I love working with words. Any text that comes out of my keyboard is part of me, as it embodies the ideas that come into my head – from the shortest tweet to the longest article. However, content management is very time-consuming, especially when you’re doing that both at work and in private life.
Meeting deadlines is one thing and keeping the quality of the texts as well as the other, the second. Both issues are in the work of content designers crucial, and their combination is made up for our success. Weak content, although delivered in time, is unlikely to defend, and delaying the delivery of time will certainly cause us considerable trouble. I sincerely admit that I have had slips of life in my life, of course, with cruel remorse – I hate to fail to meet the terms of the agreement because it is in conflict with my inner need for being perfect in everything.
Today, however, I am no longer the same person, who started her adventure with the written word four years ago. Today I understand how important every minute of my day is – both the part I spend at work and free time. That is why I try to use the maximum 24 hours to make the most out of it so that I do not have to pretend that I could do something, and by laziness, I did not commit it.
But how do we make sure our work is efficient enough and the time does not leak through our fingers? Copywriting time management does not have to be difficult – check out my ways!
5 Top Copywriting Time Management Hacks!
Learn to say no
Probably every one of you once encountered being overworked that you did not know where to put hands. Such moments in particular appeal to attract people who would like us to have something else to do – as if someone was hanging out with a megaphone and informing us that we would be willing to break our partners in fulfilling their duties.
I am well aware that saying “no” is not the simplest thing – we simply do not want to expose our colleagues, refusing to help them. In the end, we can also need her someday, right? That is why the way we communicate this refusal is so important.
Believe me that if you end up spending 100% of your time just to do your job, you’ll soon feel the difference! This will allow you to focus on what is most important to you and to create much better, more refined texts.
Remove distractions
Let’s face it: every time we get to work, everything starts to tempt twice more. Social media, book, an episode of your favorite TV series (especially when we work remotely), even hunger starts to tickle faster than usual. I know it better than you think – immediately after starting to write, the sounds from the outside become much more intense and disperse my barely reached concentration.
That is why whenever I start my work, I turn off WiFi and put the phone away at a safe distance, far beyond the length of my hand, and behind my back. When someone calls, I have the opportunity to get up and move, and I do not check the wall of the wall just to read the same post three times. This way is reliable, and the results, though tedious to achieve, are exceptionally satisfying – I no longer lose the time to melt into a smartphone and consume a million different content. I focus much more on my tasks, and I am also more satisfied with the results!
Besides, I learned not to check the mail every minute. It was tough for me because I was trying to answer my colleagues as soon as possible. From experience, however, I know that right after all the distractions associated with the phone, it is the emails that focus on me most.
Prepare a to-do list
Do you know that we work much better when we stick to a well-planned plan? Mastery of confusion is the simplest way to maximize concentration, as knowing our next steps allows us to control the time we spend with them. Of course, chaos can also be creative and develop creativity, but unfortunately, this is not a good solution not in the long run. By getting the job done in a stiffer frame, our efficiency improves – and that is exactly what it is!
There are many ways to create a task list. The easiest way, of course, is to take a note and a pen, but I prefer the smartphone app, which I wrote here. I have already tried Todoist, Asana, Trello, Podio, and TimeCamp, so I know exactly how much time I need to write a text about specific requirements or do different work. I regularly enter data into my calendar (Google Calendar), because of the controls never too much! On the subject, I also have a hand-held notebook, which serves me to list farsighted ideas and thoughts.
Take a break
Our brain needs a respite. Imagine that you are practicing persistently in the gym, pouring out the seventh sweat to achieve the desired effects. It is impossible for you to withstand a little pause! The same with the mind – he also needs a rest to be able to jump again at the right rotation.
That is why it is so important to take a break from time to time, especially to calm the mind. For me it usually means two minutes spent with closed eyes to ease the eyes, prepare a meal or, more and more, a series of simple physical exercises. These small pauses will allow you to intensify your focus and energize you for further duties, and thus you will finish your tasks much faster than you think!
Set aside time
In the copywriter’s work or content designer, we often encounter the same types of tasks. Texts or other content are usually of similar size, so we can quickly determine how long it will take to prepare them, including any preparation. Again, I will mention here time tracking tools such as TimeCamp – just turn on them at the start of the task, and the app itself counts the minutes and hours spent on it.
It makes it easier for us to manage time in our profession – because we can share our working day so that none of our obligations are hurt at the expense of another. Imagine the happiness of writing three texts instead of two. I would be proud of myself! And I am because proper time management means nothing more than the end of deadlines.