Learn why you should create blogging time. What is the ideal job? How about a job where you are your own boss, can set your own hours, work from home, never have to meet arbitrary deadlines, and do something you enjoy? Does that make sense? That is, after all, a blogger’s job description. But that isn’t the end of the story! There are very few bloggers who have nothing else to do but work on their blog, and even fewer who have a blog that pays well, so blogging is usually a second or third “job” for most.
The casual blogger and the serious blogger are the two basic types of bloggers.
The casual blogger may lead a relatively balanced life and maintain a blog that is primarily a hobby. The casual blogger will begin writing a post, work on it for a while, and then put it aside until he or she feels inspired to write again. It’s fine if a finished post receives few comments; it said exactly what the casual blogger wanted to say, and it’s out there if anyone is interested.
The situation of a serious blogger differs significantly from that of a casual blogger. A serious blogger considers his or her blog to be a job, one that may conflict with other important aspects of life such as a primary job, a family, a social life, and adequate rest. The serious blogger is dedicated (almost to the point of obsession) to keeping his or her blog updated and considers it an important part of daily life. If a post sits on a blog for twenty-four hours or more without generating a comment, or if the blog’s “hit counter” does not register a certain number of visitors every day, the serious blogger feels dejected. That kind of dedication to blogging can easily consume a significant portion of one’s day and lead to serious conflicts between blogging and the rest of one’s life; to avoid this, the serious blogger must be organized and efficient.
For the serious blogger, time management is essential! Anyone who believes that the day is too short must grasp and apply the fundamental principle of time management: prioritization. Some things are obviously more important than others, but unless you are in control of your schedule and not allowing random events to control you, some important things may be left undone. You must establish priorities and stick to them.
Make a to-do list! Make a list of everything you need to get done, including things you’ve committed to, things you want to do, things you know you should do, and things you really don’t want to do but are on your mind, to start setting priorities. Take a couple hours or more to make the list if you need that much time; it will be time well spent because you are about to get organized.
Important: Because you will be using and modifying this list on a daily basis, make it with a program that allows you to move list items around, add and remove items, and save the list. Notepad or your word processor will suffice, but there are other more specialized programs available — some of which are even free; see Tucows at tucows. com.
Sort things out! Now think about each item on the list and categorize them into one of the five categories below.
It must be completed today.
This week is the deadline.
It’s a nice thing to do, and it could be beneficial.
It’s nice to do, but it’s not absolutely necessary.
Unnecessary adverbial adverbial
You should now have a reasonable priority list. Begin each day with this list, and as you become aware of new tasks, place them in the appropriate category. Some of the nice-to-do items may be moved up as the “must do” items are completed and crossed off the list, but only if their priorities can be honestly changed.
There are far too many things to do! If the list of items in the two “Must get it done…” categories is overwhelming, consider each item’s importance and re-prioritize if possible; if not, choose the items that you don’t have to do yourself, such as fix-it projects, business phone calls, business letters, editing and proofreading jobs, and so on — some of these things may be able to be done just as well by someone else. Find someone to do it for you, whether it’s a friend, family member, coworker, or freelancer.
