Managing Time

I’m finding that working as a blogger can take lots of time. This is a new field for me… on top of producing (I write two or three articles a day), I’m contending with the learning curve that comes along with pursuing a new venture. Everything is new to me. I’ve had to learn about themes, widgets, social bookmarking, uploading via FTP, Feedburner, monetizing, and probably another two dozen different tools and dimensions of doing business online.

Within the first week, I had to get smart quickly about how to use my time so that I could maintain balance. Here are some tips I’ve gathered that you may find helpful.

• Browse quickly during research… you can bookmark and read for comprehension later.
• Batch your to-do’s. Writing, for instance. I generally write in one sitting, for an hour or two. If I can produce 3 pieces, that’s great. If I’m only able to research and write one article, then that’s what I get. Email is great for batching, too. I check and respond to emails twice a day.
• Set time limits! And stick to them. Take half an hour to comment on blogs that you read, or devote 15 minutes to testing a new plugin or widget. I subscribe to over 200 RSS feeds, and it generally takes me about 45 minutes to read through new posts (usually over breakfast - more batching.)
• Analyzing stats is important… but refreshing the screen every half an hour is overkill. Spend more time writing or marketing.
• Eliminate distractions. I’ve presented Earth Class Mail and SimulScribe in previous posts as simple ways to simplify and automate your life to allow you to spend more time on your business. I’ll write more on eliminating distractions in the next couple of days.

In addition, you can use downtime to do things like organize your email lists, plan your next theme update or release, read professional literature for personal growth, or walk the dog on a Tuesday afternoon (hey, if you work from home, why not?) Finding a way to balance your time is the key.