Sometimes, as a blogger, new or old… there comes a time when you feel overwhelmed. It might be that you feel disorganized, or that you are trying to sign-up for so many money-making opportunities that you feel like you don’t know where to begin. It may be that you are finding that balancing your blog with family life is proving to be harder than you thought.
Here are a few ideas to help you when you feel overwhelmed:
1- Start with the “MUST-DO” things.
You must play with your kids.
You must hang out with your husband.
You must-do your post for tomorrow.
You must share some FB & Pinterest things.
2- Now set aside some time.
Set your timer for 20 minutes. Take your kids into a room and do not bring your phone or computer. Play with them for 20 minutes- uninterrupted. Nothing matters BUT THEM. Schedule this playtime if you have to! (Here are tips on how to play with them) Studies show that 20 minutes a day is enough to create that close-knit bond, if you start at a VERY young age. (ps- 20 is the minimum, so aim for more. Try 20 min. every hour or two. This is completely uninteruppted- no chores, no grown-up talk…just you & your kiddos!)
3- Now spend 5 minutes doing some things to ‘get by’. Maybe its a quick share on FB. Maybe its editing a picture.
4- Give yourself an hour tonight and just start on your list.
5- Remember that all of this will BE HERE TOMORROW. Don’t worry about it- you can only DO what you can DO. Go easy on yourself!
This could be a post by itself, but here is what I do… WHEN THE KIDS GO TO BED.
1- I make sure that my post is done. Everything. I make sure that the image is ready, the post is scheduled for midnight. I make sure that it is scheduled to go live on my FB page at 6:00 am (my most active FB time for my readers).
2- I check my e-mails. My husband and I do this together, because he takes care of my blog finances, so he helps me by organizing it into a spreadsheet of when drafts are due, when final posts are due and when I was paid. He needs to see the e-mails to help me and I just like doing this together.
He and I have been together forever, so he knows how I like to do everything together (which is why I want him to work with me one day!)
Here we were at 14…
3- I schedule my FB shares. I should schedule them a month in advance, but I don’t. I schedule them daily for now. My blogging friend, Jamie, keeps telling me to schedule them out further because it is so much easier, so this is a new goal of mine! My blogging friend, Dayna, told me: If you don’t do them in advance, it will make you feel like you are a slave to Facebook- getting on all day long to post things. So true!
4- I talk to Paula about BOTS stuff & about our regular blog stuff… we make plans about our book, our posts for the week ahead, our boosts that we offer (we do them at night… we each take time to look at each one, so we need to communicate about them).
5- I watch Revenge, the Blacklist & Modern Family (among many other favorites) with my husband while we fold laundry. That’s the fun part, right? 😉
Honestly, blogging can take up a LOT of time, so you have to keep it on the side, even if it is earning a full-time income. Keep God, your marriage and your kids as your top priority and the rest will fall into place… I tell my husband all the time “God knows what we need when we need it.” Trust that!
How I break up my time:
How to manage your time:
How to not feel distracted:
I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge. That myth is more potent than history. That dreams are more powerful than facts. That hope always triumphs over experience. That laughter is the only cure for grief. And I believe that love is stronger than death.
Adidas Has More Worldwide Appeal Than Nike