If you want to be a successful ghostwriter you need to have time management down to a fine art.
At the end of the day if you want to live the freelancer life with such perks as flexibility and high earnings you need to learn how to organise your time, to allow yourself all of those perks.
Managing your time means fitting both work and leisure time in such a way that you can live a better life.
By making your time more efficient you'll have no problem maximising your professional output, and maximising future earnings.
Let's take a look at some tips to make your time more manageable.
Maintain a Diary
In a busy world you need a schedule, something that shows either hourly or a daily breakdown of your routine.
You'll soon discover that time is there if you need it, you just need to factor into your day where your main priorities lie.
But if you become too overwhelmed and start saying no to work you'll never finish what you need to do, which will hinder any other projects you may have lined up.
Being More Productive Means Planning Your Day
If you plan all of your day you'll know what time you have to fit in other activities besides work. You'll also learn how long it takes you to complete certain tasks, such as writing, editing or planning a book. .
Once you've set up your week you can then start looking at your future diary dates. This gives you time to workout when you can start new ghostwriting projects, as well as your own future projects and goals.
The Bottom Line
The whole idea of setting a schedule means managing your time, and goals, along with personal projects you have lined up that you want to complete.
Managing your time efficiently means you can be more productive and include more in your day, making you a successful ghostwriter.
Never Put Off What You Can Do Today
The only difference between success and failure is the ability to take action.
Alexander Graham Bell.
Procrastination always creeps in when you least expect it, and when it does it can stay for a long time. Leaving you with nothing but wasted time.
If you can stay within your schedule and get things finished before time, and the client's specification word will spread and you'll get more clients.
Showing that:
- You're not afraid of a bit of hard work, and are willing to go the extra mile.
- You can go the extra mile when it's needed.
- You can get started on your next project before time, if you've finished with your previous client.
Loving What You Do is Half the Battle
If you love writing, and have chosen it because it gives you more freedom, why are you still putting off what you can achieve today?
You need to stop and ask yourself these questions:
- Why did I start ghostwriting in the first place?
- Do I love my stay-at-home freedom as a writer?
- Do I want someone else to create a schedule for me?
- Am I procrastinating because I don't understand the brief I've been given?
- Is there a way I can make things simpler for both me and my clients?
These are just some of the questions that will help answer all of your procrastination worries.
Stay Away From Diversions
Many of life's daily tasks have become easier with the advent of technology, leaving all of the old ways, like writing things down and even reading a book left behind. It seems like we've lost the art of reading altogether, preferring to sit and watch TV, or listen to music rather than pick up a book. Saturated by images and information on a daily basis, and yet unable to focus for that long.
This has led many scientists to believe that our concentration span has gone down drastically, from that of a couple of hundred years ago.
As writers we should be immersing ourselves in as many stories and information as we can, instead of focussing on things such as social media.
Why is Social Media Such a Big Distraction?
You may already have noticed how many people go around with their eyes firmly centred on their mobile phone screens and tablets. It should come as no surprise that most people spend 2 hours or more per day flicking through their social media channels. It's so easy to find the information you want with just a click.
I use social media for promotional purposes, so I tend to go on and do whatever I need to do and come straight off, but I know for many people it isn't that simple.
If you're using social media for a constructive purpose like promoting your business, then I would say that's a different matter altogether than trawling through to find out the latest fashion trends, or what movies are popular at the moment or even what your favourite celebrities are up to.
Understanding Why You're Feeling So Tired
Tiredness can turn a good day into a really bad one. You may find having such a heavy workload that it's too much and you're unable to sleep.
So what can you do to get a good night's sleep?
- Turn off all devices, including your TV and power off completely at night. If your eyes see any blue light it mistakes it for daylight, keeping you wide awake.
- Avoid any food or drink that can keep you awake at night. It goes without saying that consuming caffeine so late will keep you going throughout the night. Also a handy tip is to have your last meal three hours before you go to sleep, this allows your body to digest it before you shut your eyes.
- Exercise during the day. I love walking, and try to fit in as much as I can during the week. All of this helps clear my head during the day, and helps me sleep well at night.
Stay Healthy
Make Exercise and Eating Well a Key Part of Your Routine
As previously mentioned above, exercising and having a good diet all help towards time management. If your body isn't functioning optimally then you're going to be in trouble, and won't be able to work efficiently. This all rests on your daily diet and exercise routine.
Look at What You Want to Achieve in the Future
You can do anything if you set goals. You just have to push yourself.
R J Mitte.There's nothing wrong with having a few goals throughout your writing life. Something you want to strive for, something really inspirational you might want to try, or even change in your life. It's so easy to slip into a mundane routine and not look any further outside the box you're living in.
Hesitancy slowly creeps in when you least expect it and can prevent you from fulfilling any dreams or goals.
But it's not all doom and gloom, here are two kinds of goals:
Short-Term
These are goals you set yourself for something you want to achieve within a week or maybe even a day. These goals will help you work through your weekly work schedule and also enable you to manage your time more wisely. Goals as small as this are within easy reach and can be done with little effort, but not quite hard enough to make you want to give up.
Long-Term
This is where you aim high, you may have a book in mind you want to write, or a new project you want to start. These are the dreams you have that may make your life a little easier and have monetary gain, or may help free up a little extra time. But all of which take maximum effort to complete.
Regular Goal Setting
You'll discover confidence you never knew you had once you get started, helping you understand that anything you want to achieve in your life is possible. All of these goals need to be done within a set time frame, and also enable you to get your current work schedule done.
Which is why time management and goal setting go so nicely together.
It doesn't matter how old you are, you should never stop learning. People who love learning about new things tend to do better than those that just stay stagnant throughout their life. Business empires have been built by people who have never stopped learning, and who strive to find better ways for people to live. People are learning new things all of the time, helping you keep up with your competition.
So how do you keep up-to-date with the latest information?
Read Other People's Blogs - Look at what other like-minded people are writing about, and be constantly looking for new information.
Track Your Competition - Again this involves reading the people you most admire in your own particular writing field, and finding out the latest trends.
What Does All of This Have to Do With Time Management?
The world is changing everyday, and technology is moving on, new software, tools and resources are being created to make people's lives easier.
With all of these new time saving innovations you can implement them into your day and manage your time and personal business as a ghostwriter.
Strike the Right Balance With Your Life and Work
It's easy to slip into work mode and think of nothing else, but we know that too much work can leave you burnt out, and no use to anybody.
Striking the right balance often takes time and can leave you blurring the lines between your work life and home life.
Essentially you need to find your happy place, and be able to mix the two without one taking over the other and vice versa.
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