Surfing the waves of freelance chaos: on consistency

“Let your concern be with the action alone, and never with the fruits of the action. Do not let the results of your action be your motive, and do not be attached to inaction” Bhagavad Gita.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about how my approach to work can be informed by the way that I practice yoga. I don’t need to obsess about either of the practices as long as I keep going back to them. Instead of forcing myself into tyrannic timetables, or measuring my productivity in terms of numbers and achievements, I just need to keep showing up to my work.  “Practice and all is coming”, yoga guru Pattabhi Jois said, and the quote keeps ringing true. Knowing that I’ll keep returning to whatever is important to me is a realization that allows for much-needed peace of mind. I didn’t always have the confidence that I would. I have typically been the type of person who gets easily overwhelmed and ends up procrastinating until she eventually gives up without ever having meant to.

Things are different now. I had built the resilience to push through, but I still find it challenging to remain consistent and motivated when my passion work transitions into paid work. I understand that having a solid structure for my workdays is imperative for the workflow, whatever the nature of that structure. It could be an agenda, reminders on the mobile phone, to-do lists, drawings, it could be mental notes if you have an extraordinary memory, or a personal assistant if you’re rich. I am the creative type, the improvisation beast, the free bird who dislikes frames and cages and anything too predictable. I have already talked about my approach to work and I think the general principles serve me well. BUT. Without bringing in some more structure, I am as good as stagnated at this point. I need to create the conditions to keep on coming back consistently and make sure I make progress. As much as I tend to dislike schedules and plans and methodical agendas, it seems to me now that I need to bring in more structures into my days. I need a system, but I feel an incredible amount of resistance when it comes to not having as much spontaneity in my life as I have now.

CONSISTENCY is the word for the upcoming months. On this note, I have turned to a business mentor (who’s always my friend,) in the hopes that I can better organize my workflow and lessen the highs of compulsive working and the lows of lack of motivation and focus. I like the idea of creating a working system that works for me. She will also help me tackle the business side of what I do so as to make sure I have enough work that actually pays, allowing for my bank account to become a source of tranquillity instead of a scary rollercoaster. I am planning on updating you on the developments of this (need to actually schedule this, ha!). Funnily enough, the first time Bianca (my friend turned mentor) and I worked together was on a photoshoot for Tula Amsterdam, the yoga studio where I practice. I also host and do social media for them. And I’m attending a yoga teacher training there too. Even a yoga practice follows a structure: so will I.

Do you people have thoughts on this topic? Do you also find it hard to be structured when working for yourself? How do you keep consistency, focus & motivation? Do you have a system? Please, do share your golden tips for surfing the waves of freelance chaos! Thank you in advance.

Update: This is where I’m at right now when it comes to the topic of how to structure your workdays when working from home. Click the link (there’s a video in it, too.) This framework works well for artists, creatives, freelancers, and the solopreneurs of the world.

---

Want to read more stories? You can follow Amsterdive on Facebook for all updates. Note: I have been doing daily Instagram stories on adventures (and nonsense), which you can check out here.