Bloggers must realize that there is more to blogging than just typing in a few words and hitting publish. I estimate that every post I write takes me at least four hours to write. That’s why time management is crucial.
This includes writing, editing, formatting, creating images, promoting, and building communities. It is important to understand blogging well requires significant time management, although not all of that time will be devoted in one day.
There are a number of tools I use to assist me in the process. However, time management is the most important aspect of my blogging strategy.
Here are seven time management tips for bloggers. These are the main suggestions I offer to all of my coaching clients as they learn to navigate the blogging world.
The following tips will help bloggers manage their time. Whenever I coach clients who are navigating the blogging world, I offer them the following suggestions.
1. Similar tasks should be grouped
Time management and organizational tip like this is fundamental. The best part is that it works! While working on my blog, I group similar tasks – brainstorming post ideas, finding images and formatting them, researching SEO, updating my posts, and drafting drafts.
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2. Decide when you want to work
Establishing your primary working hours lets you concentrate on what needs to be done without feeling guilt or distracted by the other things you could be doing. Establishing specific times to work is a great way to increase your productivity, whether you work from 5 to 7 in the morning or 9 to 11 at night.
3. Make small steps
No matter how long ago you started blogging or how recently you started, you must understand that you cannot do it all. Rather than try to accomplish everything and end up achieving nothing, it is better to start small and do a few things well. You don’t need to use every social media platform available. Write fewer [better] posts.
4. Concentrate your efforts where you will achieve the best results
There is only limited time in the day! Don’t waste yours on things that won’t benefit you. Believing that you must do what others are doing is a lie. You’re okay if your tweets get lost in the shuffle if you have a fantastic community on Facebook or Google+.
5. Adapt your rhythm to your needs
Different people work in different ways. Figure out what works for you by trying different schedules and routines. Design a workflow that fits with your other responsibilities.
6. Schedule your social media posts
The one thing I recommend you do is this one. Please, please, please. Set up a social media schedule! You can set up your posts to automatically be shared on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media platforms. To schedule specific updates, use tools such as Hootsuite. Don’t forget you can schedule beyond today and tomorrow as well. For those evergreen posts, you write, schedule a few posts over the next few months.
7. Put a timer in place
It’s great to have a timer! In order to keep me on track, I use it to keep myself organized. For example, I use a timer to check my email every morning. The timer helps me achieve my goal of having a zero-inbox.
I set my timer for 15 minutes so that I can look at the email again later in the afternoon after having dealt with it for 30 minutes. My blogging friends use timers when they are on social media to avoid getting sucked in and wasting an hour that could be better spent on more important things.
Here is a benefit of time management.
8. Design a system you’ll enjoy using
In order to manage time effectively, you need a system that works for you and makes you feel good whenever you look at it. Use pen and paper for your to-do list if you like ‘old-fashioned’ methods. This is fine if you enjoy using apps, or if you want everything in your calendar. In order to engage with your system and not run from it, you need to like it. When you dislike the system you use, you won’t open it or use it, which makes it difficult to be productive.
9. Be realistic when it comes to time management
To want to complete everything is one thing, but to be realistic about what you can accomplish in the time frame you have is another. To manage time effectively, you have to manage expectations realistically. The best way to do this is to take the task at hand and figure out how many hours it will take to complete. Then break down the hours per day, doing a bit of work each day until the task is complete.
You should look at your calendar and determine when you can realistically dedicate those 10 hours to a big project you think will take about ten hours to finish. Is it feasible to work on it two hours a day for five days? Will you be able to commit to one hour a day for ten days, or three hours over the course of three weeks? Be realistic before committing to anything.
Managing your time to reduce stress
Take control of your time and we will show ourselves and those around us that we respect our time and ourselves, and this will reduce your anxiety.
Rather than react to what is thrown our way, we feel like we are in control. By managing our lives better, we feel less chaotic, which puts us on top, rather than grasping for straws and feeling helpless. Less stress makes us more productive.
Takeaway
In order to manage our time effectively, we need to take care of our mental and emotional health. The more aware we are of what works best for us and when, together with taking stock of how a job or task affects us emotionally, the more we’ll be able to control our time.
Taking control of our time, instead of letting it control us, will make us more productive and more fulfilled.
Blogging requires time. Quite a bit of time. We should make the best use of our time.