{"id":639,"date":"2015-12-01T19:06:36","date_gmt":"2015-12-02T03:06:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ginastricklind.com\/?p=639"},"modified":"2017-05-22T23:09:40","modified_gmt":"2017-05-23T06:09:40","slug":"year-in-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ginastricklind.com\/year-in-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Year In Review: First Year Freelancing With A Baby"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s not quite the end of the year, but it has<\/em> been (over) a year since a major lifestyle change.<\/p>\n

As a family, we had our first baby at the start of 2014. By the end of that year, it was decided something needed to change. In most cases, having a soon to be 1-year-old isn\u2019t exactly the right time to change things up or\u00a0start freelancing. But, we needed to make it work \u2013 as if having a wee little human and her constantly changing schedule isn\u2019t hectic and stressful enough, right?<\/p>\n

So, with the craziness of this past year, I thought I\u2019d take some time to reflect. Maybe some of you have a similar experience to share or maybe you find yourself facing something similar ahead.<\/p>\n

Luckily my work has been very busy and I\u2019ve found myself exceptionally happy with who I\u2019ve been working with.<\/p>\n

Working Remotely<\/h2>\n

Luckily, working remotely was not a hard adjustment for me. My studies at the Art Institute were remote as well some of my time returning back from maternity leave. Admittedly, I\u2019m also slightly\u00a0OCD about being productive most of the time. After all, one of the small reasons I\u2019ve stuck with the design\/development career was the prospect\u00a0of being able to work from home. When I took online courses and had tons of reading, it was incredibly frustrating to try to concentrate with distractions around me or even having a tv on. After a few years, things have changed in that regard.<\/p>\n

Although I work from home now, I actually work in many different locations. Surprisingly, even to me, the room dedicated in our house as the office is rarely used. The only time I\u2019m in the office is if I desperately need extra screen real-estate\u00a0for work or gaming. The places I am most productive are\u00a0the bedroom or the living room \u2013 probably because they\u2019re more cozy or\u00a0they get more sunlight.<\/p>\n

If I\u2019m feeling particularly sluggish or if I feel like having a\u00a0nap, a quick trip to Starbucks for more coffee and\u00a0ambient noise does an amazing job at bringing me back into work mode. Some weeks I\u2019ll spend\u00a03-4 days in Starbucks, while other weeks\u00a0I\u2019ll curl up in bed with some coffee and some nostalgic\u00a0beats<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The best thing you can do is be aware of how you work best. Whether it\u2019s in complete silence or with the ruckus of a coffee shop \u2013 don\u2019t be surprised if your best work environment changes from day to day or week to week.<\/p>\n

Being Productive<\/h2>\n

I love being productive and feeling accomplished. There are occasionally days that are almost a waste and you make no progress for some stupid reason. Unless that\u2019s just me?<\/p>\n

This year, I\u2019ve been pushed pretty hard to keep productivity up and build my time management skills \u2014 I\u2019ve learned a lot. The concepts and strategies are nothing really new to me, but\u00a0I guess I never actively practiced them or pushed myself as much as I should.<\/p>\n

I enjoy coding so when I\u2019m working on a personal project I sometimes prefer to lose any sense of time and just take my time \u2013 it\u2019s enjoyable and when I\u2019m less rushed, I often retain better.<\/p>\n

In all aspects of project work, be sure to keep track of your time.Even if it\u2019s a few minutes or a few hours. Keep an eye on\u00a0the clock and challenge yourself \u2013 see if you can finish a particular task in 5 minutes or flesh out a snippet in 10-20, see what else you can challenge yourself with. But, just be sure your quality of work doesn\u2019t suffer.<\/p>\n

Work-Life Balance<\/h2>\n

If you have a baby and both parents work, this is where it gets really crazy tough \u2014 not gonna lie. Not only does the baby\u2019s schedule change once you finally get settled into a routine, you simply don\u2019t have much\u00a0extra time for yourself. Even if you\u2019re like\u00a0us and you have your baby\/toddler at daycare most work days, evenings are still hardly\u00a0for relaxing. Once the baby is home, food needs to happen asap before you have to rip open a bag of snickers and disperse it desperately at everyone (me in particular). Once dinner is over, there\u2019s time for cleanup (depending on how messy the baby was) and then it\u2019s off to the bath and coloring circles all over the bathtub. The struggle starts again once you\u2019re ready to put pajamas on. It\u2019s a 15 minute ordeal to play\/wrestle with them to get their pajamas on which may or may not end in screaming and crying because you\u2019ve had to pin them down as\u00a0they\u2019d rather run around the house butt naked.<\/p>\n

As busy as you may be with work to meet your financial needs or baby duties, don\u2019t take lightly how scheduling some \u201cyou\u201d time can help you (and those around you) be happier and have a better mind set when you get back into the grind. Think about what will help you destress and wind down and put it in your calendar \u2013 whether it\u2019s reading for 30 minutes each night or having a Halo Guardians marathon once a week. Do it! ?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/h2>\n

Working at home may not be for some \u2013 and it may not be for forever. I enjoy it and I\u2019m grateful I\u2019ve been able to do it. Some people prefer to go to co-working spaces which is also a great way to meet others.<\/p>\n

Finding that happy balance between productivity and down time may not be perfect every week and will likely have it\u2019s fluctuations, especially with a baby in the house. Try your best and at least make sure you get a little time to wind down.<\/p>\n

Surround yourself with people who support you and think you\u2019re awesome. If you\u2019re an introvert and\/or don\u2019t have a lot of friends who share some of your interests, this can be super hard. Be sure to keep connected with a good friend or two and do something with them often! Having friends that are relatively engaged in your career field is a hug bonus \u2013 it can benefit\u00a0your creativity and may even have the\u00a0possibility of building some projects together or even a business.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s not quite the end of the year, but it has been (over) a year since a major lifestyle change. As a family, we had our first baby at the start of 2014. By the end of that year, it was decided something needed to change. In most cases, having a soon to be 1-year-old isn\u2019t exactly the right time to change things up or\u00a0start freelancing. But, we needed to make it work \u2013 as if having a wee little […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ginastricklind.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ginastricklind.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ginastricklind.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ginastricklind.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ginastricklind.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=639"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/ginastricklind.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1793,"href":"https:\/\/ginastricklind.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639\/revisions\/1793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ginastricklind.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ginastricklind.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ginastricklind.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}