Time management is without doubt a key issue for portfolio careerists. I have to admit to having worked through the night on more than one occasion, especially at first as I was juggling wearing even more hats than I'd bargained for i.e. not just my portfolio of chosen specialisms but the additional administrative, accounting, IT, website maintenance and marketing functions it's easy to forget you'll also have to do...especially if, like me you've just come from a full time role where whole teams existed to do all of that for you!
So here are my top ten tips for keeping on top of it all:
| 1. | Think of your time in terms of hours and make sure you don't spend more than you can afford on lower paying projects/clients/jobs. |
| 2. | Be clear with yourself and those you work with on the amount of time you have available. |
| 3. | Maximise use of time by finding ways to do more than one thing at a time. I've adopted a trick from someone I know who invites her colleagues and clients to 'walk and talk' so that she fits in a daily dose of exercise in to every day. |
| 4. | Allocate and preserve slots of time for different types of work. |
| 5. | Be realistic about how long things will take. |
| 6. | Give due consideration to time for doing nothing and time for family and friends. |
| 7. | Don't forget to allocate time for things you need to do regularly to stay on top of everything e.g. invoicing, filing and marketing. |
| 8. | Eat properly! It's very easy to let this slip if you are toggling between different jobs/roles/projects. |
| 9. | Decide to what extent you and your loved ones are happy to have your portfolio career blurring the boundaries between work and leisure time and make a very conscious decision be properly 'present' when you are in non-work mode. |
| 10. | Discover this easy way to wake up early and refreshed without hitting 'snooze' dozens of times and impress yourself with how much you can achieve by lunchtime! |
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