Introduction
For long years I had no idea how to organize my own life, from everyday planning to long termed. It seemed to me that if I will do as much as possible every day - it will lead to high results and success. But how wrong I was:)
In fact such non-controlled work leaded only to exhaustion and instant frustration. I couldn't understand what my goals are, and as a result couldn't understand if I reached them. So it was like an instant run to no where, energy wasted without vector.
So a few years ago I finally decided that I need some work organization (the thing that can be sometimes hard to reach for a freelancer) and a system that will be comfortable for me. And started my research in this direction.
Yana Frank system
I was lucky to find such system created by another freelance illustrator - Yana Frank. She also created a special diary for creative people, called "365 days of a really creative person". The system looks really similar to the one we had at school: you work for 45, then you rest for 15. So the hour is divided to two parts: work and rest.
And in such regime you spend as many hours a day as yo need to work. The main condition is that if you work for 45 minutes - you work, you're not watching cat videos on youtube. With rest it's a bit more complicated. This system is for these who work at home, so you can fill these rest pauses with different home stuff, like washing, cooking, ect.
She also recommends to make a list of the business you need to make regularly (s0 called routines), and figure out how many times a day/week/month you need to make them. For example:
- Washing dishes - 2 times a day
- Vacuum cleaning - 3 times a week
- Washing windows - 1 time a month
And them you just put everything from this list to these 15 minutes pauses.
One more condition - switching activities. For example I work sitting. This means that for these 15 minutes beaks I have to stand up and make something in motion, not go to facebook and keep sitting.
Advantages of the system
In fact the main of them - you really do more then without such schedule.
And the most pleasant - you still have energy in the evening. Seems unbelievable, but it's really true. When you switch your activity all the day long - you keep yourself in good tone, you don't get exhausted because of only one type of activity.
One more - it really affects your health, in good meaning. You don't sit for 8-10 hours, you move, so your body will be really thankful for it.
And the one I personally really like - I cross off something every time I finish it. For example if my schedule looks like this:
- 45 - illustration
- 15 - feed my dog
- 45 - illustration
- 15 - wash the dishes
- 45 - illustration
After I finish first 45 minutes with working on illustration - I cross it off. And it makes me feel better, I already know that I made an effort, worked.
And yes, one more advantage of the system. After you finish something you always can count how much time it took.
Tips and tricks
There's a special software, called "Pomodoro timer". I highly recommend to use it if you'll decide to try the system I described. You can settle it on periods of 45/15, and it will give you a signal when you need to switch. I'm giving you a link on it here.
It may look like a really strict system but in fact it's not. After all it really helps to organize your day, and always know what and when has been done, and what is still to do.
P.S.
Dear friends, please let me know in the comments below if you're interested in more posts like this one, cause it really takes me a lot of effort to write them since English is not my native. So I will continue the series if someone will be interested in it, otherwise it makes no sense. Anyway, if you read it to these lines - thank you for your attention:)
Thank you for voting and commenting:)
Love, Inber