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Q: How Do I Deal With The Stress of Multiple Deadlines? - Pieter Keil

A: I know exactly where you are coming from Pieter! I will sometimes find myself so stressed out during a really busy week that I feel like going to work at the local gas station and leaving the whole world of freelancing behind! Luckily, I’ve learned to accept this and turn the stress and fear of missed deadlines into motivation and productivity… how? Read on…

Stay Organized
First and foremost, you must stay organized. I am a slave to my “task list” and without it, there would be a lot of forgotten projects and angry clients. Don’t trust your brain! It simply cannot hold all the information, dates, projects, and clients without something slipping by.

I use gmail as my “nerve center” and for the basic of tasks lists I use Remember The Milk. Luckily for me, they offer RTM integration with gmail via a firefox addon. You can grab it at their website. I use this for all my smaller projects and for next actions of all my larger projects. For keeping up with larger projects I use ActiveCollab which allows me to interact step-by-step with clients and keep up good communication. I also have all the mockups, tasks, milestones, and project files right there for me and my client to access!

Take a (short) Break!
Ok, so a break is the last thing you think you need. But the truth is if you don’t step back, relax, ease your mind and reflect on the project work you’re going to end up overloaded and un-motivated. I will usually take a shower, take a drive, or walk the dog during times like these. When I come back to my boss of a laptop, I will most likely have a much clearer mind to handle the stressful tasks I was working on before. Even though I took a short break, I usually get done quicker as I find myelf making less mistakes or so stressed that I can’t solve the simplest of problems!

Don’t Multitask!
So you think multitasking is going to help you get more done? Wrong! If you’re anything like me, the more you multitask, the more you end up off track! Focus entirely on the one task at hand until it is 100% complete… then move on. Keep this “train of productivity” rolling. Remember, if you need to take small breaks after each task, do it! but always come back to where you left off.

Start Small, End Big
I find that when I am dealing with multiple deadlines and I am about to crack I am as unproductive as ever. Instead of thinking endlessly on the amount of work you have at hand, clear your mind (like above) and start on the smallest task of any of the projects at hand. Once that is finished, do the next smallest task and so on…

You’re going to end up finding yourself finishing more and more with less and less stress. Why? Because at first it feels like you’re doing something so small and simple, but in the end, when you’ve accomplished quite a bit with the above method, you feel far less stress. Doing anything productive makes you feel like you’ve accomplished something and done the best you could. Chances are, the best you could do is good enough (or better!) and you will feel right on track.

So basically to sum it all up: Stay as organized as possible, take as many short breaks as needed, and work on one task at a time! Maybe it sounds obvious or too simple but after years of freelancing and dealing with the stress of multiple deadlines the above is the only way I can get my projects complete in times like this. There is no quick way to get rid of the stress. The root of it is, is that you feel beat before you even start. Especially when your staring at that giant list of tasks. The only way to relieve this stress is to produce a satisfactory amount of work. So stay relaxed and work from the ground up!