Task Organization

There are many approaches to getting organized. You can organize your space, you can organize your time, and you can organize your files. The type of organization I would like to focus on is task organization. This is an approach in which you track the things you have to do and try to develop ideas for completing those tasks efficiently and with the least amount of stress possible.

Make a list of tasks

The first step in task organization is to make a thorough list of all the tasks that you need to accomplish, want to accomplish, and hope to accomplish. It will be large list so don’t be frightened. Almost everyone has more tasks on their list then they can reasonably accomplish. You can achieve anything you want to achieve, as the saying goes, but you can’t achieve everything you want to achieve.

Set task priorities

After you have the list developed, you should go through and prioritize the list. There are plenty of ways to set priorities. You can list them as 1, 2, 3 or high priority / low priority, for example. What I do is break the list down into categories:

• Tasks I absolutely have to do
• Tasks I want to do and have the time and resources to do
• Tasks I should do soon
• Tasks I want to do but don’t have the time to do
• Tasks I am willing to put aside
• Tasks I am waiting for other people to do

You can pick your own categories, but it is important to have at least one list of things you aren’t going to do for now. This will get them off your mind as long as you make an agreement with yourself to review the list regularly.

Break tasks down into steps

Once you have your list, take the items that are your top priority and review them to figure out the steps you need to accomplish each task. Sometimes you can map out the whole process. Sometimes you need to settle for just listing the next step. Whatever the case, get clear on what you need to do or have in order to proceed. Be sure to keep special track of time sensitive tasks. Task management is different from time management, but it is still important to recognize that some things need to be done within a limited time span.

Pick tasks that are appropriate

Once you have your list completed, pick the item that you are most ready to do and proceed. Try to pick things that are appropriate for your available time and energy levels. If a step can’t be completed in the time allotted, you either need to break that step down into smaller steps, or pick something more appropriate for the time you have available.

Work through problems

Keep your list handy and review it as often as needed. Mark off your completed tasks and move on. If you find yourself avoiding a particular task for longer than you should, evaluate the task again. Chances are you’ve left out an essential step or requirement and are unsure of how to proceed. Some tasks, of course, are just plain unpleasant, but they are on your list for a reason.

Celebrate your accomplishments

As you complete the high priority tasks on your list, allow yourself to feel a sense of accomplishment. Don’t fret the fact that there are still more items on your list. There always will be. If you ever got close to finishing, you would think up more things to do anyway. Focus on what you do accomplish rather than what you don’t. Evaluate regularly and keep moving forward.

Six Tips for More Organized Freelancing

Make a daily to-do list

Sit down at the beginning of each day and look at your current assignments. If you don’t have any assignments, make marketing your assignment for the day. Make a list of the three things that you most want or need to move forward on that day and decide what steps you are going to take. Tackle those items as soon as possible, before the day gets in your way.

Make a daily don’t do list

Make a list of the things that you aren’t going to do that day. This is for your peace of mind. Write down any of those nagging tasks that you think you need to do but know you won’t do. Get those items on paper and off of your mind.

Throw away everything you don’t need

By throw away I mean throw it in the trash, recycle it or give it to someone else. Everything in your office that you don’t need is a potential distraction. Yes, you are welcome to have art and other things that aren’t entirely necessary but make life better. Just get rid of the junk, and realize that most of the things in your office are probably  junk.

Keep track of the ways that you waste time

If you stop working to log on to Facebook and read your messages or play Viking Clan, write it down. If you stop to check your email, write it down. Make yourself list all the ways that you waste time. It will keep you honest.

Log your thoughts and ideas

Keep an open text file, a notebook, a smartphone or an audio recorder. Whenever you have a thought that seems valuable or won’t get out of your head, record it for later. You can review these thoughts at the end of the day to determine their value and any ways that you want to move forward.

Apply the 80/20 rule

The 80/20 rule, which applies to so much of life, is simply this. Twenty percent of effort results in eighty percent of results and benefits. Review your time and your projects and determine the most valuable way to use your time. What do you do that actually results in income, and what do you do that doesn’t result in income.

Project Management and Editorial Calendars for Freelance Writers

Managing your freelance writing projects can be complicated and the needs can differ from writer to writer. Some freelancers have many small assignments that they have to manage. Others work on long assignments and need to provide updates to their clients along the way. Some writers face a combination of these assignments. They have some small projects and some large projects, and they need to make sure every assignment is getting the attention that its size, deadline, and priority demands.

Focusing on your projects and your days

When you track projects as a freelance writer, you need to keep your eye on both the big picture and the details. On one end you have to keep track of deadlines and milestones. You must be able to report your progress to a concerned client or editor, and you must feel comfortable with your own progress. On the other side, you need to set your tasks each day, making sure that you are setting aside the proper amounts of time per day to keep moving forward on those tasks.

Setting an Editorial Calendar

On the big picture end, you should set up an editorial calendar. Your editorial calendar tracks all of your projects, both for clients and for yourself, on a weekly/monthly/yearly basis. For smaller tasks such as short articles or brochures, you may only need to track the due date and put a reminder to work on it for a date that is somewhat ahead of that deadline. For long articles, books, reports or web sites, you may need to break up the editorial deadline with milestones on which you intend to accomplish certain tasks such as a draft, a section or a chapter. The editorial calendar isn’t meant to tell you what you should accomplish every day. It is simply there to keep you apprised of the big picture.

Setting Daily Goals

On a daily basis, you need to set your short-term goals. These short-term goals can be managed by time or by task. If you use a time management approach, you might set a goal to spend four hours on Project A, two hours on Project B and two hours on Project C. If you use a task management approach, you might set a goal of 1500 words on Project A, write draft of second chapter on Project B and finish article for Project C. Either method works. A task approach makes it easier to set specific goals, but an hourly approach might work best for projects that pay by the hour.

Setting Priorities

It is a good idea to start the day with your highest-priority item. Distractions can come up no matter how organized you are, so try to get the important things done before any distractions have time to present themselves. At the end of the day, assess your progress and make adjustments to your schedule. Some days are better than others and you may find yourself ahead or behind schedule on a particular project. Reviewing your editorial calendar daily is a good way to keep yourself on track.

Creating a Peaceful Home Office

The key to a peaceful home office is that it should be a place that is comfortable for you. Some people like a cluttered, unorganized office. They feel comfortable amid all the chaos. They consider it energizing. This is not the article for them. I can work in such an environment, but I am far more comfortable in an area that is free of clutter and organized to suit my needs. It doesn’t have to be spotless (and it never has been) but it should not distract from my work. Here are a few ideas for getting your home office to work for you.

Eliminate the paper

The first and most important step in creating a peaceful office is to get rid of the things that you don’t need. This can be difficult because we are good at fooling ourselves. We think we need things that we simply don’t need. I used to keep several hundred books in my office. I considered them a reference library. The problem was that I never used them. Most of the books were ones I had read and would never read again. Others were books that I hadn’t read and never would. I was fooling myself.

I reduced my library from hundreds of books to about two dozen. Most of those were books of poetry, which I enjoy reading and are great for taking a break. The books fit on a single, three-foot tall bookcase. It was painful giving away my other books, but I really haven’t missed them.

Other items I have gotten rid of include my file cabinets. I now have a single plastic file box that I keep all of the most necessary paper records in. Everything else I either scanned into my computer or threw away. I was convinced I needed all of those notes, fliers, old articles and such but I really didn’t. I haven’t missed them either.

Get furniture you can use as storage

For most of the items that I did keep, I chose to hide them efficiently. I invested in two ottomans that open up to provide storage. My cat likes to sleep on top of them.

Beyond reducing clutter, I have painted my office a peaceful blue. I have one piece of art and one calendar on the walls. I rarely notice them though because when I want to look at something besides the computer, I like to look out the window.

Keep a simple desk

As for my desk, I have reduced it to my laptop computer, an additional monitor, my printer and a notebook. I keep my office supplies in my closet because I need them only occasionally. I sit in a very comfortable recliner and I do my work. I also have a fan and a garbage basket. That is it for my whole office. It is simple and peaceful. For me, that is what works best.

Additional Reading

• Creating a minimalist workspace — from Zen Habits
• I Hate Filing: Everything You Need to Get Organized for Success and Sanity at Home, on the Run and in the Office

How to Set Personal Boundaries

Knowing what your boundaries are and how to maintain them is important for anyone, and it is especially important for writers. Writing is a task that requires concentration and a certain amount of peace. Constant interruptions and turmoil make it difficult to write as a profession. More importantly, allowing clients, employers, friends and family members to violate your boundaries can not only cost you time and patience, it can cost you money.

Determine what your boundaries are

Most people never proactively think about the behaviors and events that test their boundaries. Take the time to evaluate, in writing, what you believe your personal boundaries are or at least should be. To put it simply, decide what bothers you. Boundaries may be based on such things as physical contact, emotional abuse, improper requests, time wasting, inappropriate information, or abuse of position.

Determine how well you have been enforcing your boundaries

Once you have figured out what your boundaries are, evaluate how well you have been enforcing those boundaries. You probably are better at enforcing some boundaries than others. Figure out which ones need the most work. Think of actions you can take to improve the situation.

Figure out who your main violators are

Make a list of the people in your life that you feel violate your boundaries. In many cases this will be specific people. In other cases it will be classes of people such as clients or editors. Figure out where the violations are coming from.

You must change your own actions

Protecting personal boundaries is your own responsibility and comes from your own actions. When someone attempts to violate your boundaries, you need to be the one to tell that person or show that person that you will not tolerate their behavior. This means getting used to saying the word no. It also means following through on any statements you make. Often, someone who is used to violating your boundaries will be reluctant to change their behavior. They may try to escalate or they may try to test you in other ways. It is up to you to stand firm.

Boundary setting statements

Some things you can say when you set boundaries:

• No
• No, thank you
• I can’t do that
• That is inappropriate behavior
• I will not be treated that way
• I will not be spoken to that way
• I am not responsible for your issue
• I don’t have time in my schedule to do that
• I am not the proper person to come to with this problem
• We need to stick to our original agreement

Other ways to set boundaries

Sometimes a statement will not do the trick. Direct confrontation is a proactive way to solve the problem, but it is not always the best answer. Some other things you can do to set boundaries are:

• Change your location. This can be as major as moving to a new office, or as minor as walking away.
• Become unavailable. Don’t answer the phone or check email when you are working on something important. Limit the opportunities for people to contact you.
• Delegate. Suggest that another person is better for the task.
• Use silence. This works very well on the phone and it works well in person if you are good at maintaining eye contact. When an inappropriate request comes, don’t say anything. Let the other person realize that they have made an error and in many cases they will change the situation on their own. If they don’t, now is the time for a simple no.

An immediate response is best

The sooner you set a boundary, the easier it will be to enforce. Sometimes, you will want to set boundaries in advance, such as informing people what hours are appropriate for contact or writing down a clear definition of the work to be performed.

Cutting off contact

As I said previously, some people will not respond well to the boundaries you set, especially if it is a new boundary or one that they are used to violating. Most people will adjust to boundaries quickly, but sometimes people simply won’t stop. The best thing to do with these people is to cut off contact. Stop talking to them. Stop responding to their requests. Drop them as a client. If it is an employer or co-worker, you may need to get human resources involved or even find a new job. These are difficult choices, but sometimes uncertainty is better than continuing in an unhappy situation.

Freelance Writing and Organization

One of the keys to developing a successful freelance career is getting and staying organized. Freelance writing has chaotic moments. Assignments come in bunches. Clients change their minds. Checks arrive late. Your personal life clashes with your professional life. These things happen. Some chaos is to be expected, but the better you manage and organize your professional (and even personal) life, the better you’ll be able to deal with chaos when it comes and get back on track when it is over.

There are four key areas that need management and organization if you want your freelance writing career to run smoothly. Those areas are task management, time management, workspace management and money management. Here are the basics that you need to keep in mind with each of these areas.

Task management

Task management is essential to gaining control over your professional life. You need to keep a running list of all the tasks that you need to accomplish. This can be daunting, but it is necessary. Beyond just listing the things that need to be done, good task management means taking the time to think through and write down the steps you need to take to successfully complete each task. Another key to good task management is deciding what has priority and what you can handle. It is ok to list some tasks as “nice to have” or “when life gets less crazy”. Setting priorities is important. It is also good to realize what you can handle. When the mind is fresh and you have tons of energy, the most creative and difficult tasks should be worked on. When you are low on creativity or energy, it may be time to look at the simpler tasks that can be accomplished with minimal mental or physical effort.

Time management

Between time management and task management, I put a priority on task management. As a freelancer though, you cannot afford to ignore time management. Clients often set deadlines, and those deadlines must be met. In order to do this properly, you need to keep careful track of when items need to be turned in and set milestones for getting those assignments finished on time. This can be as simple as keeping a whiteboard list of milestones and deadlines. It is also a great way to make use of calendars, both physical and electronic.

Workspace management

Workspace management is quite simply the creation of a workspace that enhances your productivity. This can mean different things for different people depending on how they work. Some people keep all of their files on paper. Oother people prefer to keep everything in the computer. Most people strike a balance somewhere in between. The key to workspace management though, is to make sure that the things you need the most are available and easy to find. This means assigning spaces for specific items and tasks. It also means taking a little time each day to make sure everything is where it should be. If you make this a habit, it shouldn’t take more than a few minutes at the beginning or end of the day.

Money management

Money management is especially complicated and especially crucial for freelance writers. Because you cannot count on a steady paycheck, and must instead rely on clients to pay you according to the terms that you work out. Keeping an emergency fund is the key to staying afloat. Many freelance writers pay their bills in advance. When a big check comes, the first thing I generally do is pay the mortgage, car payment, electric bill, and Internet provider for as many months ahead as I can. It makes it easier to keep working when I know that the four things I need the most are covered. Other people set aside the money and leave themselves flexibility for what they need to pay. That is great if you can trust yourself not to spend the money on anything foolish. Use the system that works for you, but take the time to get your finances in order.

For Further Reading

• Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
• 27 Great Tips to Keep Your Life Organized
• 9 Things Freelancers Should Do Before the End of the Year

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