As a blogger of almost six years, there have definitely been some ups and downs. I’ve suffered burn outs where I didn’t even want to type my domain name in to my browser, much less try to write a blog post. At those times, I typically take a 24-48 hour break from my computer. On the flip side, there have been moments where I am bursting with ideas and I can’t decide what to write about first…and all I want to do is blog!
For me, the hardest thing about blogging isn’t the technical stuff, coming up with new post ideas, or promotion of my content. Rather, it is the time management and organization of it all! If I had the time, I could seriously spend 50 hours a week on my blogs (or blog-related things). Doing that would mean never seeing my kiddo – let alone feeding, changing, or playing with him when he’s home with me all day, Monday-Friday – so it’s important that I manage my time wisely.
Working less yet getting more done is a huge 2013 blogging goal of mine, yet I still find myself struggling at the third week into the new year. I am taking on less reviews, giveaways, and other opportunities, so that definitely cuts down on the work I am required to do. Still, I have been way too lenient on myself about the time I spend at the computer…doing too many things that are not productive and allowing myself to procrastinate.
Luckily, I received my handy dandy Blogging Planner [review coming soon!] in the mail this week, which I am filling with my deadlines, projects, and other ideas. I am holding myself to daily ‘to do’ lists so that I’m not aimlessly wondering around Facebook or Pinterest when I should be doing more productive things. I am also going to use this weekend’s Biannual Blogathon to schedule lots of posts, come up with more ideas, and do a lot of the blog organization/clean up I’ve been wanting to do since the beginning of the year.
What the hardest thing about blogging for you?
I am linking up this week with Because Prompts are Fun…be sure to join in if you are a blogger!
About Kecia
Oh… most definitely time management. With my daily wife and mommy duties… on top of my blogging duties… I rarely sleep just trying to stay ahead.
I feel the same way many days, Staci…and I only have one little one to keep up with!
Time management is so hard! Finding the uninterrupted time to work. I have troubles in the tech areas as well so when something goes wrong I lose lots of time there as well.
Hope you planner helps..looking forward to your review.
Time management can be hard…I find that staying organized helps. Now if I can just CONTINUE staying organized!
Time management is probably the most difficult for me as well. That and staying on track. I have a hard time not checking my e-mail, Facebook and Twitter every 10 minutes.
Yes, social media is a HUGE time waster for me too…I go on them with the intentions of “just checking groups, mentions, DMs, etc” and then an hour passes and I’m still sucked in!
Time management is really tough for me. I find that if I don’t watch he clock, I could easily spend 3 straight hours doing blog stuff because there is always something to work on.
It does seem like a neverending task, doesn’t it? I am going to try segmenting all that needs to be done into daily ‘to do’ lists, so that I can say when I am done for the day. Hopefully that will curb the urge to keep working late into the night!
I think my problem is that when I get an idea, it’s hard to wait to get to the computer, so I just end up getting frustrated. It’s a good thing I SAH! lol
I have had that problem too! I’ll need to do something else, but then an idea strikes me and I just have to get on the laptop to at least write it down haha
I find that my personal blog planner is really helpful. I can’t believe I didnt have one until this year! I like your idea of working less but getting more done!
That’s my top goal this year…I want to be more productive in less time than I usually spend. I’m banking on this blogging planner to help me with that!
Time management is tough for me too. With limited time I get overwhelmed with everything I want/need to do so I try to do too much at once. As I gradually decrease my posting frequency it should help!
Feeling overwhelmed is something we definitely share, Darci! I hope posting less will help you deal with that. I’m considering decreasing my frequency as well.
I know what you mean about getting burned out. Now when I sit down at the computer I sit down with a purpose in mind. No longer do I just sit in front of the computer not getting work done. I find that I sit in front of the computer less because I have a goal in mind when I sit down. Great post.
Thanks for sharing what’s working for you. I’m hoping the daily to do lists will help me…so I can sit down, finish the list, and be done for the day. Let’s hope it works!
I would have to say that being organized is probably one of the hardest thing, for me at least. I’m terribly unorganized in a lot of areas in my life so I’ve been trying to find ways to be more organized as a blogger and hope that it will spill into the other unorganized areas of my real life.
I’m going the opposite way. We spent the last two weekends organizing/de-cluttering our home, so I am hoping that will spill over into my work habits!
Time management is certainly my issue as well and sadly, blogging gets the short end of the stick. I think I need this planner you are talking about.
I feel burnt out at times too. Like you, it’s mostly time management. I’ve been doing better with it this year, hopefully it keeps on flowing.
Its for sure the time management, having three kids and one husband lol its hard to juggle it all