What is the effort trap and how to stop falling into it: tips for a freelancer

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

When we try to simplify our life, we often get the opposite result. As a result, productivity is at zero, and there is no energy left. Find out how to avoid this.

Effort traps are mental traps that we set ourselves in an effort to improve our lives. But in fact, we come to an absolutely opposite result - psychological exhaustion and constant fatigue.

When working as a freelancer, it is very easy to confuse not only day with night, but also customers, simply by sending someone else's job to another person. And the fault lies in this notorious effort trap.

Most people do too many stupid little things: they check their mail 10 times per hour, are distracted by messages in instant messengers. Added to this are phone calls, general inquiries and a discussion with the customer on how to work. And what do we have at the end of the day? There are a hundred committed actions, one closed task, and you feel like a squeezed lemon. So-so productivity.

How can you avoid these situations and stop bullying yourself?

1. Stop pushing

We are told from childhood: "Once you started - bring the job to the end." And this postulate has been sitting in my head for many years. But if at the stage of reviewing the brief and discussing the first requirements of the customer, it becomes clear that the topic is not viable, the hypothesis fundamentally contradicts the market situation, and the discount cannot be scaled to all customers, why bother and defend the idea? Stop and focus on the real situation.

2. Stop being a perfectionist

“The best is the enemy of the good,” said the Italian writer Giovanni back in the 16th century. And he was absolutely right. The endless pursuit of perfection does not give the best result, but only pushes you to waste your time.

The Pareto principle remains basic: 80% of the result is achieved with the help of 20% of the effort, and not vice versa. So spend more time planning time rather than packaging concepts.

If there is a lot of work, it is worth cutting off the client at the price. When you tell the client the total amount, it saves time. Now we even call up only after payment. And I don't waste time on endless conversations with potential customers.

Vyacheslav Savitsky copywriter

3. Don't wait for inspiration

We often wait for some symbol, sign, call, inspiration and fix our attention on this. Don't, the Moon in Capricorn won't help you. Take it and do it.

4. Don't try to change the irreversible

Often we want to return the "departing train": you did not have time to properly prepare the task for the competition, and the customer chose a competitor, or could not find the right words to convince the client to accept your design. I want to calculate and redo all these mistakes. But if you keep thinking about it, then it will be extremely difficult to get out of the reversion trap. Better to come to terms with the situation, draw conclusions and move on.

Before you start working closely with a customer, determine the time to get in touch, distribute all your customers by hours and work according to the calling schedule. Urgency doesn't matter. Quality is important. Communicate this fact to the customer.

Maria Filimonova accountant and young mother

5. Don't be proactive

There is no need to rush. To start planning a project that will begin in six months means reworking, not realizing that the same result will be achieved later. The advice "solve problems as they come" is just about that.

6. Don't delay the moment

This resistance to the inevitable begins in the morning: the alarm clock rings at 7:00, I really do not want to get up, but the desire to prolong sleep "just a little more" only delays the moment and is not of any use. Therefore, before pressing the delayed signal button again, stop and think: “Do I really need to roll around for another five minutes? What will it give me? Will it help you in your work? Will it make life better?"

Don't grab onto everything at once - it's not productive. I prefer to categorize tasks by importance and urgency. Similar to the GTD method, but in a simplified form.

Elisey Samretov mobile application developer

7. Do not build imaginary scenarios in your head

The Thought Formulation Trap forces us to utter what appears to be true. But it is impossible to calculate all the moves in advance.

We try on several roles in a situation that worries us: for example, we present the first meeting with a customer, to whom we propose to develop a website. Mentally, we have already played dozens of fictional scenarios in our heads and tried to predict all possible scenarios for the development of events, but such a "multi-move" entails only stress and anxiety. Therefore, it is better not to bury yourself in thoughts, but to act according to the situation.