Surviving the holidays as a freelancer: a to-do guide

Being a freelancer requires constant work and commitment. You cannot thrive in this environment if you are not self-reliable and well aware of your responsibilities.

In reality, freelancing often comes with overwhelming responsibilities. Not only are you responsible for respecting deadlines, but you’re also overworking to achieve your desired quotas.

As you can tell, being a successful freelancer doesn’t mean that your life’s simple. Many times, it means that you must work harder than those working 9-5 jobs. It means you have little to no breaks, and often times no vacations. It means you must organize your time properly and know how to prioritize if you want to be successful.

If you don’t, you won’t have time for yourself and your loved ones. And with holidays slowly approaching, it’s time to learn how to make time for what matters. Here’s a short guideline on how to survive the holiday season as a freelancer.

1.      Learn how to manage your workload

First and foremost, learning how to manage your workload should be your priority. If you’re disorganized, you won’t be able to enjoy time for yourself and your family. You’ll be constantly worried about missing deadlines and not finishing projects, which is stressful.

Start planning how to manage your workload before the holidays come. Here are some examples of what you could do:

§  Complete your deadlines before the holidays. Ask your clients to work with you on due dates. Let them know the details beforehand. If they find out your requirements too late, they won’t be able to help you.

§  If you can, work ahead on everything you can. This will allow you enough time to take breaks during the holiday season without guilting yourself for not working.

§  Prioritize your tasks properly, meaning, start with the most difficult ones and slowly work your way up to the least challenging.

As a freelancer writer at SuperiorPapers, I was always concerned about managing my time. Until one day, when I started figuring out my priorities. Since then, everything has changed.

So, even if you won’t be able to complete all of your tasks before the set deadlines, try your best to get your work done as much as you can. That’s still better than nothing.

2.      Give yourself breaks

If you don’t allow yourself to relax, you’ll come to a point of exhaustion. When you arrive there, you won’t be able to function anymore. I am sure you don’t want that, especially now, right before the holiday season.

So, commit to giving yourself regular breaks, even when you’re working to accomplish so many goals. Plan these breaks ahead as well if you’re about to feel guilty for it, suggest specialists at Dissertation Today. Map out a schedule that works for you. For instance, you could work 5 days a week for 10 hours and take 2 days off to unwind. That’s a good example of a compromise.

3.      Reflect

Taking time to reflect upon your past year is essential. Holidays are a great time to do this, so ensure that you’re allowing yourself to. Here are some of the things you might want to consider:

• Take into account all the positive outcomes you’ve experienced this past year or quarter
• Read through your best articles and thank yourself for having the inspiration to accomplish such a thing
• Think about your areas of growth – where have you improved these past years and where do you want to head from here?
• Think about the pros and cons of being a freelancer and draw a line – are you happy with your job?

Being so caught up in our work, we often forget to reflect upon our past year before the new one strikes. This doesn’t allow us to take a break from all the stress that we’ve accumulated. Thinking about our life is also important to do from time to time, so assuring that you’re taking the time to reflect is crucial.

Missing this opportunity could mean lacking a basic understanding of your thoughts, emotions, and actions, which can be highly destructive in the long term. So, work hard, but also take breaks to explore yourself and your dreams.

4.      Appreciate everyone who’s helped you

As the new year’s coming to an ending, appreciating those you’ve worked with and for is important. They are, in the end, people you’ve interacted with the most this year. So, even if you’re not sending them physical gifts, you could take some time to reflect upon these relationships. You could – maybe – send them thank-you notes if you feel like it.

Thinking about our relationships can also help us discover the important people in our lives. Maybe you could have made more efforts to connect with those people who are on the same page as you. My friend working for Australian Writings wouldn’t have called herself my friend if I wouldn’t have thanked her for helping me out with my work.

So, trust me when I say that this is the time to reflect upon your relationships and establish connections in your life.

5.      Network during holidays

Since the whole family is getting together during the holidays, this is your time to network even more. So, use this time properly, even if you are not working. Genuinely connecting with those you care about (and their friends) is a good exercise for creating work-based relationships.

You don’t have to be working to be networking but networking will definitely help you in your work. You never know what connections your family or friends have and how much those connections could help you in the future.

Let them know what you are doing for a living, even if they might have no idea what a freelancer is. You could have them check out this link.

Also, give out specific details such as, “I combine my passion for writing with my tech skills to help my clients succeed.” Even though they don’t know exactlywhat you are doing, they at least know that you are a writer and have tech skills. That’s still something!

6.     Do not overspend

Manage your money properly around the holidays. Even if you have a steady client, the first weeks after the holiday break won’t be too productive. So, you have to account for that and not spend all of your money on presents and food.

Since you’re working on projects, your big client can easily decide that they don’t want to work with you anymore, which can be disastrous for your income.

You must consider all of this when spending money on things you don’t necessarily need. You must also anticipate the costs that’ll come with the new year and plan accordingly. Do not let yourself suffer because of your disregard for extra costs.

7.      Enjoy your free time

Last but not least, holidays are for enjoying what you’re doing and not worrying about what happened in the past. So, whatever happens at work, keep an open heart and connect with the people around you. Be present, joke around, eat good food, and spend quality time with your family. In the end, this is all that you can do during the holidays. Stress less (or not at all!) and let everything unfold naturally.

Conclusion

Learn how to manage your workload, take breaks, reflect upon the past year, appreciate your colleagues and clients, network, avoid overspending, and enjoy your free time! If you respect these rules, you’ll have an amazing holiday season.

Author Bio:

Michael Gorman is a highly skilled freelance writer and proofreader from the UK who currently works at best essay writing service. Being interested in everyday development, he offers dissertation writing services for students, who can easily buy assignment online from Michael. He also writes various blog posts and discovers new aspects of human existence every day.