Freelancing isn’t a walk in the park. Designers often leave agency life dreaming of a more relaxed and independent work-life balance, only to find that freelancing is high-pressure and requires wearing multiple hats and juggling numerous priorities. From creative strategy to managing finances and marketing, freelancers have to do far more than just design. When the stakes are this high, staying focused is critical to success. Yet, as we all know, mastering focus is a challenge in itself.
Working remotely or from a co-working space with little accountability can create the perfect recipe for distractions, which equals time-wasting and piling deadlines. Distraction is the enemy of focus, and in today's digital world, it’s literally at our fingertips.
At Creative Launchpad, we understand that maintaining focus is a challenge many in our community struggle with, so we’ve compiled some strategies and techniques to help.
Let’s begin with the practical
The first step to mastering focus is being practical. Begin with your workspace, make sure you have a designated and quiet workspace that helps to stimulate your creative mind (link to the recent boosting creativity article). Minimize clutter and physical distractions and create a calming environment. Create a workspace that you genuinely want to be in.
Next comes goal setting. Knowing your priorities, weekly objectives, and daily tasks is really helpful in creating a roadmap for the working week. Taking the time to plan and create to-do lists creates structure amidst the creative chaos and helps you focus on the highest priority tasks.
Self-awareness is key
One of the most crucial aspects of mastering focus is self-awareness. Understanding what distracts you means you can remove these triggers from your workspace or day. Maybe it’s notifications, getting lost in the morning news updates, or background noise. We are all susceptible to distraction, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Identifying what leads you off task means you can make moves to remove those distractions, such as using noise-cancelling headphones or setting your phone to do-not-disturb. All you need to know is what pulls you away from the flow-zone and mitigate those distractions.
In the same vein, understanding what helps you get in the focus zone is really important. Do you work well with instrumental music? Are you more productive at a certain time of day? Are there rituals like your morning coffee that signal to your brain ‘it’s go time’? Identify the things that help you work best and ensure they are in your daily work routine.
For some people, deadlines are key to productivity—as the saying goes, ‘diamonds are made under pressure.’ If you know you tend to procrastinate and that having a clear and final deadline allows you to hone in, then keep yourself accountable. A great tool for building the habit of self-discipline and self-regulation of activity at work is a timer. By using a timer to place deadlines on ourselves beyond client due dates, we can provide the structure needed to stay on task.
Cognitive exercise to improve focus
Our brain is a muscle, and like any other muscle, it can be strengthened. Cognitive exercises are a great tool for freelancers to help them overcome fatigue, improve concentration and focus, and boost creativity.
Mindfulness and meditation are some of the best strategies at our disposal to improve cognition and can really help freelancers keep on top of their workload. Mindfulness is about focusing attention on the present moment, and practising mindfulness has been shown to rewire the brain so that attention is stronger in everyday life. Simply sitting still with your eyes closed each day and focusing on breathing is enough to centre our minds.
The beauty of freelancing is that you are your own boss and can determine your working hours. If you find you work best with microbreaks, then pencil those into your day. Recharging is important to allow us to do our best work.
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Mastering focus is a constant challenge for freelancers, but it is essential to ensuring optimal productivity. Becoming self-aware of your distractions and finding tools to keep you on track is incredibly beneficial to a freelance career. Hopefully, this list will provide you with some strategies to get your mind in the flow-zone. Remember, everyone is different, and finding what works for you is the key.
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