If you are a remote worker, and a freelancer. You may have found yourself struggling with finding the perfect routine that works for you. This is not a post that will lay out the magic ingredients for a healthy work life balance and the meaning of life. After almost 8 years of freelancing I still struggle with getting in a routine!
I have found as a developer my most productive hours start after 2 am. When there is no noise or distraction, which is a price for working from home, that is not always mentioned as a side note, with the 'Work from Home' label. If you do not have an isolated workplace at home, then probably like me you struggle for privacy during the day and try your best to concentrate in a client's meeting with all the background noise.
Human body is not meant to be awake late night, catching up on sleep in the day does not mean a good night's sleep. It takes toll. After trying numerous times to start a morning routine, I have still fallen back to a night routine. Which makes me curious to know about other work from home freelancers like myself, who have young kids at home, What works for you and what doesn't. What does routine really mean for you? Please post in comments your tips, thoughts.
Top comments (3)
Nice post, Omar!
My time as a freelancer it's not as long as yours, but it's good to know there are experienced people who understands you and feels the same way than you.
I have learned to appreciate all the moments and maintain order, splitting a task into small parts considering how long it takes. After a few sub-tasks, I could take a break and go back to my to-do list.
There are times I have espontaneous ideas in my free-time or I'm stucked and there's nothing left than Stack Overflow (nice help, btw).
And there's the plus of noise, nothing a pair of headphones cannot hide.
It's hard for me working at midnights, the most productive hours happen between 5:00am to 9:00am, but it's the way I decided to work :)
Great, thanks for sharing Jhinel. Do you wake up and start at 5? Also, does your work day spread out of over long hours, or are you able to organize them with short breaks?
I usually wake up like 4:30am, or near 5:00am (biological clock), and really active. The largest period dedicated only to work belongs to the first 4 hours, when I just take 2 breaks for breakfast and news. Nearby 9:00am, starts planning time, meetings, etc, so I can slice tasks through the rest of the day having short breaks between them.