Budgeting Time
If you’re like me and you have a full-time job and have side work like web freelancing, then I’m sure you find yourself having to budget your time. 2008 was a great year for my freelance business. I made professional connections and was able to bring in a nice cash flow (to help pay my bills of course).
Yes it’s great to have that extra income, but if you don’t manage your time correctly you can find yourself struggling to get things done. In my case, I have to successfully juggle the gym, freelance work, “me time” and socializing. It’s important to have a social life! It keeps you mentally healthy.
So how do I do it? I have an iPhone and I use the calendar on it religiously. Without it, I would not be as structured as I am. It doesn’t matter what the event may be, I make sure I put it in my calendar. Dinner with friends? Calendar. Phone conference with business partners? Calendar. Hair cut? Calendar. I can’t stress enough how important it is to keep track of your events.
“Inch by inch, life’s a cinch. Yard by yard, life is hard.” I live by this quote. Sometimes I find myself struggling to get things done on time. However, if I break down my tasks into smaller ones I can get them accomplished easier. For example, say it’s Monday and you have a project you’re working on and it’s due this Friday. There are a lot of things that need to be done and you find yourself trying to get them all done at the same time. Instead, make a list of the different elements you need to work on and do a group of them on each day. I guarantee your stress level will be reduced and you will be able to get the project finished on-time and with better quality.
Schedule things! Without set times, how can you be organized? It’s imperative you schedule meetings and block out times. Let me make up a scenario for you.
Tonight I have to go to the gym, shower and get cleaned up, meet friends for dinner and then get some freelance work finished. Here is how I block it out.
I get home from work at 6:15pm. 6:30pm I hit the gym and will be home by 7:30pm. I shower and meet my friends for dinner at 8pm. I guesstimate I should be home by 10pm from dinner at the latest. From 10pm – 12am I get my freelance work finished (which is a simple to-do list, remember the quote).
This is just an example of one of my nights. Here, I am balancing my health & fitness, social life and business life. Budgeting your time is imperative if you want to be punctual and accomplish all of your goals.
How do you budget your time?