It’s an average Wednesday afternoon—arguably my least favorite day of the week. I find myself staring at the laptop screen, rotating between my empty Google doc, half-written emails, and multiple research tabs that are all open simultaneously. I quickly catch myself getting overwhelmed with all the pending tasks in my brain. So I close my laptop and reach for my planner.
This way I’m able to prioritize what needs to be done first and also give my brain a break from the screen while still maintaining productivity. If this was last year, I would have spent another 30 minutes on my laptop just moving from tab to tab, exhausting myself mentally while still avoiding everything I had to do.
I was also more likely to fall prey to Parkinson’s law, which Claire Coley, a marketer and trainer, says is a common procrastination tactic where “you get something done just to fill up time, but it’s not efficient.” Coley, who has attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, and has figured out what productivity methods work best for her, also has experience working with teams to help them avoid procrastination.
As a freelancer, I have struggled with procrastination for much of my career, but in the past year it’s something I have actively identified and have been working on. I realized that without a boss or an office, I am the only person who can provide the discipline I need to optimize my work time and truly enjoy my time off.
