What do you do if your freelance schedule is overwhelming and productivity is suffering?

In my experience, planning is absolutely key. I love using tools like Airtable and Monday to ensure that projects are on track and everyone has what they need to achieve excellence. I like to share these with both internal team members and clients to ensure full transparency and make sure everyone fully understands what to expect and when. Appropriate planning and clear communication along with leveraging the right tools can help save a lot of time by ensuring that there are no delays in deliverables and that key items don’t get lost in the email shuffle.

Being able to prioritize right is one of the most essential catalysts for professional success. I practice this all the time as well as coach my teams to do. Marketing teams work on multiple tasks simultaneously with deadlines ranging from asap (for fixing breaks in live customer journey), to next few hours (campaign planning, execution) or few days (reviews, marketing collateral development) or weeks (writing an important white paper, preparing a recommendation for additional funding, annual planning etc). Two frameworks I found most useful: 1. Effort X Impact estimate: Useful for planning medium to long term growth initiatives 2. Critical-Urgent 2X2 grid: Helps decide which tasks to focus on vs what can be delegated vs deprioritized.

Following the 2X2 critical vs urgent grid can help you decide which tasks can be outsourced. Things which are non-critical to your core skillset but need to be done urgently - should be outsourced. It could be anything like PO creation, program management, following up with clients for payment, managing emails etc. The list of such operational activities will vary from role to role and based on your available bandwidth, quantum of outsourcing can be arrived at. However, do not forget to keep quality checks and gating mechanisms in place with the team so that you are on top of the project as the overall owner.

Working continuously without breaks & offs can definitely lead to burnout & fatigue. You can actually be 2X more effective & productive if you take necessary breaks than to work continuously without any breaks. Planning your calendar & taking care of yourself from a both physical & emotional perspective is the only sustainable way as it’s not a sprint but a marathon.

Take periodic timeouts for physical and emotional rejuvenation. However, do ensure that you yourself respect the break and avoid the temptation of sneaking into email inbox/work social media group messages while on break. If needed, mute the work groups and uninstall email app from your mobile while on vacation. Do not carry laptops while on break. As a freelancer, chances are you might be spending most of the time at home sitting in front of a computer. For daily routines, do include a physical activity for well being. Pick up a sport or yoga or morning/evening walk. Spend healthy time with family members and friends outside work also. Avoid discussing work related politics with non-work acquaintances for peace of mind.