Discipline is a superpower

Or, like a combination of a dull time management technique and mental grit.

The Friendly Freelancer is a biweekly newsletter for creative freelancers available in English and Dutch. If you would prefer to read this newsletter in Dutch, you can subscribe to the Dutch version here. You will get the same letter as subscribers to the English version, but some of the linked resources and articles may slightly differ.

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If you were to ask anyone who knows me well what my distinguishing personality traits are, they’d probably tell you I’m “very disciplined”.

People, in fact, have told me that my entire life. Sometimes that stings because I’d like to think I have more redeeming qualities. Like, what about my slightly dark, but delightful sense of humour?

But given that those statements are usually uttered with a wistful smile, I’ve tried to accept that – as dull as it sounds – discipline is apparently my superpower.

Because I’ve been hearing from so many people – both salaried and freelance – that they are struggling to get any work done under the current lockdown circumstances, I thought I would tell you exactly what my work process is at the moment. Maybe it will be helpful or inspiring to some of you. Or maybe my method will seem ludicrous. That’s fine, I’m equally happy to offer some comic relief.

When I have deadlines, it’s pretty easy. Every morning, I break up the work into the small tasks I need to complete that day to finish the assignment. I’ve taken a photo of such a list to give you a sense of what this looks like.

I then open the Tomato Timer website. I hit “Start”, begin working and continue to do so until the timer rings. I’m not allowed to do anything but the micro task at hand. After the timer rings, I take a break, sit back down at my living room table, and do it again. And again, and again.

The technique described above is of course the Pomodoro technique and other people have explained why it works so well far better than I can.

The breaks are supposed to last 5 minutes, but I often don’t time them and, when I do, I often go over. I don’t care. It’s the 25-minute intervals that I want to stick to.

The promise I make to myself is that I just have to do it for 25 minutes, and then we’ll see how I feel. And inevitably, after 25 minutes, I think: “That wasn’t so bad. I can do one more.”

I just checked my figures for the past few weeks, and I’ve worked a total of five to seven hours this way on most days. Five to seven hours of super focused working time. It seems slightly unbelievable even to me.

An interview I did with an educational learning expert last week helped me understand the psychology behind this technique. I interviewed her for a story on how parents can motivate their teens to complete school work during these lockdown times. She explained that it’s crucial to set small, manageable goals. Setting a goal for ourselves and succeeding in that goal keeps us motivated, she said.

Every time I complete a 25-minute interval, I do feel pretty damn good about myself. Because they’re such short intervals and because I sometimes I want to keep working after the timer goes off, I also regularly tack on a couple more minutes. Which makes me feel like a total boss.

So there, now you know that my superpower is in fact a combination of a dull time management technique and a bit of mental grit.

Of course, I don’t know if I’ll be as motivated if or when work starts drying up. But I hope that by then it will have become second nature and that I’ll be as diligent when no deadlines are involved, when the only thing left for me to do is to diligently pitch clients, maybe take an online course and finally update my wretched website.

If I’ve gotten you curious enough to give it a try, let me know how you get on. I’d also love to hear your tips for staying motivated and disciplined in these trying times. They might seem ordinary to you, but be helpful to someone else.

Stay strong,

Linda

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What I’m reading, watching, listening to this week:

- For my own mental sanity, I’ve drastically reduced my news consumption. I’ve started reading a lot of evergreen features from freelancer-focused websites instead. This Underpinned article on why clients are so bad at briefing freelancers had me laughing pretty hard, but it also contained some great tips.

- Optimism is also a superpower. Singer Nele Needs a Holiday has done us all a service and compiled a Spotify list of the most positive songs she could think of to get you through these dispiriting times. Check it out here. My own go-to soundtrack at the moment is the original, 2015 Broadway recording of the Hamilton musical. Pure joy.

- For her PhD study into the well-being of freelancers, Vlerick researcher Neveen Saied is looking to interview freelancers. The interviews are conducted in English and over video,  and last between 30 to 60 minutes. Contact her at neveen.saied@vlerick.com if you’re interested. She’s a delight. I’m also glad to see that local researchers are starting to see freelancing as a topic worthy of study.

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What our readers are saying:

“One strategy I have adopted for minimising time spent on communication and admin is to simply not answer the phone. I have a note in my email signature that asks people to schedule a call by email if they want to talk on the phone. I'm not really worried about missing opportunities, since anyone who has found my telephone number somewhere will have also found my email address; they are always listed together. I still get new clients quite frequently by word of mouth. They email me! This way I can focus on one thing at a time and not worry about work intrusions.” Freelance translator Jonathan Beaton

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This newsletter was written by Linda A. Thompson, a Belgian freelance journalist specialised in covering corporate tax and social injustice. She’s written for Bloomberg Law, Deutsche Welle, OZY, International Politics & Society, USA Today, IJNet and Equal Times.

You’ll hear from Selma Franssen in two weeks. Selma is a Dutch freelance journalist living in Brussels. She is the author of Vriendschap in tijden van eenzaamheid and has written for Charlie Magazine, OneWorld, De Morgen, De Standaard, The New Statesman, Bustle, Knack, VPRO and Newsweek.