Work habits, their care and feeding: a study in work avoidance
When I set out on my serious freelancing almost two months ago, I came up with a set of good work habits to adhere to.
- Mornings are for translating: by which I mean not only the actual work of turning Spanish text into English, but looking for jobs on the translation websites I'm registered on, administrative stuff, etc.
- Check e-mail first thing: I have my e-mail open all the time anyway, so I can address stuff as soon as it pops up in my inbox.
- Be sure to get walking in: I make a point of taking a "walk to work" for about half an hour in the neighborhood before clocking in, at least on the days I'm home. I still do bookkeeping in Manhattan two days a week, and my routine is different on those days.
- Regular mealtimes: Breakfast around 9, lunch around 1, dinner around 7. I try to keep this schedule at work in the city too, when work permits.
- Afternoons are for other work/social stuff: I currently have a tax return and some freelance bookkeeping work to deal with, so that's for after lunch.
- Think about getting a better chair: More on this later.
It's still morning, so why am I posting to LJ instead of working on my current translation assignment? I just completed a very large assignment, some of which was a real tooth-pull to finish. I'd planned to write the agency that sends me work to hold off for a couple days, but yesterday was a work-in-the-city day, and by the time I had a break from work to contact the agency, the new assignment was already in my inbox. Steady work is a good thing, so I can't really complain. However, I want to work on taxes and bookkeeping, where my clients are waiting for answers ASAP, while my translation deadline is the beginning of next week. So when the habits conflict with my priorities, do I stick with the routine or do I bend to the demands of the moment? (Well, right now I post to LJ. Kicking the can down the road FTW.)
Some years ago I posted to LJ - can't find the post at the moment - about why I hate Quickbooks. (I still hate it, I still think it's the accounting software of choice for small businesses who need it, I don't use it myself, I worry I'm making a mistake by not using it myself. My kingdom for non-sucky bookkeeping software!) One of my big complaints is that it's rigid where it should be flexible, and flexible where it should be rigid. I suspect this is more reflective of a core quandary of my personality than I'm comfortable thinking about. So I guess I'd better think about it some more.
- Mornings are for translating: by which I mean not only the actual work of turning Spanish text into English, but looking for jobs on the translation websites I'm registered on, administrative stuff, etc.
- Check e-mail first thing: I have my e-mail open all the time anyway, so I can address stuff as soon as it pops up in my inbox.
- Be sure to get walking in: I make a point of taking a "walk to work" for about half an hour in the neighborhood before clocking in, at least on the days I'm home. I still do bookkeeping in Manhattan two days a week, and my routine is different on those days.
- Regular mealtimes: Breakfast around 9, lunch around 1, dinner around 7. I try to keep this schedule at work in the city too, when work permits.
- Afternoons are for other work/social stuff: I currently have a tax return and some freelance bookkeeping work to deal with, so that's for after lunch.
- Think about getting a better chair: More on this later.
It's still morning, so why am I posting to LJ instead of working on my current translation assignment? I just completed a very large assignment, some of which was a real tooth-pull to finish. I'd planned to write the agency that sends me work to hold off for a couple days, but yesterday was a work-in-the-city day, and by the time I had a break from work to contact the agency, the new assignment was already in my inbox. Steady work is a good thing, so I can't really complain. However, I want to work on taxes and bookkeeping, where my clients are waiting for answers ASAP, while my translation deadline is the beginning of next week. So when the habits conflict with my priorities, do I stick with the routine or do I bend to the demands of the moment? (Well, right now I post to LJ. Kicking the can down the road FTW.)
Some years ago I posted to LJ - can't find the post at the moment - about why I hate Quickbooks. (I still hate it, I still think it's the accounting software of choice for small businesses who need it, I don't use it myself, I worry I'm making a mistake by not using it myself. My kingdom for non-sucky bookkeeping software!) One of my big complaints is that it's rigid where it should be flexible, and flexible where it should be rigid. I suspect this is more reflective of a core quandary of my personality than I'm comfortable thinking about. So I guess I'd better think about it some more.