5 blogging time wasters you need to avoid

Photo: Free-Photos, Pixabay

You can be unaware of this but sometimes the reason why you can’t blog consistently is that you are too busy wasting time.

I understand you have to deal with other online business tasks. But unless you have a virtual assistant as a part of your team, you need to make use of your time wisely. Remember that you only have 24 hours in a day.

The first step to maximise your hours for blogging is to identify unnecessary things that eat up your time.

Without further ado, here are 5 blogging time wasters you need to get rid of.

1. Social media

Social media can be a huge distraction to blogging if you use it for checking your personal notifications.

Doing your social media marketing tasks while blogging is risky. Sometimes you find yourself looking at your friend’s photos and silly statuses. Then somebody chats you o Facebook and you can’t help but check the message.

The solution:

What should you do to avoid wasting your time on social media platforms? Set aside for your personal use of social media.

Put yourself on a timer. I do this too while I blog and it works every time.

2. Procrastination

Procrastination is an enemy of writers. Do you believe in what most people say about writers being the worst procrastinators?

You know the consequences of procrastinating: Poor work quality, missed deadlines, and more – but you still cannot help it.

The solution:

Too lazy to blog? Get up and write the first few sentences of your copy for 2 minutes. Promise, you’ll find yourself blogging for an hour or two.

3. Analysis paralysis

Overthinking and over-analysing kill your productivity.

You can’t start blogging because you are unable to decide on your headline, the right words to use for your introduction, as well as your blog post image.

You better be careful because analysis paralysis does these things to you:

Decrease the quality of your performance – Blogging requires you to think and overthinking before you start writing drains your energy.

Lowers your creativity – Remember that writing is a creative process. Analysis paralysis makes your writing stale. By overthinking, your blog post can become uninteresting and ineffective.

Encourage you to procrastinate – If you think that a particular topic is difficult to write about, chances are you’ll be putting it off at a later time. This is what usually happens to bloggers who wait for the right mood or moment before they start.

The solution:

Limit your choices to prevent analysis paralysis. Pick one and get started. For example, if you’re looking for a blog post ideas across the web, limit the number of tabs you open.

Lastly, delegate the tasks which you think consume a lot of your time to another person.

However, not all people who run an online business are able to trust someone else to do the work for them. Find someone you can rely on.

4. Multi-tasking

It is truly impossible for you to manage your email list, compose those newsletters, and handle your social media tasks at the same time.

When you run your online business from home, you know you have to run errands and make time for personal matters.

Having a lot to do and think of takes away your focus from blogging.

Admit it – you can’t do everything at once. You’re only human. You need help! Many online business owners know the importance of outsourcing.

The solution:

Why not outsource some of your business tasks? Begin by finding qualified virtual assistants/freelancers.

5. Physical clutter

Is your work space disorganised? Do you see physical clutter on your desk? Around you?

Some people do not realise the impact of physical clutter on their work productivity. Those papers, pens, cups of coffee on your desk complete for your attention.

Clutter steals your workspace and your time. It increases your stress levels. When you’re stressed out, you become less productive.

The solution:

Removing clutter so you can feel more at ease blogging is simple.

Apart from having a laptop for blogging and other few essential things, try to keep your desk clutter free.

Final thoughts

These five-time wasters I just mentioned hinder you from writing daily blog posts that people love. If you think there are other things that consume your time, better avoid them as well.

Don’t forget to create a realistic to-do list to stay organised. Learn to prioritise!

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