Thursday, September 9, 2010

ON BLOGGING ~ Combatting Blogger Procrastination...

Procrastination Meter
Image courtesy Emilie Ogez via Flickr

I've talked before about how I plot out our posts here heading into each month.  I've also shared my strategy for trying to keep up with the blogs I follow in my Google Reader by assigning them each to a day of the week folder.  My blog writing and my blog reading gets scheduled to help me have time to enjoy the real world.  I have found that when I leave tasks I floating around without a deadline in mind they never actually get done.  If you are a fellow procrastinator this probably sounds very familiar.

Lots of us try to schedule time for writing posts or reading blogs.  But how many of us schedule time for the blogging things behind the scenes?  Things like design, learning technology issues or taking the time to implement them?  I have seen lots of bloggers tackle many of these tasks each year during the January & June Bloggiestas and I think that is a great motivator.  I bet your to do list for the next Bloggiesta would be a lot shorter if you just scheduled your own "Monthly Maintenance Day."

This is an idea I am toying with.  Setting aside one block of time each month to focus entirely on those tasks that take a bit more time, concentration and motivation.  Maybe 2 hours the last Saturday of each month would do the trick.  I could use that time to listen to some online tutorials or troubleshoot design issues.  I could use it to research ideas that I have or consult with other bloggers about joint ventures.  I could organize my photos so they would be easier to find when I want to include them in posts.  Or clean up broken links in archived posts.  Whatever the project, having a set time to attack it would probably make me feel more productive and less overwhelmed with the gazillion things I keep putting off.

When I break things down into pieces and put them in slots, I breathe easier and actually find that I'm more interested in completing them.  It doesn't mean that I always follow through, but having a plan of attack feels better than pushing everything into a closet that is eventually going to bust open.

Speaking of scheduling, our first Bumble Chat will take place here on Friday, 09/24 @ 8:30PM ET. Perhaps it will become a monthly recurrence as well! The topics will be how you write or read book reviews and how you add or drop blogs you follow. Let us know if you can join the discussion - suggestions for for future chat topics always welcome.

9 comments:

Lisa said...

I'm terrible about scheduling anything on my blog--if I'm on a tour then I know when I'm scheduling those posts. I used to be very good about having a Friday Favorite and a Sunday Salon regularly but I've become such a slacker--that and I have to share my computer with a 15yo! I do like the idea of scheduling monthly maintenance--that I am going to have to implement.

Kathleen said...

Procrastination is my middle name, okay maybe more like my first name. I really need to get on a schedule and set time aside to do my blog posts and then stick to it.

soleil said...

You are reading my mind with this post. I have been horribly procrastinating of late. ;)

ashramblings said...

I used to do exactly that when I worked full time. I was forever hearing folks say "Oh I never have time to do XYZ". Typical for programmers who didn't want to document their work, people who didn't do their filing etc. Make a little time now else you will have to make a lot more later on, I would say. I used to take a Friday afternoon each week to catch up with all the jobs that would otherwise have got left until they could be left no longer or not done at all. It was a great feeling going home on a Friday night knowing I had a clear desk, and nothing outstanding that would come back to haunt me.

Sandy Nawrot said...

24/7 I lecture my kids about procrastination, and try to teach them to do things as they come up. And generally I am like this too, but recently I have been just horrible about staying on top of the blogging stuff. I was just up in Chicago and had a few hours to kill while my husband was at a meeting, and I had a little bloggiesta of my own. It felt good. I need to remember that feeling!!!

Matty said...

I wouldn't say that I procrastinate. It's more like just not having anything to say, or at least anything I think anyone would have an interest in reading or seeing. As I said before, I get into a funk for periods of time.

I don't schedule blogging. I just get to the computer when I have the time and spend whatever time I have or feel like committing to it. One day it could be a few hours, and another day I don't get there.

Margot said...

You hit a nerve with me on this blog maintenance subject. It's something I definitely need to do. I missed the June Blogiesta and so I've just been floating since January. I even bought Problogger's latest book but haven't done anything but read a few pages. Ackkkk! I need to get myself under control but procrastination is so easy.

I like your idea of scheduling a regular monthly time period for maintenance. A few hours a month will be better than all those days I took for Blogiesta. So - between the last paragraph and this one I pulled out my calendar and scheduled the fourth Monday of every month as Blog Maintenance Day.

I feel better.

ds said...

Oh, I am a world-class procrastinator, both in the nonscheduled--oops!--sense and in the sense that Matty describes (which is innate & not eliminated by routine, although routine helps, if it could just be nailed down...). You have awfully good advice here. I like the idea of monthly maintenance. Will try to start with that!!

Here's a laugh. Word verification is: oughtshe 'nuff said ;)

Anonymous said...

Procrastination is my biggest fault, but one I'm happy to put off fixing ;)
I'll miss your first chat since my mom will be visiting when Jason is out of town. I'll catch you next time,