Defining Work-Life Balance as a Freelancer
Here’s the thing about freelancing full-time: it can simultaneously be the most freeing and confining experience you’ll have.
Freeing because you're living life on your own terms, choosing who you work with and how much you charge, planning work according to your schedule, and having complete creative decisions over things like deadlines and what you work on.
Confining because the pressures of freelancing mean you’re always thinking about your finances, you’ve taken on new responsibilities that might not be your strength (extra tax calculations and deductions, superannuation payments, marketing yourself), AND there’s the looming sense of what if this doesn’t work out? How do I keep making this work?
The confining pressures of freelancing have led me to keep taking on more and more work, when I shouldn’t have, to try and quell the spiralling anxiety of making sure I have enough income to pay the bills, top-up my savings, pay taxes and plan for my future. I’ve fallen into the trap of modern (read: toxic) #Hustle lifestyle, working most evenings and many weekends to pull off big projects, new client pitches, marketing (urgh, I’m SO over ‘personal branding’ it’s untrue) and business admin.
Last month, after three weekends in a row of workworkwork and zero time for me, I realised that this just isn’t it. This is not why I decided to branch out in this direction with my career. This had absolutely nothing to do with my clients and the projects I was taking on and everything to do with me defining and putting positive boundaries around my work-life balance.
After a few nights of chest-pang anxiety and the never-ending tornado of ‘what am I forgetting about?’ thoughts, I knew I had to take a step back and get things in order. I don’t think this experience is unique to me as a freelancer either; I’ve chatted with many others who’ve found themselves in similar positions, unsure how to get unstuck from the treacle filled hole they’ve created for themselves.
Taking a step back to reassess was the best thing I could do. This is still very much a work in progress, but here are the initial actions I’ve taken to carve back some real work-life balance in the months ahead:
Agree on core work hours and stick to them
The BIG one. Allowing my work life to bleed into the traditional ‘me’ time (evenings and weekends) meant I stopped prioritising time for myself and my life outside of work. This didn’t just mean relationships but also the writing and creative pursuits I enjoy that sit outside my professional writing. It SUCKED. When I realised I hadn’t written anything creative for over a month, this was a big red flag for me. Being freelance, I don’t want to get stuck on a 9-5, so I started charting my most productive hours and times of the day.
I work best early in the morning, first thing after my first cup of coffee, and manage to keep strong until lunchtime when my brain decides it wants to play on other things. I usually get a second wind for a few hours after dinnertime. I segmented my day into chunks and plotted my core productive work hours as a general rule, knowing this will change when I have meatier projects or new deadlines. I also made weekends a work-free zone!
Plan and segment time into the week for you
Once I had my core work hours plotted in, it freed up parts in the day I knew I’d start using for me. Between lunch and dinner time, my brain seemed ready for a creative fix, so I’ve decided to give my brain that time. Whether I do some reading, creative writing, sketching, housework, walking, swimming: those few hours are now for me. It’s working well because the anxious monkey part of my brain knows I’ve locked in a solid five hours of work already, and I’ll be doing a couple more a bit later.
Carving out time to breathe and relax helps me commit more to the hours I have set aside for work (instead of worrying and procrastinating) and boosts my productivity because everything feels more balanced.
Allocate weak tasks elsewhere
Finances: BOO. Marketing: BOO. Personal branding: YUCK. A good chunk of my time was being spent stressing out and half-heartedly attempting to educate myself on these topics and get on top of DOING IT ALL like the good #GirlBoss I’m supposed to be.
I’m in a solid position with my finances, so I decided it was time to reinvest in better ways. I don’t have to do it all because I suck at doing it all, but there are plenty of people out there who are superb at the things I suck at. So, I’ve invested in an accountant, and I got some help with my website. I dabbled with the idea of getting a branding strategy coach, but I’ve come to the realisation; it’s not a path I’m interested in. As I'm content with how things are and not seeking to grow my ‘business’ in any way, I don’t need to worry about it (but it’s totally fine if that is something you want to invest in, it has merit, this is just my thinking). It’s given me a clean headspace to finally admit that and move forward with focusing solely on the things that work for me instead of the things I’m being told I should be making time for.
Kick imposter syndrome in the gonads
The final thing I had to admit was creating a Jackson Pollock mess of a work-life balance is imposter syndrome.
The deep dark fear of being a phoney, not good enough, that all my writing clients and work to date was just one big fat fluke, and it was all going to crumble down like aged cheddar around my ears was something I HAD to confront. This fear was pushing and shoving me into working myself into oblivion in some effort to prove I wasn’t terrible and, I will admit, to earn enough income for the inevitable famine months that were just around the corner once everyone realised I wasn’t actually very good at my job.
All the usual tricks have helped here. I upped my meditation minutes, adopted a new mantra and began visualising my imposter syndrome as a shadowy pile of gunk that I could scoop up and flush down the loo whenever it tried to crawl over my face.
And yes, folks, it’s slowly but surely helping...
I’m still learning as I go. I know there are going to be times when I start to slide into bad habits. I also know that as long as I keep a keen to ground and listen out for when I’m being too hard on myself and pushing myself into a work pattern that isn’t healthy, I’ll be able to reel myself back to something better
Work-life balance is tricky, whether you freelance, work full or part-time, and are trying to mix in some (any!) kind of writing too. My best advice is that if you’re starting to feel it creep up on you 24/7, something needs to change. Pause, take a deep breath, reflect and find the changes you need to make that will work for you. Don’t be afraid of trial and error either: you’ll get there. I promise.
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