Importance of Achieving a Healthy Work-Life Balance as a Freelancer

7 min readAug 25, 2021

It’s safe to say that there are many perks to a freelance lifestyle. While it’s easy to focus on the positives, few people talk about the drawbacks of freelancing. More specifically, how difficult it is for freelancers to achieve — and maintain — a healthy work-life balance. Yet, a freelancer’s ability to create a proper balance between their work and personal life is crucial to their success and overall well-being.

Why is a Freelance Work-Life Balance Important?

Creating a work-life balance is vital for employed individuals and freelancers alike, but it can often be far more challenging for freelancers to do. Yes, freelancing comes with many advantages — setting your hours and working from home being two of the most obvious — but it’s not all sunshine and rainbows.

Many freelancers deal with a sporadic workload. When combined with the ability to work when and where you want, it can make it hard to maintain a clear line between their work and personal life. Failing to achieve a healthy work-life balance can impact your mental and physical health, relationships, productivity, and performance. When left unchecked for too long, you may find yourself suffering from the effects of burnout.

How to Achieve a Work-Life Balance

So, how do you balance your work and personal life as a freelancer? In all honesty, it can be challenging to navigate the blurred lines that come with freelancing. That said, you can take steps to bring those lines into focus and create a better work-life balance.

1. Develop a Morning Routine

You’ve probably heard about the benefits of having a morning routine. Successful people like Oprah and Marie Forleo swear by them. While it may not be the golden ticket to achieving a healthy work-life balance, it’s a start. Establishing a morning routine can help you prepare for the day ahead.

Carve an hour or so out of your morning for activities like:

Exercising
Reading
Practising Gratitude
Journaling
Meditating

A morning routine is a personal thing, so don’t worry if yours is different from a friend’s. Focus on developing a routine that incorporates things you enjoy and leaves you in the right headspace to tackle the day.

Recommended: 5 Low-cost Marketing Strategies For Freelancers

2. Have a Dedicated Workspace

Just because you can work from anywhere doesn’t mean you should. Sure, occasionally working from the couch or even your bed can be a nice change of pace. However, both come with plenty of distractions. From getting lost in a Netflix binge to succumbing to an impromptu afternoon nap, you may not get as much work done as you’d like.

Having a dedicated workspace is a great way to limit distractions and separate your work life from your personal life. When you work from areas that you do everyday tasks like eat, watch TV, or sleep, it can be much harder to get in the zone. Creating a separate workspace, whether it’s a home office or a desk in the corner of the room, allows you to train your brain to be more focused when you’re in that spot.

Restricting work to certain areas of your home also makes it easier to leave work when you leave your desk. Leaving your workspace at the end of the day sends a signal to your brain that you’re free to focus on personal tasks.

3. Set Work Hours

One of the best things about freelancing is that you’re not bound by the standard nine to five, Monday through Friday workweek. The freedom to work when you want is highly appealing, but it never hurts to set a work schedule.

Devoting specific hours to work can help you maintain a work-life balance because it’s easier to set boundaries — with yourself and clients. You know exactly when you need to be “on” and available to clients.

The good news is this: You get to decide what those hours are.

If you feel most productive in the morning or early afternoon, start your day early. You’ll have an easier time tackling your to-do list and completing assignments. Best of all, an early start means you’ll have a good chunk of the day to spend however you like.

Recommended: 9 Awesome Ways For Building An Online Business.

4. Leave Room for Flexibility

Although having set work hours is helpful, there will be days when things don’t go according to plan. You might need a day off because you aren’t feeling well or need to rework your schedule to accommodate visiting family. There may even be a few days when you just don’t feel like working.

Whatever the reason, it’s okay to take time off. Everyone can use a break from time to time. The key is to make room for flexibility in your schedule. Planning for the inevitable can help reduce the guilt you feel for putting your freelance business on the back burner. More importantly, you can step away without sacrificing the quality of your work or clients’ expectations.

Be realistic about how much work you can take on at once and try to pad deadlines with a few extra days. If something unexpected comes up, those additional days will give you a little wiggle room. Worst-case scenario, you’re able to impress your freelance clients by turning in assignments early.

5. Manage Expectations and Set Boundaries

Being at your client's beck and call all day, every day, is guaranteed to set you on the path to burnout. Part of preventing burnout and maintaining a healthy work-life balance is to set expectations and create boundaries early on.

To make it happen, you have to communicate effectively with your clients. Be clear about when you’re available, how you work, and what they can expect throughout the process. Doing so will help you avoid the never-not-working lifestyle many freelancers face.

Here are some suggestions to help you get started:

Create a welcome packet: Include details related to when and how they can reach you, your workflow, where they can find documents, and how you’ll submit assignments.
Use an online scheduling tool: A tool like Calendly eliminates the back and forth that often happens when scheduling a call. Clients can easily see when you’re available and schedule a meeting when it’s convenient for both of you.
Tell clients when they’ll hear from you: If you need to send a client a document or make edits to an assignment, tell them when they can expect your email. It can be something as simple as saying, “I will look this over and send you a proposal tomorrow.”
Give clients a deadline: Ask clients to submit feedback, return documents, or share important information by a specific date to keep projects on track and better manage your schedule.

If you’re planning any time off, be sure to communicate that too. Send clients an email a few weeks before to let them know about your vacation. If it will affect any ongoing or upcoming projects, be sure to address that. Your clients will appreciate being kept in the loop.

Recommended: 18 Marketing Principles You Need To Strictly Follow For Success.

6. Learn to Say No

Turning down a freelance gig can feel pretty counterintuitive — especially if it comes with a big payday. But here’s the thing: there are only so many hours in a day. As a business of one, learning to prioritize your time is essential. Every once in a while, that may mean telling a freelance client no.

Improving your work-life balance means being realistic about what you can and can’t take on. The more work you commit to, the more overwhelmed you’ll feel. So, if your workload is approaching its max, be honest with yourself and the client. They may be willing to work with your schedule and put off the project until a later date. If not, they’re free to find a freelancer who can accommodate them.

7. Have an Evening Routine

An evening routine is the perfect pairing to a morning routine. Establishing a ritual for the end of the day can help you wind down and help create some distance between your work and personal life.

Some tasks to add to your evening routine include:

Tidying up your desk
Shutting down your computer
Reviewing completed tasks
Making a note of the things that went well
Planning the next day’s to-do list and projects

Performing a daily shutdown ritual and prepping for the next day makes it easier to relax when the workday is done.

Your Work-Life Balance Will Ebb and Flow

Here’s a hard truth: Maintaining a balance between work and your personal life isn’t always possible. There will be times when you need to work irregular hours to keep up with your workload. Other times, you may have less on your plate and can devote more time to your personal life.

When it feels like that balance is suffering, don’t beat yourself up. It happens to the best of us. The important thing to remember is that you have the power to change it. That’s the beauty of freelancing, after all.

Make sure you follow me on Pinterest, Subscribe to our email list, and check out the online course.