7 Tips to remaining FOCUSED and MOTIVATED when working on your own as a freelance designer.

1. Have a schedule

   Working for and by yourself is tricky, not having a schedule means you’ll either lose all discipline, sleep in, spend far too long watching YouTube and eating at ridiculous times in the day, or spend far too many hours working at the detriment of having a life. When first starting your freelance career I would highly recommend keeping similar hours to the full time job you just left. 9 to 5 is a good place to start. Understandably, you are going to be busy when you first start out so may find yourself working longer hours but it is important to keep your mind in the habit of set hours. Learning and keeping good habits is a powerful tool in your arsenal, however, bad habits are just as easy to form. You may find you prefer starting your workday a bit later in the day, and that you work better in the evenings. Hey, I’m not knocking this, I find myself most inspired in the evenings. Just ensure that whatever schedule you pick, you stick to it!

2. Take time away

   Having time away from your work is perhaps just as important as a having a schedule. If you feel yourself getting stale or working for too long on a small detail that you just can’t make work - it’s time to step away. Take a walk, have something to eat, read a chapter of a book, whatever you need to take your mind completely out of what you’re doing. Make sure you take time away to have a proper lunch too. If you find you can’t pull yourself away from your work, another good option is to switch tasks, get those neurons firing along a different pathway for a time before going back to your main task. Time spent battling away at something you just can’t solve can be as wasted as if you had been sitting there staring into space. Give your brain some time away, and then come back (hopefully) refreshed.

3. Have a dedicated work space

   While your living situation may not always support having a space or room that is solely dedicated as a work space/studio, it’s important to have some kind of space that can be used purely for your work. Before beginning my freelance career, I worked as an in-house designer for a tech company, where I worked from home 95% of the time. Unfortunately, before moving to a house where I now have a dedicated studio, I worked from my lounge - a situation I would greatly discourage! Bad habits swiftly followed with the TV constantly on in the background, which was not only distracting, but made the entire lounge feel like an extension of my office. As a result, at the end of my work day, I felt like I was still at work. There was no differentiation between the place to chill and eat and relax after a long day at work, and the office. This would be a similar situation if I had had use my bedroom instead. If you have an extra room that could be used as an office - this would be the ideal situation. If, like my former situation, this is just not possible and you have to use either your bedroom or other communal area, try and find ways to partition that area away from the rest of the room to allow that area to be for work, and work only.

4. Make your work space inspiring

   Too often, we underestimate the importance of how a comfortable, well decorated and ventilated space can aid in boosting our creativity. Make sure you spend some time in creating an area that you love. Nobody wants to work in a cold, drab uncomfortable space, and I’m sure I’m not alone in saying that we designers feed off beautiful, aesthetically pleasing things and that translates to our surroundings too. Create a space that inspires you, whether that means putting pictures up on the walls by artists you admire, or funky wallpaper and some awesome smart lighting. Remember, you’ll be spending hours upon hours in this space, make it a place you look forward to working in every day.

5. Mix things up

   Yes, I know. I’ve just spent the majority of the article declaring the importance of ‘schedules’ and ‘routines’, and while these are the foundation of your life as a freelance designer, mixing things up a little can be just as good. “Change is as good as a holiday” an’ all that. Most people have clear distinctions between their work and office lives when they work away from home - we have to try to create these distinctions at home. And while we do our best in creating an inspiring work space, sometimes we just need to get away, have a change of scenery. One of the freedoms in being a freelancer is being able to do this. Perhaps working from a local park on a warm day, or spending a morning working from a coffee shop, spending every second Friday going out and working on your photography, or leaving your laptop powered off for a day a month and using that time to draw, or practice other non-digital media. This time is sometimes all we need to get those creative juices flowing again, and will allow us to return to work more purposeful and focused. While we can operate effectively on a routine, we thrive on a little bit of change too.

6. Allow time to be curious

   As an extension of mixing things up, remember to allow yourself time to play, to explore and to discover. Find artist and designers that inspire you and get lost in their Instagram for an hour or so, learn a new skill or brush up on some old ones. Don’t allow yourself to become stagnant, to stick with methods and art styles you are comfortable with - keep learning, keep exploring and you’ll often find these new skills or fresh inspiration will translate into your own work. Give yourself proper time to do this - this is never wasted time. Never assume you know everything there is to know in your discipline - learn from others, continue to develop as a designer and your work will only get better.

7. Get DRESSED

   Aaaah - I saved the best for last! Please, please…get dressed. Don’t think because you work from home it’s OK to just stay in your jim-jams all day - it’s not. It may be a nice novelty at first, but it’s not going to help to get you focused and in work mode. I’m not saying put on a suit and do your tie up to eleven, by all means, put on some comfortable slacks and a hoody - but just make sure you are taking those PJ’s off. You’ll thank me later.

I’m sure there are at least a few more tips in how to remain motivated and focused when working for yourself as a freelancer, but these are the ones that have benefited me most. In summary, make sure your work space is inspiring, comfortable and set apart from the rest of your home, stick to a schedule, make sure you take time away to discover new and exciting things…and get dressed.