The Importance of Downtime as a Freelancer
A key component of my work (that has taken me far too long to learn as a freelancer) is the importance of downtime.
When we have an office job, downtime is manageable. Whatever days we work, however many hours across the week, it tends to be (mostly) structured for us. The Monday-Friday, 9 am to 5 pm, allows for flexibility around overtime and putting in the extra hours if you need/want to. Weekends are yours to do with what you wish, and taking a holiday feels like a necessity and well-deserved pursuit.
When you freelance, it’s very easy for the lines between ‘work’ and ‘free’ time to become blurred.
As a writer and editor, I don’t get to set my deadlines or time frames. Those come from my clients and the editors I work with. One of my clients runs live-webinars on a Friday, and they want the write up with key messages from these ready to be published on Monday. Another client sends out their newsletter Sunday morning. While many of the editors I work with offer small degrees of flexibility, oftentimes they’re under the pump to deliver their content strategically, which can mean tight turnarounds.
Freelancing is a lifestyle that will quickly burn you out if you don’t learn to embrace downtime.
Creating Boundaries
Don’t get me wrong - I love it when a last-minute content request lands in my inbox. I enjoy the fact I’ve developed strong relationships with my clients and various editors, that they feel I am someone they can turn to in a pinch and rely on to get the work done.
The trouble here is that I’m always the ‘yes’ person. When you freelance, clients don’t think about what other work you’ve got going on because it’s your responsibility to only take on the work you can feasibly manage. They won’t know that the big-urgent-project they need me to work on as a priority might be clashing with the other big-urgent-project I’m just finishing up for someone else.
A part of this is about creating the right boundaries and learning to say ‘no’ or negotiate time-frames if you can. It’s tricky as a freelancer because there’s always that fear if you say no or come across as ‘demanding’ in any way, you’ll lose out on work. I won’t lie and say this isn’t the case. I’ve worked with several clients who as soon as they felt they couldn’t keep getting increasingly complex demands met by me, simply dropped off the radar.
Freelancing can be a tricky business, but ultimately you want to be ensuring you’re working in ways and with people who respect the fact you’re a human being and not a robot.
Alongside accepting work, creating boundaries has also been about acknowledging I can’t do everything (I know, I didn’t want to admit it either). Despite how good I might be, I need time to let my brain think about whatever I want it to think about and not just what my clients need me to think about.
For me, creating boundaries has looked like:
Making space in my day to breathe. This is about so much more than stepping away from my laptop; it’s also about stepping away and not thinking about my computer.
Building my knowledge for how much work I can handle. It’s okay to take on a couple of new projects if I know once they’re done, I’ll have a couple of calmer weeks to create balance. It took me years to accept my entire life doesn’t have to be go-go-go and onto the next thing.
Allowing myself to have ‘off’ days. In the past couple of months, I’ve started using my ‘out-of-office’ on emails, which has felt so damn weird but incredibly lovely. I allow myself two days a week where I’m ‘out’. We often feel like we always have to be available. I’ve found my clients don’t always need to have access to me as long as they know I’m not ‘ignoring’ them (ghosting in the freelance community is a pervasive activity - don’t do it).
Self Care Versus Self Reliance
Self-care is essential, but it has taken a weirdly broad and all-consuming stance across popular media and culture. A lot of things that are prescribed to us as ‘self-care’ are what I would call ‘self-reliance’ - and it’s good to know the difference so you can develop practices of both that benefit you as a freelancer.
Self-reliance is cooking a nice meal, having a bath, doing yoga, taking a hike, a good night’s sleep. These activities aren’t self-care. They are things we should be doing anyway as a natural part of our daily lives to ensure we’re looking after ourselves.
Self-care is far more vitalising. Self-care is brunch with a close friend, a phone call with mum, acknowledging that tip of stress and anxiety that might be building and taking the time to explore it before it becomes a mountain. It’s allowing yourself time - in any way you chose - to explore a quiet mind and realise the gaps that might be existing between where you are and where you’d like to be, and putting in place the stepping stones to close the gap. Self-care is about thinking about what parts of yourself need healing or nurturing and finding the things that do this for you.
I say this because, as a freelancer slogging away seven days a week, I saw cooking, working out and a hot bath with a large glass of Malbec as ‘self-care’ and ticked it off my list. Knowing the difference between these things is an excellent starting point for growth as both a person and a professional.
Embracing Downtime
Another reason embracing downtime is so crucial as a freelancer is because you will experience times when it is forced upon you. Sometimes work just goes a little quiet and jobs might only trickle through at a snail-pace.
Suppose you’re not comfortable with what this time could look like for you or how to use it proactively. In that case, you’ll end up sitting around chewing your fingernails to bits with freelancer-anxiety over whether you’ll ever see another client again!
When you’ve created a good balance as a freelancer, and understand how positive downtime can be, you’ll significantly reduce these feelings of anxiety. If you experience downtime as the result of a slow-work period, focus on:
Upskilling yourself: Find an online course and get stuck in with upgrading your skills! There are so many great opportunities out there for writers and downtime is a great chance to invest back into you.
Updating your website: When I’m busy, my portfolio and website often fall to the wayside. Downtime gives me a chance to review and refresh, and think a bit more strategically about the direction my work is moving in. If I see a change happening, now’s the time to get my socials and portfolio to reflect that in positive ways.
Taking a holiday: I never felt guilty about taking time off from my office job for a holiday but I always feel guilty when I freelance! Downtime allows you to take this opportunity for yourself without feeling like you’re letting someone (or yourself) down.
Downtime is a vital part of all work life and culture. For a long time in the freelance community, it’s been seen as something to be avoided and even a measurement of failure. Take it from someone who began to fail because she didn’t make room for downtime - it’s not worth feeling guilty about.
As a freelancer, you need this time to make sure you can tackle your work and be at the top of your game - every day.
