I remember several years ago, when I had a “normal” job, completing computer updates and upgrades gave me a sense of accomplishment. After all, making sure all my systems where up to date and running smooth was not only a part of my job, but insured I could fulfill my other duties well.

However, now that I work for myself or work for others under the freelance umbrella, computer maintenance and updates feel like a huge interruption. I had deadlines and duties before, so I did have to schedule these activities in, but there was always that sense of accomplishment. And sure, I still have to insure everything is running well, but the truth of the matter is…

Clients don’t pay you for your own computer maintenance.

Since I have spent a good deal of time lately migrating computers for the past few weeks, this has become clearer to me more than ever before.

So when you schedule your time and invoice your clients, be sure to factor this into the big picture. Otherwise, as you wait two hours for your computer to update first thing in the morning—do these at the end of your day by the way—you won’t feel the need to hack out a blog post on your personal blog about computer maintenance as a freelancer from your smartphone.

True story.