Have you ever been really excited about a project, but then find yourself at a stand-still with your progress? Your original interest seems to fade and your motivation lost? As a freelancer, it’s crucial to finish the projects that you start and essential to find that motivation to meet your deadlines. Without it, you’ll lose credibility and potential new clients. So, how can you stay motivated?
These 5 tricks will help you finish your latest assignment and help you build a sustainable method for conquering your next task.
Find your accountability group
Whether it’s a friend, family member, community, or online Facebook group…use your support network. Tell people what you’re working on and ask them to check in on your progress. You can even be specific and request weekly or daily emails, texts or calls for updates. Further, feel free to use this group to bounce ideas off of when you find your progress has stalled.
We already talk about the importance of having an accountability partner in our blog before, if you want to exactly know how this person can boost your freelancing or what the steps are that you need to follow to get one, don’t miss our previous article on getting an accountability partner.
Reframe your goals
With huge goals and little progress, it’s hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Break up your larger projects into smaller assignments. Be specific with what needs to be done and clearly outline how this piece fits into the larger picture. This will give you a boost of confidence after each task is completed and keep you motivated to get to the next step.
Set a timer
Dreading this one task that seems to take forever? Identify projects within the larger assignment that can be done in short periods of time. Set your timer for 15 or 30 minutes and challenge yourself to complete it. You will be surprised how much you can get done when you give yourself a specific time frame to focus and remove all distractions. If you are unable to finish that task within your set time frame, it’s ok to add a little more time, but make sure you don’t move away from this task until it is complete. Make finishing this one task your only priority.
Buckle down when you’re motivated
Chances are you’re not motivated every day but the key is to continue to work on your project when you are. As you work on your tasks and feel the creative energy flowing, keep with it as long as you can. Don’t be afraid to go beyond your normal working schedule if you are still in that mental zone.
“Keep working if you are in a creative and productive moment”
Set up a reward system!
Finished a task? Now, it’s time to celebrate! Your reward doesn’t have to be something big – it can just be a cup of coffee or 5 minutes until you go to the next thing, but give yourself credit for getting the task done. It will help you stay focused and keep you from burning out.
Finding the motivation to finish what you started isn’t always easy. You’ll need to embrace the moments when you are in the flow and use these other tricks to give you a boost. Just remember to use your resources and support systems to hold you accountable and reward yourself along the way.
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Do you have any other tips to find motivation to complete a project? Share them on the comment section below!
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Pic: ©Stockpic
