Finding Time To Be A 'Fabulous Blogger'

Guest post by Pamela Douglas Webster

How will you ever find the time to be fabulous? Y’know, an amazing blogger, a caring family member, good friend, social media wizard, and responsible pet parent? Here’s good news. You’re already fabulous. And the fact that you worry you’re not getting enough done is proof of your fabulousness! I know. You don’t feel fabulous. You feel guilty, stressed, and overwhelmed by having too much to do and not enough time to do it. But before you buy another organizer or sign up for a class on time management, take a deep breath. Look back at what you’ve done this past week, month, or year. Pretty amazing, isn’t it?

Now that you’re no longer hyperventilating, here are a few more tips to help you get more done in your day:

• Stop doing stuff. No one can do everything. Do you think Hillary Clinton still answers every email? No way. So make a “not to do” list of all the things you do out of a sense of obligation or guilt. Then, stop doing them.
• Tame drift. Ok, you need to promote your blog posts on Facebook and Tweet your latest giveaway. But do you need to watch yet one more Gangam Style parody? Probably not. Set a timer when you do social media tasks. When the alarm goes off, turn on your social media blocker until you have another social media task to do.
• Do difficult tasks when you’re at your best. If you’re a morning glory, do challenging tasks when you first get up. When you’re drowsy in the mid-afternoon or evening, do things that don’t test your brain so much. You’ll work more effectively and can do “busy work” when you have lower reserves.
• Take regular breaks. When you’re facing a tight deadline, it’s hard to make yourself stop. But what happens? You find yourself making mistakes and working slower anyway. Get up from the computer. Play with your cat, walk the dog, or go pick some dandelions for the rabbit. Your animal buddy will love you for it and you’ll return to work more productive than you were before.

You’ll find other tips and lots of support at the BlogPaws Community Group: Making Time to Blog. 

There you’ll learn that those other fabulous bloggers you admire and envy for doing so much are feeling as busy as you are. Which will make you feel just a little more fabulous. And isn’t that much better (and more productive) than wallowing in guilt?

Pamela Douglas Webster presented Making Time to Blog at BlogPaws 2012. She blogs at Something Wagging This Way Comes, is preparing to relaunch her first time home buyer blog, Hands on Homebuyer, and works as a Home Buyer Educator. She never feels she has enough time.

 

Comments

[Robbi]

Time management is crucial to anything but even more so if you're juggling a full time job or other outside the home duties. Great tips.

[Carol Bryant]

I love my "not to do" list - I read an article about this a while back and it really resonated. SO when you say "Stop doing stuff. No one can do everything," it strikes a chord. We can't do it all. Be a human being and not always a human doing. Thanks for the post!

[Pamela]

I thrive more with a "not to do" list than with a "to do" list. It's so easy to let busy work creep into our lives.

[Denise Brixey]

I am brand new to blogging, so I do want to get it right. I see all of you in the community doing the things that I want to do, and I think, "Why can't I do that?"; or "I wish I would have thought of that"; or worse yet, "What does that mean?". This post has taught me one thing...slow down and enjoy it! Thank you!

[Pup Fan]

Great tips! I've definitely been struggling with this lately... somehow I'm falling behind on everything. I need to come up with some not-to-dos.

[BJ Bangs]

It's not so much finding the time to blog. It's the techee stuff. I spent four hours yesterday, on top of many other hours, trying to get Flickr and Photobucket to work in WordPress.org. I tried short codes, plug-ins that say they work, etc. I can connect back through the widgets, but I can't get the photos to post. Any suggestions would be sooooooo very helpful.

[Elizabeth]

Great post Pam! I am sorry I missed your class at BlogPaws this year!

[Luca Tony]

I tried short codes, plug-ins that say they work, etc. I can connect back through the widgets.Great tips!

[Bicente]

When you first hear about them, Action Programs can sound complicated and difficult to use. They are more complicated than To-Do Lists, but if you persist and spend a few hours learning how to use them, you'll quickly find yourself back in control of your workload - and a whole lot less stressed as a result!

[Ricardo]

Tip 1:
If the Next Action is going to take less than a couple of minutes, then why not do it right away? Make sure, though, that you come back and complete your Action Program!

Tip 2:
It's this selection of appropriate next actions that takes a certain amount of judgment. If one of your projects is of over-riding importance, then have several Next Actions from this project on your list, and keep other Next Actions to a bare minimum. However, if you need to keep a lot of projects "simmering away," have Next Actions from each on your list.

Tip 3:
If possible, keep your Next Actions small and achievable, ideally so that they take no more than a couple of hours to complete. This helps you keep momentum up on projects, and strongly enhances your sense of having had a productive, successful day.

If Next Actions are likely to take longer than two hours, then break them down further. For example, if your Next Action is to write a report, break this down into research, planning, writing, fact checking and editing phases. Then make "Research" your Next Action, and put the rest of the stages as a project in your Project Catalog.

Tip 4:
You may find it helpful to number the projects in the Project Catalog sequentially (it helps if you number them 10, 20, 30 and so on.) When you bring next actions through onto your Next Action List, you can bring through the project number as well, so that you know which project the action belongs to.

[Ricardo]

Tip 4:
You may find it helpful to number the projects in the Project Catalog sequentially (it helps if you number them 10, 20, 30 and so on.) When you bring next actions through onto your Next Action List, you can bring through the project number as well, so that you know which project the action belongs to.