I became inspired and decided to create a blog in college and during the pandemic when my family was facing financial issues. I was very eager to learn and prepared to go!
My first few entries flow easily, and writing and sharing my work is fun. I treated my blog just like a job, without any returns for years. However, as time passes by and as life takes over, all of a sudden I found myself losing the motivation of writing for my blog because I found it difficult to manage my time.
I thought that blogging and college weren’t that hard, and vowed to update my blog once a week, through good times and bad. But that’s what I thought, I found myself having a hard time prioritizing writing with 32 credits in college per semester, cleaning, social life, and just generally managing my life.
I thought about it, and I decided I didn’t want to give up on my blog no matter what happens. I love sharing my thoughts, and ideas, and being an inspiration to the world. Because of this love, I’ve developed certain strategies that helped me bounce back to blogging. With these seven strategies, you can maintain and find time to blog as well.
1. Use a Planner
Everybody ought to own a daily planner because it can be put to so many various uses and they help you stay organized. There are numerous daily planners to pick from, and they don’t have to be pricey or sophisticated. Preferably, choose a planner that has time-blocking that divides your day into smaller blocks of time.
As a blogger, having a planner is so helpful. I use it to plan the rest of my week and I use it to decide what has to be accomplished the following day before I leave the blogging desk. And knowing what needs to be accomplished next will prevent you from wondering “What do I do today?”
And as much as I love my paper planner, we also need an online planner like the Google Calendar. It is such a great tool to immediately know your schedule, meetings, and important events through your phone.
2. Have a Blogging Routine
Much like exercise or any other regimen blogging requires consistent practice to make it second nature. Just like exercise, you must establish a routine if you want to succeed at it. Pick a time and decide what suits you the most to spend at least 30 minutes blogging in front of your computer.
Give writing time each day, or set aside one to two days per week for it. To prevent distractions when writing, turn off communication services or use a focus app like Forest.
You might discover that you have more time to write than you had anticipated once you’ve established a schedule and gotten prepared. It will gradually come naturally to you to perform the same steps each time you sit down to blog.
3. Have an Outline First
In advance, make a rough outline of the key ideas you intend to include in your article. This facilitates thinking since it allows your mind to continue to process the concept while you are engaged in other activities.
Plus, having all the important details you want to convey in one location makes writing considerably simpler. Before beginning to write, perform some preliminary research on the subject of your choice, and quickly outline the findings.
Include any keyword research in this step so you can make sure your content corresponds with online reader searches. So, when you get down to write, all you have to do is write; you won’t have to research anything.
4. Have a List of Ideas
When you have ideas, jot them down. The best ideas, sometimes come unexpectedly, ideas often come when you are taking a walk, in the shower, or right before bed. So, always have a pad handy so you can write down those quick ideas because most of the time not all ideas can be recalled in detail.
Additionally, if you have a list of ideas you are making sure you always have a running list of original ideas to work with. Which would help you when it comes to coming up with content.
5. Have a Content Calendar
If you have a ton of ideas, it could take you a while to choose one from a list every time you require a new post. Plan out your post ideas on a calendar at the beginning of each month. In this manner, you can begin writing whenever the urge comes and never waste time selecting from your idea list.
This is true because when I was still new to blogging, I didn’t think of using a content calendar instead I would choose from my idea list. This would sometimes lead to frustration because It takes me such a long time to pick one and would reject most of the ideas.
It is also important to take note that if your schedule is already full, you must give blogging the same importance as any other thing on your schedule if you want it to have any chance of gaining your attention. You might want to take yourself out on a writing date in a quiet coffee shop to make the activity more enjoyable.
6. Work When You Are Most Productive
It is important to pay attention to your daily routines, as well as your energy and concentration levels. You can identify your most effective work hours and patterns, based on when you’re feeling the most alert and attentive, whether you’re a night owl or an early bird.
Next, identify the obstacles preventing you from finishing all of your tasks. For instance, social media is my biggest obstacle preventing me from being productive, therefore I do my best not to check my phone while working.
Furthermore, when you are already tired, don’t force yourself to write. You’ll be sacrificing your health and it will affect the quality of the work you’ll be producing. Therefore, take a rest first and work when you are well rested.
7. Divide Your Blogging Tasks Into Manageable Portions
You might occasionally wish to take on a bigger writing project, because the bigger the project, the bigger the returns. This is a fantastic idea but the longer the activity takes, the more likely you are to put it off. To keep the momentum rolling, divide it into more manageable writing sessions.
For instance, when I’m planning to work on an article that covers a lot of topics. I first, divide the task into three rather than having a lengthy writing session which would be exhausting. First, I create an outline that will serve as a guide for the second step of writing the draft, and for the last session, I would just revise and publish my post. This way, everything seems manageable.
Because of this method, I don’t feel rushed and I discovered that I could be more creative when there is time between each writing session. Also, with this, I could avoid feeling overwhelmed and the work is less scary when priorities are established and the larger project is divided into smaller tasks.
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