She also writes for Phd Kingdom blog.