Managing work schedule (freelance)

miguelnarayan

So this topic has been approached by two people who I find to be professionals at what they do.
One has a chaotic approach and the other has a organized approach, not to be a gender cliche but the first is male and the second female.

The topic is managing social life and work life at the same time, how much is too working too much and how much is being too lazy?

The girl, Loish, the digital painter that is widely known, said she is still finding balance between work and off-work activities by trying not to do art or work on weekends and evenings. So she may find energy from her off time to come back to the work time and vice-versa.

The guy, is a teacher I had in college, he is more of a hybrid between graphic designer and artist, known as Royal Studio, but he has worked for Yahoo and other big companies. He says that there is no good time to be active at work, and sometimes inspiration only hits him at 2 AM and after hitting a bottle of something.

Being a freelancer myself, I don't always find the jobs that I'd most like to work on and sometimes I don't work on concept art or 3d modeling and have to do some graphic design work, I don't mind it, but sometimes it wears off my batteries, I found that Loish approach is good, but it feels like I have too much free time to not do anything on weekends, and sometimes I want to work on personal pieces during evenings and weekends as well... (maybe I just really have too much free time that I should invest on something off the computer)
Anyway, what do you guys think? What do you do?

Eric Chadwick

It totally depends on the person, and especially their social situation. I have a wife and kids, so my eves and weekends are focused on them.

I organize my day to be productive during normal business hours. I'm not goofing off on the web, playing games, etc. I'm working. That helps keep it sane.

But when I need to, I pour on the steam, working nights and weekends. Kind of necessary now and then, because I'm a sole proprietor.

Drinking and late nights are definitely bad news. Especially drinking for inspiration.

We have more advice on our wiki, check the Freelance page.

Segreto

I treat my freelancing (been at it for 6 years) as a regular full-time job, with the caveat that I need at times to work late, or conform my schedule to the client if they're living in an opposite time zone. I make myself available if the client needs to communicate after hours. If I don't have a paying gig I force myself to work on something of my own, handle business matters, look for more work, or do something else productive like research or training. If I'm waiting on a client for feedback, I swap over to doing my own art until they get back to me. Once I hit the ~6pm hour I force myself (sometimes its hard) to step away from the office/computer and go do something else that is entirely different from work. I've taken up a couple hobbies like cooking and gardening to keep my mind away from the art while I'm off. Saturdays are a half-day, and Sundays are always off.

Why do I do this? Well when I started freelancing, I went with the chaotic approach. It's my natural state I think. I worked when I had a job, no matter the time of day/night, and I'd sit in front of my computer sometimes for 12-14 hours a day. If I couldn't sleep at night, I'd hop on my computer and do some art. I found that my creativity entirely depended on my mood and the time of day. Sometimes I was off, sometimes I felt like a god. My sleep schedule was a wreck, sometimes I missed sleeping at all. This approach works for some people, but as time wore on I realized that I wasn't really getting better as an artist. I didn't like having that creative light bulb turn on at 2am, but not at 10am.

Forcing myself to maintain a regular work day trained my mind into getting into the zone when it was time to work. I get up, do my little routine for starting my day and start working like I was in a studio or office. Knowing that I only have until dinner time to stop working, it made my mind get used to the idea that I needed to be creative during the day. My office now is just a place to work. Gaming, goofing off, all has to happen away from that room. Been at it this way for close to 4 years now, and I couldn't imagine being successful any other way.

miguelnarayan

Great responses, however how talented an individual may be, I agree that a chaotic approach isn't the way to go for a lot of people. I'm glad to find that I'm not the only one going for a organized work/off time schedule, I'm just starting out and made sense to ask this! Thanks again!

DavidCruz

Hmm, Eric speaks truth drink late for anything is bad, sugar, kills males reproductive cells, something to ponder over if this is you.(idk about ladies)

I say do what you want when you want, myself i work 95% of my entire time.
Moved and have no body to go out with, might sound bad to some but usually friends good or bad could bring about problems to you, i know that might not be a good way to think but i was born round a population where this was true growing up. [L.Ks.] comes to mind.

As for artwork if you think you need time or want to draw do it, just take it easier than you would in a production setting (with time constraints).

Don't try to adopt someone else's way or working as it sounds you do more than just concept and graphic designs. So what works for someone else might not work for you.

However if you are looking to meet someone and settle down they have to understand your working habits and lack of desire to be interrupted when working. I am also single by choice, i can't deal with a needy person on the sidelines, (had trouble finding females not looking to go out every other day.) Lunches and dinners are fine but that adds up.

A lot of planning is involved if you want a social life sometimes employers will spring stuff on you and sometimes that is the make or break moment, where you might not know it but that employers will have someone else on the side waiting to do that job you turn down and there slowly goes your employer to someone else.
Who's time is his time and not the other way around.