time management – most popular topic
HELP! I want to blog, but I’m out of time! My life is a roller coaster! What can I do?
To get followers I need to blog consistently.
There is hope, and I’ll share not ten, but eleven ideas that have helped me.
When I started blogging, I drove myself to do publish daily, and life became a balancing act, not to mention some of my posts were kind of cruddy.
time management and better posts!
Did I just say that? Yeah, I own up to it!
Not to mention the bags under my eyes took over my face. Bag lady?
Even so, I am passionate about blogging because it has changed my life. But just like you, I struggle to keep up a balance between blogging and the rest of life.
These tips help me make the most of the hours I have.
Blogging Habits that Save Time
- Blog consistently using an editorial calendar. I print out my calendar and write on it. Writing is sometimes more efficient than digital. YIKES!
- Blogging is you. Write several posts when you can, and schedule them using Word Press. Then you do not beat yourself up when your life interferes.
- Write shorter posts. Break long posts into shorter posts and schedule them to post later.
- Julie from Filling the Jars allows about four hours to publish a post 300-800 word post with pictures or illustrations.
- Publicize the posts you’ve already blogged using Hoot Suite, Buffer or another service. The free services only work for three social medias. If you have pages or groups within those services, then you either have to pay or post them manually. I have so many groups and organizations for whom I post that I find it saves time to do it manually to the groups.
- Rewrite the posts you’ve already blogged. Write better titles using the Coschedule headline analyzer. Once you learn what works, it saves lots of time writing.
- Write about what you are doing.
- Publish your to-do list so bloggers are busy and want to know how YOU do it.
- Blog (either reading and writing) as a reward to yourself after you complete important life tasks instead of a chore.
- If you can’t read all the blogs to which you subscribe, visit those who have troubled to comment on your blog.
- Scroll the reader, scan articles, and at least press like on blogs you enjoyed.
- Write several posts when you have time, and schedule them spacing them several days apart.
- Make draft posts of your ideas, instead of writing your ideas on a scrap of paper. Then you’re ready to go when you start writing again.
- Smart blogger saved my life when he told me that daily posting is a silly strategy.
Life Habits that Help
- Shop for the best and fastest internet service. Poor Internet service can discourage your blogging quicker than any other obstacle. I’m happy to report that our rural service has improved over the years.
- My friend Connie Smith show me how to share my iPhone calendar with my husband. That was a life-changer! Try it!
- Prioritize, unless blogging is your job, not just your passion, it sometimes has to take second or third place. But if it is your job, other things have to go.
- Say no to some favors. Do you HAVE to be the Union secretary or the Rally Treasurer? Meetings usually have added chores. Write to Done in “How to Get Your Life Back” agrees with me on this one and has several other tips as well.
- Drive less ride more. Janice Wald from Mostly Blogging came up with this one, and it works. Take public transportation or carpool and read blogs between conversations on your phone. She has about 16 more tips, too.
- Keep a to-do list handy when you have deadlines so you can cross off what you accomplished and celebrate. Carol, the Eternal Traveler, suggested not to add ten items for every chore you cross off. She has time to work full-time, travel, write, sew, cook, and do family things.
- Life Hack advises you to manage your email and has some tips to help you do this.
- Vacation or relax. The Bible says to work six days and rest on the seventh. Our bodies do need a break to work well.
your best tips
How are you keeping up with blogging and life? Tell us your time-saving tips.
Marsha Ingrao - Always Write 
6 responses to “Twenty-Two Quick Tips to Improve Time Management”
i use a lot of these tools, such as the headline analyzer, and tools like Tailwind and Hootsuite to automate my social shares. I also have a great plugin called Revive Old Post that posts my older blog posts to Twitter and Facebook every two hours. That’s definitely a “set it and forget it” tool, like a crock pot for your blog! I also save other bloggers posts that I particularly like, then I take the basic premise and re-write it with my own take on the topic. It kind of gives me a launch pad and a basic structure, plus I can see by the comments and shares which topics seem to be more popular with readers.
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Live these ideas! Revive Old Posts is new to me as is Tailwind. I can’t believe there are so many!!!!!
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These are all great, Marsha! I like number six – save time by rewriting old posts – I’m going to try it because my time at the moment is absolutely flashing past 😀
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I hear you on that. I have so many projects going right now, my wheels are spinning in circles. Now if I could just slide into focus like professional drivers come out of a spin into a perfect parallel parking spot on a busy street! 🙂
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I like the last one best. A vacation is the best way to take time off, and then I have plenty of new stories to write about where we went! Bonus!
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Blogging is a great way to remember them, too. I tend to forget details after a while. And I go so much. People ask me to remember this or that experience, and sometimes I wasn’t even on that trip with them! 🙂 With blogging I have a public record or where I’ve been! . 🙂
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