Being The Better Manager of You
Freelancers don’t get asked about their work-life balance by Personnel Directors worried about burn-out rates. There is no line manager worried about what you will say in the reverse comments section of the performance review. Posting about office working conditions and the amount of unpaid over-time isn’t going to help either ;-).?
You’re free of the big company personnel bureaucracy, but it’s not such a good idea to ditch the whole topic of your own well-being as a ‘worker’. You need to be a good manager of an invaluable people resource - yourself! In doing so, you’ll discover that the best managers of people combine some core disciplines with regular rewards and a good understanding of human needs and psychology. By contrast, most freelancers are behaving like pretty sloppy managers of themselves, whether they’re moving from being employees, or have only ever done gig work. There are some aspects of office working and company life that fill basic social needs and it makes sense to be conscious about what you may be missing in your self-managed work-zone. These tips apply particularly to freelance workers with little need for any kind of face-to-face interaction and who find themselves always working from home rather than a shared space.
Environment matters:
Being home feels great to most of us. But which bit of home is your office? If you approached it as if an employer were offering you that as office space, would you take it? And if not, make the changes to make it the office space you would crave from that new employer. What I mean here is both a review of the basics and the environmental factors. Basics start with the seating, positioning and light. Your kitchen chair was probably not designed for 8 hours of sitting on…and the combination of that and looking down at your laptop is a great recipe for a hernia and lower back issues. Align the screen to eye level and get yourself some office-standard seating. Then look around you. Frame the space as if you were viewing yourself on video and see if you’re getting enough light. Is there any greenery around you? Would the background be better with colour on the walls and is there any ugly clutter that should be out of the way? See the space from two perspectives. The first perspective is what the camera sees. Now do the makeover and accessorizing needed to make that perspective as attractive as possible. Reversing the perspective, think about what can be made better for your own view - whether by opening out perspectives or blocking out what you don’t want to see. It’s amazing how any space can be boosted and that will improve your mood, however immune you thought you were to environmental aesthetics. As a side bonus, you’ll also be making a better first impression on Zoom calls.?
Get out, socialize
The long commute and office hours are over, but what routine has replaced them??
Is it regular late-nighters and multi-day sequences of not leaving the flat and not seeing another soul? Is that something that’s adding to your productivity, quality of thinking and motivation? The answer to that is bound to be a resounding ‘no’, especially if that’s become the default working routine. For even the most devotedly anti-social loner, the fact is that it’s better for them to put themselves into some kind of people-filled environment, at least for some part of the day. It’s not an accident that every café you go into is bound to have someone on a laptop perched on a tiny table and making their flat white last for 3 hours. Even the passing-by of unknown customers and the irritated glances of waitresses is better for the soul than a routine of home alone. The success of shared workspaces is as much to do with gig workers wanting an occasional space for social contact as a case of small companies looking for cheaper (and better) office addresses. The business-building opportunities and networking benefits are theoretical most of the time, but the benefits of ‘belonging’ in some way to a community and having someone to talk to when you pour your next coffee are all real enough.?
In managing yourself, you need to weigh-up the kind of human contact doses you need and schedule accordingly.
Take breaks:
The fact is that getting short breaks are good for fresh perspectives and creative thinking, quite apart from the fact that sitting for too long at a stretch is proven to actually kill you - as a major indicator for heart attacks. Being sedentary for too long during the day isn’t compensated for by sport - you need to get up and move regularly.?
As a manager aware of your efficiency KPIs, you might be calculating a net loss of 40 minutes of coding time, but that’s wrong. It’s always a net gain over the day. Studies show that workers who take a short break every hour or so are more productive throughout the day. So, get-up, walk around, stretch your back and roll those shoulders back.?
Work out:
The other thing that’s good physically and mentally is an exercise routine. The body pumps you full of chemicals better than any dealer whenever you exercise ;-) But these drugs are the good kind that lift moods and repair cells, as well as promoting long-term health. I’m not trying to turn everyone into a bodybuilding tantric-practising marathon runner ;-) Just 15 minutes of something that makes you sweat every day will give you 90% of the health benefits (also scientifically proven). Just do something, anything, as a routine and on top of that take a walk outside every day, just to check that the aliens haven’t landed and taken over Uber Eats so that no one noticed.
Your mindset notices your own wardrobe:?
OK, there’s plenty of joy in doing a day of well-paid work in your tracksuit knowing that others are slaving at office work stations ;-) But as with everything else, the occasional is not the same thing as the habitual…?
Clothes can help us get into a particular mindset and putting a small professional spin on those clothes - even when no one is around to notice - can help you concentrate and acquire a different perspective. It sounds silly, but there’s research to show that certain kinds of thinking are improved accordingly. There’s no need to put on the full formal gear, but just try mixing it up a bit so you’re conscious of ‘dressing for work’ and see if it doesn’t help your thinking discipline during the day.
The above only refers to dressing for yourself, but I could also add that when there’s a video call or face to face meeting involved, it’s also wise to be conscious of your audience. Too long working freelance and remote leads people to make the most basic of mistakes. How you present yourself doesn’t start with the fist slide, but with physical appearance. Humans are superficial that way. A little effort to look your best self is very likely to be noticed and appreciated.?
Being mindful of your mindset:
And as a final piece of advice for the good manager of the self, be aware of your own level of stress, contentment and motivation and consider their sources. Some problems may be obvious and easy fixes, but others are likely to be challenging and perhaps not easy to tackle alone. The trick here is normally to define the problem as precisely as possible, which normally helps define some solutions. For more challenging issues, it’s worth recalling there are community tools to share such issues and to find sources of mentoring and coaching. Remember, being independent and working freelance doesn’t have to mean being alone. ?