The Hardest Part of Freelancing? Learning to Switch Off
One thing I hadn't really thought about before becoming freelance was how difficult switching off as a freelancer would actually be.
When you work a more traditional office job, there's usually some sort of end to the working day.
You work your hours — whether that's 9–5 or something completely different — shut down your computer and go home.
Obviously, that doesn't mean everyone magically stops thinking about work the second they leave. I definitely didn't always manage that.
But there was still a bit of a divide. Work was work. Home was home. Now? I'm the business.
And apparently my brain has decided that means The Wright Words needs to be open 24/7.
“I'll just quickly…”
This has become a slightly dangerous phrase.
It's 8pm. My little boy's in bed. I finished work hours ago. Everything I actually needed to get done that day is done. This should be the point where I sit down, put something on TV and switch off for the evening.
Instead, my brain goes:
I'll just quickly do that thing on Canva.
Five minutes.
Except while I'm on Canva, I remember something else I wanted to create.
Then I might have a quick search for some freelance leads.
I find one that looks interesting, so obviously I need to look at their website.
Then their social media.
Then I start thinking about what I could do for them.
Maybe I'll send an email while I'm here...
And suddenly it's 11pm and I'm three hours deep into something that wasn't even on my to-do list at 8pm.
All because I was going to “quickly do something on Canva.”
Switching off as a freelancer when you ARE the business
I think this is the biggest difference for me.
Before, I worked for a business. Now, I am the business.
If I'm not doing client work, there's always something I could be doing for The Wright Words.
There's my website.
My social media.
My blog.
My portfolio.
Finding leads.
Sending emails.
Creating printables.
Doing admin.
Coming up with new ideas.
And then inevitably coming up with another idea while I'm halfway through the first one.
There's no real end point.
And because it's mine, I'm always thinking about it.
I'll be doing something completely unrelated to work and suddenly think of a post idea.
I'll see another business online and start thinking about their content.
I'll remember something I want to change on my website.
I'll think of someone I could contact.
And because my phone and laptop are never particularly far away, it's very easy to go from:
“That's a good idea. I'll make a note of that for tomorrow.” to: “Well... I might as well just do it now.”
The problem is, I actually want to do it
And I think this is what makes switching off so difficult at the moment.
Nobody is telling me I need to work at 10pm. Most of the time, there's no deadline. I genuinely want to do it. Everything is still new and exciting.
A new enquiry comes in? I want to reply.
I find a potential lead? I want to know more.
I think of something I could add to my website? I want to try it.
I have an idea for a new printable? Suddenly I'm designing it.
I'm passionate about making The Wright Words work, and every little bit of progress feels exciting because I'm building something that's mine.
And I don't think that's a bad thing.
I actually love that I feel this motivated about what I'm doing.
Which probably explains why I'm sitting here writing this blog on a Saturday.
I don't work Saturdays. Or at least, apparently, I'm not supposed to.
I've spent years creating content and coming up with ideas for other businesses. Now I'm putting that same energy into something I've created myself.
I just probably don't need to act on every single idea the second it enters my head.
My to-watch list is getting ridiculous
Possibly the biggest indication that I've forgotten how to switch off? I haven't properly sat down and binge-watched a crime series in about five weeks.
If you know me, you'll understand just how unusual that is.
I LOVE a crime series.
Give me a murder, a detective with a complicated personal life and six episodes full of suspicious people, and I'll happily lose an entire evening to it.
And it's not like there's nothing to watch.
My Netflix list is getting longer by the week, plus there are all the ITV and BBC crime dramas I keep seeing advertised and thinking, “Ooh, I need to watch that.”
At the moment, my to-watch list is starting to look suspiciously like my work to-do list.
There's so much on it.
I'll think: Right. Tonight I'm actually going to watch something.
Then 8pm comes around...
I'll just quickly check something.
I'll just finish that design.
I'll just have a quick look for leads.
And before I know it, it's 11pm, I've somehow started a completely new project and I haven't watched a single murder.
Which, quite frankly, is not like me at all.
There is no end to the to-do list
I love a list.
I really love a list.
But I've discovered something slightly inconvenient about running your own business:
You can never actually finish it.
Even if all of my client work is done, there's something I could be doing for my own business.
And every time I tick one thing off, I seem to think of another three things to add.
That's where I think I need to get better at recognising the difference between: “I could do this.” and “I need to do this.”
Because if I worked every time there was something I could be doing... I'd never stop.
Learning to leave things until tomorrow
I think this is probably going to be one of the biggest things I have to learn.
If I think of something at 9pm, I don't have to do it at 9pm.
Revolutionary, I know.
I can write it down. Put it on tomorrow's list, and then actually leave it there. The email can wait. The Canva design can wait.
My website will survive until morning without that tiny change I've suddenly decided is absolutely essential.
And the freelance lead I've found at 10pm probably doesn't need an email from me at 10:07pm anyway.
I think it'll take me a while to get used to that.
Everything is still so new. I'm excited about what I'm building, I'm passionate about it and I genuinely enjoy working on it.
I don't want to lose that.
I just need to find the balance between loving what I'm building and feeling like I should always be building it.
I'm still figuring this one out
I'd love to finish this blog with “5 foolproof ways to switch off when you're freelance.”
Unfortunately, I don't have them. Because I'm still learning too.
I'm still relatively new to running my own business. I'm learning what works, what doesn't and, apparently, when to put the laptop away.
Maybe in a few months I'll have cracked it.
For now, I'm trying to remind myself that running my own business doesn't mean I have to be working on it every waking hour.
There will always be another email.
Another lead.
Another post.
Another idea.
And, knowing me, another list.
They just don't all need my attention immediately.
Sometimes I can write something down and say: “I'll do that tomorrow.”
And then I can sit down, put Netflix on — or finally start one of those ITV or BBC dramas I've been saving — and actually switch off for the evening.
That's the plan, anyway.
Considering I'm writing this on a Saturday, I clearly still have some work to do.