You have a blog post due the next day. Your social media accounts need some love. You have a product you’ve been working on sitting on the back burner for a month now. Then your mind draws a blank when you ask it what the next thing you need to do is. All of us bloggers have probably been through this syndrome of trying to figure out the next step.
I stared at the screen looking for a topic to write about. I ran through all of my preplanned blog post ideas; now I was running on a week-to-week basis. Then my mind flashed back to some things I needed to get done on social media. At that moment, I realized what topic to write about. It’s going to be about the same crushing feeling I was experiencing right at that moment.
I became buried under an enormous pile of “to-do’s” and “needs to be done.” How was I going to get organized so that when I have a few minutes to work on the blog, I can sit down and be instantly productive? So, I did what every confused blogger has done for years. I hit Google and did some searching for some advice to get me organized and dig me out of the overwhelm.
Listed below are some of the best tips I dug up and put into place to get myself organized.
Beat Blogging Overwhelm Tip#1; Setting weekly and monthly goals.
I was never a big goal-setter. I always seemed to get everything I wanted to accomplish done on time and goal setting never motivated me to work any harder. That is until I started blogging seriously. I had a blog before, but it was more of a hobby blog than anything. I did make money from it and continue to do so. But, this blog is different.
I treat this blog like it is a business. Good businesses have goals and are organized. This blog was going to kill me unless I set some goals and got organized. What I learned about goals is that they let you have a clear picture of what something will look like when you are done. They gave me a big-picture vision and a target to hit at regular intervals. In my case, I created weekly and monthly goals.
If I got off course, my goals reminded me what was important and where I needed to turn to get back pointed in the right direction. Now I am a believer in setting goals.
Beat Blogging Overwhelm Tip #2; Have tasks broken down into approximate times to complete
Breaking the tasks into ‘time to complete’ was a big one for me. This gave me a clear idea of what tasks I could knock out when I only had a couple of minutes on the keyboard. I would often sit down when I had twenty minutes of free time and waste ten of those twenty just trying to figure out the task I needed to tackle first because most of the time I had first to figure out if I could finish the work in a certain amount of time.
Having small bite-sized tasks chunked out into small time blocks, I could comfortably sit down and knock out helped me be more productive when I only have a couple of minutes to spend. This works well when you are a new blogger where you have a ton of things to do all at once or if you are a part-time blogger with a full-time life outside of blogging.
Time can be precious. Don’t squander what little you have trying to figure out what to do. Have a list of items broken down into ten minutes, thirty minutes, and one-hour chunks. Some people like working in the Pomodoro Method where you set a timer for a short amount of time. Usually, this is about twenty to thirty minutes. Then put your head down and pound through work until the timer goes off. This one never worked well for me, but some people like it.
Beat Blogging Overwhelm Tip #3; Get yourself a blog planner to keep yourself organized.
Oh, yeah, the physical book planner. After years of trying to go entirely digital, I bit the bullet and decided to try a physical blog planner binder. There is still something to be said about having something physical to write in. I don’t know if it’s some old-fashioned OCD-style tic, but it worked for me. I could see everything laid out in black and white, turn the pages instead of scrolling, and see everything laid out in a neatly organized way.
Having a written plan gave some clarity to every project. I could see every step along the way to achieving every goal. If you haven’t tried using an actual blog planner, I’d give one a shot. I’m a total believer, and I’m not giving mine up anytime soon.
Beat Blogging Overwhelm Tip #4; Schedule specific blocks of time to work on specific items.
Scheduling certain time intervals to work on certain items goes right along with having all your work segmented into how much time it takes to finish each task. If you know how much time each job will take you can schedule the longer ones in your planner for when you have long blocks of time. I try to knock out certain items at certain times every day or every week. Then, I will use my fill-in time to work on special projects. I like to have a consistent schedule to work on writing blog posts and doing essential social media work.
I use my fill-in time for things like improving the look of my blog brainstorming new blog topics or writing emails.
Beat Blogging Overwhelm Tip #5; Brainstorm and plan your blog topics a month in advance.
Planning your blogging topics and even writing a post a month in advance is a technique I picked up while reading a post by pro bloggers. Some of these pro bloggers come right out and tell people that is what they should be doing. Others I just heard mention in casual Facebook posts that they were caught up on posts for the next month.
This works great for me. All too often, I draw a blank when it comes to being under pressure to get a blog post done. As I get further into my blogging career, I hope to get not only blog posts planned a month, but get them written and scheduled ready to post in the WordPress Scheduler.
I’m not the type of personality to wing things. I like to be well-planned and organized. When I get overwhelmed by a project, it takes its toll on my motivation. I get discouraged fast, and this is usually the most likely time I will throw in the towel. Using these tips has done a ton for me to keep me focused and on track.
I can always take a step back and look at my goals and see a clear path to getting them done; overwhelm problem solved.
Be safe,
Kevin