Are you hungry to feast on proven blogging tips for time management?
After polling bloggers for their most aggravating pain point I was stunned to see time management issues rank near the top of the list.
If you’re beyond frustrated to watch time vanish into thin air right before your eyes you’ve come to the right place.
Bloggers tend to manage their time poorly because they have no set strategy in place.
If you’re like the newbie blogging me you shot from the hip, saw what worked pretty well and followed an undisciplined, poorly planned approach to managing your time.
I finally managed my blogging time effectively some 6 years into my blogging career.
The benefits of effectively planning your blogging day are limitless: increased traffic, greater
blogging income, a bigger email list and most importantly, you won’t be running around like a chicken with your head cut off just to finish your online tasks for the day. Alleviating the feelings or panic, worry and anxiety may be the chief benefit of being a time management master.
Blogging Tips for Time Management
Do 1 Thing at a Time (Nix Multi-Tasking)
Where you place your attention and energy grows.
Or, doing 1 thing at a time generally ensures you’ll do that thing well in a minimum amount of time.
On the flip side, multi-tasking guarantees you’ll do a poor job across multiple tasks and you’ll take a longer time to do a crappy job among those tasks.
Example; right now I’m devoting 100% of my energies to writing this guest post. I’ll likely finish the 1000 word or longer post in 40 minutes. Add in 30 minutes to add links, to format the post and to proof read before submitting it and you’re looking at 70 minutes to publish a quality guest post.
If I attempted to jump back and forth between writing this guest post, tweeting, checking my email and responding to Facebook Likes I’d finish 5 hours from now. If I was lucky. I’d also do a poorer job because my attention and energy would be spread in 4 different directions.
Do 1 thing at a time. Get the job done more quickly. Do a better job in the process.
Work in Chunks (Pomodoro Is Not Just a Pasta Sauce)
This concept is based on the fact that if you work in short bursts mixed with brief rest periods you’ll manage your time effectively.
Example; after working on your blogging tasks for 25 minutes you’d take a 5 minute break.
Following this strategy keeps you on task. Taking frequent breaks alerts you to when you’ve moving off task or when you’re not spending your time wisely.
Improve your focus. Save time. Pom it.
Drop the Hot Potato
I’ve spent 8 hours on 2 hour tasks.
I’ve spent weeks on day-long blogging projects.
All because I didn’t drop the hot potato.
This tip melds nicely with the prior Pomodoro tip. Release any 1 blogging activity after a set time expires. No matter what.
The road to blogging failure is paved with poor time mis-management. If you can’t figure out what WordPress plugin to use after 30 minutes of research, drop it. Return to the task tomorrow. Spend the next hour doing something fundamentally important to your blogging campaign. Begin writing a blog post. Comment on a high profile blog. Manage your time intelligently.
Glide through Email First Thing in the Morning
I know, I know; this tip flies in the face of conventional thinking.
Those who didn’t turn their tomatoes into Pomodoro sauce can fire those tomatoes at my head. Right now.
But if you devote 100% of your energies to engaging your email inbox to start the day you’ll likely manage your time more effectively.
Here’s why: most successful bloggers, questioning readers and potential clients treat email sacredly. Meaning, if you want to get bang for your engagement buck – and make the most money through prospering partnerships – the business usually flows through email. Engaging in profit-building activities is about the most time effective thing you can do.
I spent 10 minutes first thing this morning responding to a potential client. If he signs up for one of my coaching packages I’m helping someone who requires my services and I netted $500. Sounds time effective to me.
Ditto for the expert round up I replied to this morning. The response helps expand my reach quickly. Sounds like smart time management.
The problem: most bloggers don’t know how to sift through emails. They spend precious energy responding to time-sapping emails. Email is not a time waster. Choosing to spend your time and energy on time-sapping emails is the time-waster.
Respond to every email possible but reserve longer responses for potential clients, for expert round ups and for anything that expands your reach or grows business in time effective fashion. Respond with 1-2 line emails to everybody else to respect both parties’ time. This is the most polite, thoughtful, helpful, time-saving thing you can do.
Focus on 3 or 4 Core Tasks
For me, these core blogging tasks are:
- publishing 1 long form post each week to my blog (maybe a 2nd shorter travel blogging post)
- writing 2-3 long form guest posts weekly
- commenting on 5 blogs daily (maybe less)
- Spending 10 minutes on Twitter, Facebook G Plus and LinkedIn daily to respond to Likes, questions, etc.
I focus on 4 core tasks on most days.
Sometimes the number drops to 3 if my blog post and guest posts are done for the week.
I don’t fill my day with blogging duties. That’s time mis-management.
I do 3 or 4 core things for a set time then I retire for the day.
This helps me complete these core tasks in minimal time.
Try it. Focus on 3 or 4 chief blogging tasks daily. Let go the time sappers.
Go Flavor Flav
Or, if you have not the gumption to wear a clock bigger than a dinner plate around your neck, surround yourself with 2-3 clocks wherever you are.
Here in the Istanbul apartment a large clock adorns the wall. I also peep our cell phone a few times hourly.
If I need a kick in the time-saving tushie I fire up my KitKat tablet and open the screen to the world clocks option. NYC time, Istanbul time and any time zone I wish to peep pops up on the screen.
Time seems to get away from clock-less bloggers and the folks surrounded by clocks always know what time it is…..boyeeee!
Shut off Your Cell Phone for Most of the Day
Since my wife Kelli and I wish to be in the moment to enjoy our world travels we own a cell phone from 2011 purchased at a 7-11 in Phuket, Thailand. No smart phone. No iPhone. Little tech.
Keep in mind that following such a tech spartan approach led me to write 126 bite-sized blogging eBooks in one year. The strategy of not having a smart phone – or if I had one, I’d shut it off most of the day – has helped me create an almost miraculous ability to manage my time compared to the average blogger.
Shut off your cell phone for much of the day. Life will go on as it always does. Unless you’re working in emergency services you’re not in a life or death field.
Study Prolific Bloggers
Zac is a fabulous study in time management. I recall during our lunch meeting how he was publishing up to 15 guest posts weekly at a time. Impressive stuff.
Study him. Analyze how he goes about his blogging campaign. It’s impossible to publish 15 guest posts weekly unless you are ruthless with your time.
Use the 5 Hour Rule
Employ the
5 Hour Rule used by icons like Oprah, Bill Gates and Warren Buffet.
The billionaire empire builders set aside 1 hour daily for 5 days a week for reading, reflection and experimentation. Your time management skills will improve dramatically if you’re continually learning about your blogging niche, if you take stock of what works and what doesn’t, and if experiment/tweak your blogging campaign.
Expect to shave minutes if not hours off of your workday by following this rule.
Billionaires are master streamliners. Billionaires read to learn, think things through and tinker to make a maximum impact in minimum time. Set aside this power hour every day.
After following the 5 hour rule for just a few days I realized my frequent posting strategy on Blogging From Paradise wasn’t the best use of my time. Now I post once to twice every week but write 2-3 guest posts weekly. My email list grew 200% compared to prior weeks.
Are you frustrated with how you’re managing your blogging time?
Do you use these time management tips?
What powerful tips can you add to this list?
