How to work from home without killing creativity

A woman. No team. Hundreds of tasks. Help! – Does it sound like you? Do you sometimes wish everyone would just vanish for a couple of hours for you to be able to hear that creative voice of yours? That voice you haven’t been listening to due to administrative stuff, planning, emails, phone calls and whatever issue comes up every single day?

How can you combine creativity and business?

Make the best out of your time – but don’t push it

Lately, I’ve read a couple of times that you have to force yourself to create – or to write, in my case. That you have to make it part of a routine. And that that’s the only way to keep consistency in place.

Now, I do agree that it is much easier to keep consistency if you work on your creativity as often as possible, but I got a little problem with sticking to routines no matter what – You didn’t become a freelancer to do exactly the same thing in exactly the same order every single day, right?? And there are those days… when it just doesn’t work out. You’ve planned out everything to perfection… but you don’t seem to be productive at all! So what do you do?

Almost ashamed to say it, but I’ve noticed that I can’t create anything from scratch with bad weather outside. Yep. That’s me 😀 The thing is that I can’t afford only to work on sunny days, so what I do is shifting and adapting tasks to my energy levels. Sounds weird, I know!!! And how does it work, you ask? Well, when I notice that I’m just playing around working, that I’m not really doing anything productive, I’d just stand up and take a little break, do some sports and go back to it. Or I’d take up those things which stand on my to-do list and which don’t need any creativity at all, like admin stuff for instance.

There are also those days when you feel overly creative – but you just can’t seem to get to work. You get constant interruptions, your child is sick at home or it’s just weekend and the whole world wants to communicate with you… I tell ya, trying to work – and not being able to – is awful. You’ll be wasting your time, your nerve and the work won’t get probably done anyway…
Well, in this case, you have two options:

♥ Take your things with you and work at a coworking space or a coffee shop nearby. This is definitely THE option to choose if you have a tight deadline.
OR
♥ Beg for a couple of minutes to gather your thoughts, write down what you have in mind so that you don’t forget it – and take care of those who need you. When everything’s settled down, go back again to your work and enjoy!

Outsource those tasks which take up most time – and which don’t really need you

First, write down every task you have to perform. Yep. I know it’s a pest. You’ve heard it all before. And you don’t have time for that! But still – do yourself a favor, and write every single task you perform for your freelancing business to keep running.

Second, identify those tasks you hate the most. Do you really need to perform them? If they rob your energy away from you, I can’t even imagine what they’re doing to your creativity! Do you really feel like creating or writing something original after having to deal with something you can’t stand? I thought so 😉

Third, identify the most-time-consuming tasks. If they don’t need any creativity or strategic thinking, and if they are easily systematized, try and automate them. Or better yet, have someone automate them for you! It won’t cost you that much money, but it will save you tons of time!

Check out these posts about working from home successfully and creating a good work-life balance when working from home

Sometimes, the superwoman hat just doesn’t work. You can fight it. Go crazy. Or take a break. Seek help. And enjoy your work.
xoxo,
Alicia
Are you born to freelance?