Some people believe that when you are a freelancer, you have more free time to yourself since you don’t have to report to work and you can manage your own time. While the part about not reporting to work and managing your own time is true, achieving work life balance as a freelancer is not as easy as some people might think. In fact, as a freelancer, you might find yourself devoting more time to work than you would have expected.
It is true that when you are a freelancer (particularly if you are a productivity based one) that you do have a firm grasp on your time. Managing your day and what you do all through it is up to you. This is where things can get rather tricky. With all the freedom to decide what you can squeeze into your workday, there is a huge chance that you will overwork yourself and put in more hours for working than you would taking care of other stuff. This is where the work-life balance gets screwed.
When you work for an office, you can compartmentalize your life. 9 hours working at the office, a couple of hours’ overtime if needed, then you can do what you want afterwards. When you work outside of this scenario, you can easily work 12 to 14 hours, and can even make yourself available to clients at odd hours of the day. This is not conducive to a balanced life where you have time for yourself, time for your friends, time for your work, and time for other things that interest you.
How to Create Work Life Balance as a Freelancer
I will be the first to admit that I am guilty of not living a life that is balanced. I will also be the first to admit that I no longer have time to go out on the town and to relax without having to work. This is the danger of freelancing, and while I do enjoy my work, I know that there will come a time when I will resent it because I am on the fast track to burning out.
In order to create a balance between life and work, I need to follow some of these tips that you can use too as a freelancer:
- Do not overcommit – I am definitely guilty of this, and only because I don’t like to waste time. Call me a workaholic, but any time wasted not doing anything worthwhile or productive will drive me nuts. I might be okay with this for now, but I know the time will come when I will find myself with too much on my plate and my brain on burnout mode, and I won’t be able to meet all my commitments. To avoid this, you should set a limit to what you can do and set a schedule every month before the month starts so you know how much time you have for all the things you need to do.
- Know when you are burnt out – burning out is not fun, and I can tell you this from experience. That moment when your mind suddenly goes blank and you cannot turn your brain back on, that is a moment you don’t want to experience (especially when you have deadlines looming ahead and even more so when you are standing in front of a class, trying to teach). It is best if you can tell you are heading for a burnout before it happens, so you can insert some “me time” to destress and to gain back some of your sanity. Some of the signs that alert me to an impending brain wipe include the need to ingest more than 10 cups of coffee a day, feeling sleepy when facing work, and rereading a sentence more than 3 times before I grasp what I am reading.
- Always schedule some time away from what you do –read a book (not work-related), have a few drinks with friends (no shop talk), or simply catch a movie on your own. These are some things you should always include in your weekly schedule. If you have a family, schedule some quality time with them. Drop work and breathe every now and then. Work will be there after and you can pick up where you left off after you have had your time for yourself and with your loved ones.
Balancing my time between PTB Digital Training Hub, Cebu Digital Hub, and my RISTT duties, not to mention my other work on the side, I admit I do have a hard time adhering to these tips. I have lofty goals, and I vow to achieve them, but I know that I also need to take care of myself as a person. You do too. This is why I hit the beach whenever I can, hang out after teaching wherever I may be, and try to enjoy good food as well as conversations with people around me after work is done.
