Cognition #14: Workload Management as a Freelancer | How to find balance?

Helloo! How have you been?

I miss publishing issues every week. Biweekly feels weird and I feel I'm not in touch with my readers as often.

But nevertheless, it helps me manage my workload while maintaining the quality of newsletter.

It's good to be back with Cognition #14.

Okayy, to begin with, I'd like to ask you a simple question to which the answer might not be so simple.

"What is workload management to you,

and how do you plan to achieve it?"

Think about it. We'll get back to this in the end.

For now, let's get started with what this issue has got for you.

The last 6-8 months have been tough on me as a freelancer, creator, and as a person in general.

The work has been piling up, mental health took a toll, and I had no clue how to put things in order.

The experiences made me realize the need for management as a skill.

I felt having the ability to get tasks done wasn't enough. I need to learn to manage skills to complete tasks with minimal effort.

So let's talk about this realization of mine: Why is management vital?

Why is management important for freelancers?

If I had to define (workload) management, I'd associate it majorly with DISCIPLINE.

Discipline, to me, is the ability to say NO to tasks you don't want to do and to take ACTION on chores you wanna pick. As simple as that.

You need to have a plan on what to do when, plus the discipline to stick with it.

That's all anyone needs to manage workload.

That's a wonderful theory, but reality works differently.

Hardly a few things go according to plan + Discipline isn't as easy as it sounds + Being disciplined becomes even more important if you're a freelancer. I'll tell you why.

I feel freelancers have a larger workload to manage—from lead generation to handling finances, managing multiple clients to content creation, prospect calls to networking, and many more aspects apart from the actual work itself.

You can't be disciplined for one client and ignore the other. The life of a freelancer demands you to provide the highest quality services to all clients.

But how to you bring life to this theory of discipline?

What are the actionable steps one can take to manage workload?

6 actionable steps that worked for me

Here is a disclaimer for you:

"I'm not saying I follow these all the time. But among the many experiments I made with my productivity and workload management, these actions earned me the best returns."

Get started, shall we?

Have Time Slots

Have different time slots for different clients.

Let's say you work for clients A, B, and C and need 2.5, 3, and 1.5 hours respectively to finish the work.

If you look at this collectively, it's working for three clients for seven hours without knowing what to work on when, and how.

But if you break down the work and allot time slots throughout the day, it clarifies your approach and gives you a plan of action.

Let's assume this is how you distributed your work:

Client A: 9:00 am-11:30 am

Client B: 1:00 pm-4:00 pm

Client C: 6:00 pm-7:30 pm

What happens is,

You'll have clarity of your working hours. Plus, you know the timings for other things to fit in—like watching a movie, talking to a friend, working on your personal brand, pitching a person for networking, etc.

The more clarity you have, the more control you have over your time.

The more control you have, the better you manage your workload.

Diversify your day

Don't just 'work' the entire day. I understand hustling and chasing dreams requires you to invest long hours, but make sure they're diversified.

What do I mean by it?

Let's say you spend 10 hours a day on your freelancing and content creation career.

Don't allot all the 10 hours for client work. Instead, diversify it with various tasks that contribute to your progress.

Something like

6 hours: Client work.

1 hour: Upskilling: Courses, content consumption, etc.

1 hour: Networking, cold pitching, etc.

2 hours: Personal branding.

Working all the time for clients might make you feel you are not doing enough for yourself and causes burnout eventually.

And when you invest in yourself,

1. You'll do multiple things, and you won't feel monotonous about the nature of client work (Doing client work all the time might bore you.)

2. You'll enhance your skills as you constantly learn from your work and upgrade yourself from courses, content consumption, etc.

It forms a smoother system where you not only feel you're doing many things, but you're actually effective (It's funny, weird, and cool how doing many things gives immense satisfaction.)

Trust me on this. Diversified days are effective over doing just one thing the entire day.

NOTE: "Of course, you can continue working on the same thing if you're in the FLOW, but if FLOW or deadlines aren't a factor, I'd highly recommend diversifying your day."

Don't neglect 'Relaxing Hours'

I usually have this thing called relaxing hours—the hours that make me feel lighter and calmer.

For me, it's the time I spend reading stories, watching movies/series, listening to music, talking to friends, playing a sport, stand-up comedy, and many many other things.

I do any of these based on my mood and time.

It is extremely important to make relaxing hours mandatory. Like you are a battery, and you're recharging yourself.

If I can recommend you anything, I'd say, "Value your personal time."

I understand if you're free for an hour, you'd want to do something productive. But if you're done with your to-dos for the day, just spend a little more time relaxing.

Recharging is as important as productivity. And it's sexy!

Have buffer days (or slots)

Don't have a tightly packed schedule. Keep some empty slots as a buffer.

Be prepared for unplanned things.

Sometimes your friend needs a call with you.

Or a client requires you to prioritize them.

Or you have a bad day.

Or you just don't feel like working.

Or a guest shows up.

Anything might happen. And buffer days (or slots) help you recover that time.

Without buffer slots, it's all chaos. Something comes up, you use your relaxing hours to finish the work, you won't give yourself the time to recharge, and BOOM, burnout happens, or you feel exhausted.

And if everything goes well, you can always use the buffer slots to do whatever you feel like doing.

Try not to develop two cycles at a time

What is a cycle?

Let's say you landed a new long-term client and already have three of 'em.

Now, you must produce a few hours weekly for the new client.

The process of figuring out the right amount of time and effort needed + your schedule syncing takes time.

The moment everything (all your tasks and the time you allot to them) gets into an automation mode or a routine, you fall into a CYCLE.

Speaking of workload management, it's vital to develop only one cycle at a time.

You'll borrow time from different chores to make time for new tasks and find the right balance. The process can be hectic.

So it's best to stick with one cycle at a time.

Network

Networking? Why'd I add one more task to my daily routine to manage my workload?

The answer is Socialization (even if it's virtual.)

You meet new people. You have new conversations. It keeps your mind fresh. And you learn a hell of a lot of new things.

It's a great way to build your professional circle while having fun convos. The best part is you'll make some really good friends!

Try it. Works really well if you enjoy having conversations.

It's curtains!

These are a few habits that worked for me.

Also, you can try taking day-offs or learning new hobbies—These too help you relax and give you something to look forward to.

Give them a try and see how things work out for you.

All these hacks sound great when you read them, but if any good happens, it's when you apply them.

So don't just read it and say what a lovely edition!!

Try to apply things and make management easier for you. 🤗

Shit, I almost forgot!

Do you remember the question I asked you at the beginning? Try journaling your thoughts while finding the answer, and who knows? You might come up with the best hacks that suit your needs.

That's the technical segment for you!

Let's hop on to the Non-Technical segment!

Non-Technical aka Fun Segment!

Favourite Quote from a book

A friend recently told me to just feel my thoughts rather than trying to escape or defend them. And it made a lot of sense to me.

Sometimes all you need to be is a good listener of your thoughts to figure things out.

Movies/Shows I loved recently

I haven't watched anything in the last 14 days. But I'll tell you what I'm excited about.

I love Jitendra Kumar's work, and Jaadugar on Netflix is something I'm looking forward to. Also, Rise on HotStar looks promising!

Oh btw, I just remembered watching King Richard last month and didn't suggest it here.

It's a good watch if you're a sports lover!

Made in English. Available on HotStar.

Trailer here 👇🏻

Tweets I loved

YouTube video I loved

Understanding Kunal Shah's perspective is always fun, and here's another podcast packed with insightful content.

I loved how deeply Kunal understands human behavior and motivations.

Watch here 👇🏻

Song I’m listening to on a loop

Vibing to this Tamil song.

I loved it when it was released in 2007 and recently discovered it again in Reels. Now it's on loop.

I listen to the Telugu version 👇🏻

Couldn't find the link to the Tamil (original) video song. Listen to the Tamil version if you don't understand Tamil or Telugu.

That's about Cognition #14.

I hope the techniques in the newsletter are actionable and will help you.

And if you like the issue, don't forget to share it on your socials! It'd mean a lot to me.

See you in two weeks.

Take care, stay safe, and consciously focus on workload management!

Love,

Vikra Vardhan.

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