Playing Catch-up can wear you out
No matter how hard you try to stay on pace there will probably come a time when you find yourself playing catch-up. What does this mean? This is when you get so bogged down with work that you have to work extra hard to catch up so you don’t miss any deadlines. While this may not sound like a big deal right now, if you have ever been in this position you know that nothing could be further from the truth.
Simply put, playing catch-up can and probably will wear you out sooner rather than later. The best thing you can do is avoid this situation at all costs. You can do this by tracking deadlines, working hard everyday, and never accepting a project that is going to put you behind the eight ball.
What if I find myself in this position anyway? In this case you are in a tough spot, but not one that is impossible to get out of. If you are in the position of playing catch-up you need to realize one thing: you are going to have to work some extra hours in order to get back to normal. For instance, if you are used to working eight hour days you may have to tack on a couple more hours so you can dig yourself out of the hole you have created. This is not always fun but once you are caught up you will be glad that you took the extra time to do so.
Through my experiences most freelance writers find themselves playing catch-up due to two mistakes: 1. taking on two much work. 2. Not working enough and putting things off for another day. If you take on too much work you will eventually find your back against the wall and working vigorously to catch up. It is nice to have a lot of work but only if you can comfortably handle the load. To go along with this it can be easy to get lazy from time to time. If this happens you will once again be putting yourself in a bad position as you will probably fall behind sooner rather than later. There is nothing wrong with taking time off, but you need to make sure that this does not put you too far behind in your work.
The bad thing about playing catch-up all the time is that it can wear you out. After all, your body is not used to working extra hours or going as strong day in and day out. Not only can you wear out mentally, but you can do the same physically. As you can imagine, this will only lead to more problems and falling even further behind.
There will probably come a time when you are behind in your work and forced to catch-up. While this is bound to happen be sure to keep these situations to a minimum.Â
