It seems like everyone is busy these days. With work, relationships, pets, kids, a social life…. it’s hard to keep up. Throw a blog into the mix and time management goes out the window.
So how do you find time to blog when you don’t even have time to sleep?
Make use of every minute.
I love time blocking for work (though, to be honest, I need to implement this strategy for my blog still). I don’t really use a to do list for work; when a new task comes up, I put it in my calendar and work on it when I get a calendar notification.
This works really well for me, except in one situation: when I overestimate how much time I need to complete a task, and I finish early.
Rather than thinking “Awesome, I finished 20 minutes early! Time to catch up on Bloglovin!”, you should be asking yourself, “what else can I accomplish with this 20 minutes I’ve given myself?” Because 20 minutes is a lot of time!
If you need a short break, take one. Otherwise have a plan for those extra minutes, because every minute matters! Make a short list of things to accomplish if you have extra time so you’re not scrambling to find a task and settle for Instagram (again).
Stop consuming content that isn’t relevant to you.
I’m currently following 284 blogs on Bloglovin. This could be a massive time-suck for me if I felt like I needed to read every single post that’s put out by those 284 blogs. But here’s the thing: you should only be consuming the content that’s relevant to you if you want to find time to blog.
Don’t have a kid, and don’t plan on starting a family any time soon? Then don’t read Lauren Conrad’s parenting tips, even if you love everything Lauren Conrad puts out. It isn’t relevant to you.
This is especially important if you really love a particular blogger. I have to remind myself that, as much as I love Elle & Company and want to read everything she publishes, I don’t use ConvertKit and therefore don’t need to know how to use segments and tags in ConvertKit. I can skip that post.
Because the minutes you spend reading posts that aren’t relevant to you are minutes you could use on your blog.
Block distracting websites (at least for a while).
On a similar note, if you’re having a hard time breaking yourself away from distracting sites (like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Bloglovin, or Pinterest), find an app that will let you block those websites for a particular amount of time.
I really love the Forest App for both iPhone / Android (preventing you from using your phone at all) and Google Chrome (preventing you from accessing a list of sites that you provide).
The app builds a tree while the timer goes, and depending on how long you set the timer for, you get a certain amount of coins. You can redeem those coins for other types of trees or to plant actual trees around the world where deforestation is happening. So awesome!
So, once you’ve decided what tasks you’re going to crank out for your blog, add your most distracting websites to the app, set a timer for the time you need, and get to work!
Batch your tasks.
Finally, use your bursts of productivity to your advantage by batching your tasks.
If creating blog post header images is rather easy, create 4 or 5 of them at once. Then, start another similarly easy task, like outlining your blog posts. Set aside half an hour to an hour and see how many blog post outlines you can write up in that amount of time.
By batching similar tasks and doing all of them at once, you’re allowing yourself to focus on a smaller part of the work at once, so it seems way less overwhelming.
It can feel difficult to find time to blog, but it’s all about how you prioritize your time. Is checking Bloglovin or Facebook a high priority for you? Or is blogging a higher priority? Keep those priorities in mind, and I promise you’ll find time to blog!
