Blogging isn’t always the easiest thing to keep up with. Unless your blog is a primary source of income, it often becomes one of the things that fall by the wayside when your schedule fills up. Another area of our lives that follows the same pattern is exercise. Much like blogging, exercise seems to be the thing that we say “I don’t have time.” So I recommend following these three tips–whether in blogging or exercise–to make sure you get it in and are more effective.
Make time
“Time is a created thing. To say ‘I don’t have time,’ is like saying, ‘I don’t want to.”
-Lao Tzu
“I don’t have the time” is the easiest excuse in the book. “I don’t have time” is the same thing as saying “______ is more important.”
- “Sleep is more important”
- “TV is more important”
- “My routine is more important”
Plan out your content
“Unless commitment is made, there are only promises and hopes; but no plans.”
-Peter F. Drucker
Similar to going to the gym without a plan, a blog without a plan is the same as wandering around the gym without purpose, and then eventually you stop going altogether. If you know what you intend to write about, why you are writing about it and what you hope to accomplish after 6 weeks or 6 months, you are far more likely to succeed and to stick with it. Consider the blogger that is seeking fame versus the blogger that is seeking affiliate revenue, they are approaching the same activity from different perspectives. It’s no different than the marathon runner and the body builder, the plan must fit you and your goals.
Sit down and plan out what you want to write about it, why you are writing, who you are writing for and how you intend to stay on track. Then lay out specific topics on a calendar on the days you intend to write.
If you knew that you had to get up to write a blog post about “3 tips for more effective blogging at 8:30 this coming Monday” could you do it? Could you miss the end of Monday Night Football to do it?
Find your inspiration
You get ideas from daydreaming. You get ideas from being bored. You get ideas all the time. The only difference between writers and other people is we notice when we’re doing it.
– Neil Gaiman
I once wrote a post about finding your muse in the morning shower. The difference between people that write and those that don’t is that they see the world through a different lens and have tuned themselves into finding ideas everywhere. In truth, I’ve lost some of that lately as my business has grown, but I still remember what it was like when I was totally dialed in. If you want to be a great writer, or even an average writer that gets better with time, you’ve got to find a way to get dialed in. It could be reading tons of news and blogs, it could be watching TV, it could be listening to music. Whatever works for you, find a way to look at life through a different lens.
When you know what you want to talk about, the entire world will become a source of inspiration. I once had a post called “what does a kick flip have to do with content creation?” I thought of the post as I was walking home one day and saw a bunch of skateboarders practicing tricks. I was captivated. When I saw one of the skaters successfully land a kick flip I had this moment where I realized that good content will make you stop and watch. I made a note and went home to create the post.
Build systems to capture your ideas whenever they happen. There isn’t much worse than having a great idea and losing it because you think “Oh I’ll remember that later.” Download Evernote and make a notebook called “blog ideas.” Tell Siri to “remember write blog post about what the Today Show can teach us about corporate health benefits.” Don’t lose your ideas.
Go Forth, and Blog!!
Additional Goodies: Where to find inspiration:50 quotes for writers