Okay. I’m utilizing the time period indie developer loosely right here. I don’t contemplate myself to be an indie developer. However I am impartial, largely. I run my very own enterprise the place I work on consumer apps, workshops, my books, this web site, my YouTube channel, and extra. So I believe I qualify as indie, partially.
Both means, on this submit I’d prefer to discover one thing that I don’t write or speak about a lot. How do I, as somebody that manages my very own time and work, make it possible for I keep productive (in a sustainable means).
Quite a lot of of us that I’ve talked to through the years have their very own techniques that assist them plan, construction, and execute work. Some of us are simply so desirous to all the time be working that they haven’t any issues staying busy in any respect. Others, myself included, wrestle with sustaining a rhythm, discovering steadiness, and keep away from procrastinating.
During the last half 12 months or so I’ve been very actively making an attempt to determine what works for me, and on this weblog submit I’d prefer to share a few of the issues that I’ve realized in that point.
All of it begins with a plan
The standard of labor that I’ll do in a day, week, or month, all is determined by my plans for a given timeframe. If I go away my Friday afternoon with unfinished enterprise, and I spend my Monday on making an attempt to determine the place I’ve left off and I don’t make a plan for the week, it’s probably that the week won’t be very productive.
That’s as a result of as soon as I begin working with no plan I’m in a continuing mode of making an attempt to determine what’s subsequent. I’ll discover one thing to do, do it, after which spend quite a lot of time questioning about “what’s subsequent?”.
Often which means I take a break, go on social media, or watch some YouTube movies. Mainly, I begin to procrastinate.
I’ve tried to handle this by allocating each morning and afternoon to a kind of labor. I began off by separating “consumer” work and “weblog” work. This type of labored but it surely was too ambiguous. I’d spend quite a lot of time making an attempt to determine which consumer to work for, and what to work on. Or I’d be serious about whether or not I needed to work on an app, a YouTube video, my weblog, or one thing else.
The outcome?
I’d find yourself doing far lower than I needed to. Particularly when it got here to “weblog” work as a result of there’s nearly no accountability there.
So, I solved this downside by planning in a different way. As a substitute of allocating stuff to days I’d have a listing of issues to do for the week. In my calendar I might nonetheless block some instances for kinds of work, however my record is main.
When it’s time to do consumer work, I have a look at my record. Who’s on prime (the record is sorted by urgency)? That’s what I’ll work on. It’s easy but efficient.
I believed that this technique can be too free for me to permit me to correctly plan however I believe it’s working nicely. I began doing this about three months in the past and I can positively inform that my output is getting higher. I’m additionally feeling higher about my work than I did half a 12 months in the past.
So, begin with a plan. Be sure to all the time know what’s subsequent. Understanding what you’re imagined to do makes doing it extra easy.
Discover the correct setting
I do know, we’re all supposed to like working from residence. I’m not nice at it. I really like the thought of it, however I’m actually not good at it.
At any time when I earn a living from home, there’s a great deal of distractions. I can hold round and watch TV for a bit. Do some work within the backyard. Run a fast errand. Fold laundry. Cook dinner.
These are all issues I both take pleasure in doing, or issues that must get accomplished a method or one other.
Focusing whereas working from residence will be fairly a problem for me, and I’m discovering out increasingly more that my desk isn’t all the time the place the place I’m best.
Going some place that’s not the identical desk day by day generally is a massive enhance for my productiveness. I’m unsure whether or not a change of setting simply retains my mind lively, or I’m higher at performing sure duties from a special location (generally it’s only a completely different place in my home), however altering it up works for me.
For those who’re feeling unproductive and you are feeling such as you’ve bought a deal with on realizing what you’re imagined to do however doing it appears onerous, try to swap issues up a bit. Work from a espresso store, a co-working area, a library, or your dinner desk as an alternative of your desk and see the way it feels. Possibly it could actually show you how to concentrate on various things.
Monitor your work
I used to assume that having inflexible techniques for work would suck the enjoyment out of doing the work. The extra I depend on techniques and routines the extra I discover that I benefit from the work I’m doing as a result of it permits me to be extra targeted, much less confused, and really feel extra in management.
By making tickets for every little thing I do, I’ve a extremely good sense of the place I ought to focus my consideration. I can simply measure how productive I’ve been over time simply by trying on the tickets I’ve closed.
I’m utilizing GitHub initiatives for monitoring my work, and I’m having fun with it lots. I can hyperlink my tickets to points which makes it simple to hyperlink every little thing collectively. By ordering my tickets based mostly on their precedence I’m principally in a position to run by means of my record from prime to backside all through the week and know that I’m all the time doing the correct factor.
Along with monitoring my work by means of tickets, I’ve created a utility app for myself to trace with Chrona I can monitor pomodoro timers all through my workday. Each timer will get an outline of what I’ve labored on and a ranking for a way nicely I believe I did productivity-wise.
The concept is that Chrona will ultimately assist me acquire extra understanding relating to the best way I do my work, and whether or not I’ve any instances of day the place my productiveness drops considerably. If there’s any patterns in my productiveness or the kind of work I do I can anticipate for that after I make my plans, or I might resolve to construction my work week round instances and days that work nicely for me.
Chrona is considered one of 4 apps that I intend to ship this 12 months with the primary thought being that these apps must be helpful for myself earlier than serious about the best way to make them into merchandise. That’s why Chrona was construct to be a easy app that solely does a number of issues. It’s not configurable nor customizable and that’s on goal. I’d add extra options sooner or later if sufficient of us use the app.
In Abstract
Productiveness is a fancy matter, and if there’s one factor I’ve realized over time it’s that anyone that claims to have the reply for all of your productiveness woes is mendacity to you. Sure, there are confirmed techniques on the market. However the effectiveness of those techniques isn’t assured for everyone. Some of us work completely different type others, and that’s utterly high-quality.
For those who’re struggling to maintain your self motivated and targeted, I extremely suggest to actively try to perceive what’s making issues onerous for you. When and why are you procrastinating, and what are you able to do to repair that. For me, realizing what’s subsequent (planning), the place I work (setting), and having goal insights (monitoring) appear to be having a constructive influence.
The important thing issue for me appears to be that there’s no level in making an attempt to pressure any explicit system on myself. If it doesn’t work, I try to perceive why, after which I make adjustments to my routines to see whether or not issues enhance. It’s an iterative course of, and its not a fast one.
