Inefficient

Experts often share advice that equates to “Do as I do.”

But I don’t recommend you work as I do. The way I work works for me, but it’s massively inefficient. It won’t work for you.

How an inefficient artist works

Here are some things I do. Copy at your own risk.

• Type things that I could easily copy/paste or use AI to copy.
• Block off hours to do a task that might take less than hours.
• Put off meetings that I could take right away.
• Meet with people who are unlikely to become clients and help them.
• Interrupt my work to wash dishes, do laundry, check news sites, or interact on LinkedIn or Facebook.
• Snack while writing and editing.
• Blog every weekday, but not always at the same time of day.
• Take time off to exercise, shop, pay bills, or run errands on a weekday, and then work on a weekend.
• Fail to consistently market to my audience.
• Fail to measure the efficiency and effectiveness of whatever marketing I do.
• Finish work a day ahead of the deadline, then recheck it the next day and revise it.
• Send invoices that I create in Microsoft Word and track in Google Sheets, rather than using a legit accounting program like Quickbooks.
• Check email a lot.
• Get interested in random topics and research them in detail with no clear objective.
• Say whatever I damn please online when it often gets me in trouble.
• I post about politics in a way that I’m sure alienates people who disagree with me.
• Use curse words in formal channels.

This is a thoroughly inefficient process. It’s impossible to bill by the hour for it because some hours are highly productive and others are totally wasteful and fragmented. Half the time I don’t know what I’m doing or where I’m going.

There’s a reason I’m a freelancer. I wouldn’t hire me as an employee with these “work” habits.

Works for me

I am a creative worker on a sort-of semi-retired schedule.

Working this way has some benefits.

I choose high-paying high-profile projects. The high-paying part enables me to put in the hours I want in the way I want; the clients only care about the results.

I do stuff that doesn’t immediately pay off, but sometimes pays off in the long run. For example, I can’t tell you how cheaply I got paid to do the AI and the Writing Profession survey, but it made me much smarter and contributed to my reputation as a writing expert that’s knowledgeable about AI.

I end up broadly knowledgeable and up-to-date about the topics I’m interested in: writing, publishing, thought leadership, statistics, marketing, health, media, politics, and technology. Guess what topics I end up getting hired to write and edit on?

My stress level is far lower than most freelancers, even though I care deeply about the projects I work on. That’s because I can pick the people I want to work with carefully and don’t book myself solid.

I use Zoom a lot. I like seeing people online. I like working in my home office. I don’t like commuting or schmoozing. So Zoom suits me perfectly.

I’m fully available when my wife or my now grown children need me. I can live in Maine where it’s beautiful and people aren’t frantically busy, because almost all my work is virtual.

I can spend time to invest in my health and wellness, which is important for someone my age with the usual chronic health conditions.

I give insane amounts of content away for free, because I enjoy creating it and sharing it. It keeps me sharp.

The “wasted” time I spend on social media, especially LinkedIn, has a tendency to pay off later. More than half my clients are people I know or people referred by people I know, but those people are aware of what I do because of all my interactions on social media. It’s pretty easy to check me out; I have a broad and sprawling online footprint.

I do automate stuff. Not the same stuff as everyone else. I automate stuff that I hate. That’s why I use AI to do research but not writing: research is tedious and writing is fun (at least for me).

I outsource things I’m bad at or lack skill at, for examples graphic design and taxes. I don’t outsource anything else. I’m sure it would be more “efficient” to hire experts, but then I’d have to manage those experts, and that would create too much stress.

So I am gloriously efficient at being inefficient.

Guilt

One more thing.

I have no guilt about my level of efficiency.

If I deliver what clients need at the quality and schedule they want — and in a way that makes me happy and pays me sufficiently — then who cares how I did it?

Who cares how much time I wasted along the way?

There is, in the end, nobody to satisfy but me. And I’m satisfied.

How about you? Are you efficient? Are you happy? And for you, do those two qualities have anything to do with each other?

Spare a thought on that, when you have a moment that you’re not in a meeting or working.