What to do if deadlines are burning all the time? The truth about telecommuting

Working remotely has many advantages: you do not need to spend time and money on travel, you can work from anywhere in the world, at any time you can make your favorite tea. This makes remote work very attractive. Your time belongs to you and you can easily go to another city or build your schedule so that you can go to the gym in the morning, in the middle of the day to meet with friends, and at night work and close deadlines. But all freelancers sooner or later faced the problem of time management or procrastination. Sometimes it's hard to put yourself to work when there is no clearly defined schedule, and therefore sometimes tasks pile up and you have to do everything at the last minute. How to deal with it?

Procrastination

Procrastination is a nasty thing that catches up with everyone from time to time, whether we like our work or not. It's hard to get out of it, and work that is put on hold deteriorates in quality. Silly mistakes arise that your superiors clearly won't appreciate. When too much is piling up, you can even catch burnout and start thinking that you are simply a bad specialist. But all this is just a consequence of procrastination, not the objective truth about you, so analyze what caused procrastination in you.

Why do I procrastinate?

• Lack of motivation: If a task is not interesting or important to a person, he/she may postpone its fulfillment to a later date;
• Fear of failure: People may put off a task for fear of failing or doing something wrong;
• Feeling overwhelmed: If a person feels that they have too many tasks and too much on their shoulders, they may postpone tasks to reduce stress and increase time for rest;
• Feeling tired: If a person feels that their physical or emotional energy is decreasing, they may put things off to recover;
• Putting things off: People may put off tasks if they think it will take too long or if they don't know where to start.

How to get out of procrastination?

1. Break large tasks into smaller sub-items: It can be helpful to break tasks into smaller steps. Instead of trying to accomplish a large task in one go, you can try breaking it down into smaller steps that can be done one at a time. You can use the Pomodoro technique, which is a time management technique based on dividing your workday into periods of work and rest, usually 25 minutes of work and 5 minutes of rest. This will help you to be more productive and focus on the tasks that need to be accomplished;
2. ‍Set a deadline: Setting deadlines for tasks will help you to avoid putting them off until tomorrow. It is important to set realistic deadlines that match your ability to accomplish them;
3. Take regular breaks during the working day: This will help reduce fatigue and increase productivity. It is also important to remember that short, purposeful breaks can be beneficial, but they should not be so long that they distract from the tasks at hand;
4. Positive Thinking: A positive mindset will help you stay motivated and not put off tasks until later.

Time Management

To avoid the state of procrastination, it is important to learn how to build your schedule so that your rest does not suffer and your work time brings as much productivity as possible. To do this, analyze what hours you are most comfortable working, think about what half of the day you are most inclined to complete tasks.

6 simple tips

• Start keeping a planner in which you write down all your deadlines, work calls, and personal plans. This will help you avoid layering plans one on top of the other.
• Set aside time each week to analyze the work you've done. Analyze which tasks were easy for you and which were harder and how much time these tasks took.
• Before completing a task, break it down into sub-items and calculate how long it will take you to complete it.
• Do not try to do everything in one day. This approach is not effective. It will give the impression that if you don't have time to do all these tasks in one day, you are not productive.
• Study time management literature, watch time management videos, find time management principles that you are comfortable with.
• Find a mentor if you are having trouble customizing your daily routine. A mentor or specialist will be able to help you with counseling.

To summarize, we can only say one thing: everything is in your hands and with the right prioritization and distribution of workload you can be very productive and save yourself from procrastination and burnout.