As people who constantly create more and more work for themselves everyday, bloggers often find themselves falling behind and even not getting all their work done. For many, this is a bad thing and can ultimately harm their blog and even work ethic. But personally, I see opportunity.
Everyone falls behind. Pro-bloggers, new bloggers and even distinguished bloggers like yourself do. It’s not something to freak out about, because that will only make the process of “catching up” a lot more difficult.
So why not embrace it?
When I fall behind on things, sure, I get a little worried. You snooze you lose, and in today’s blogosphere there is just no time to mess around.
But I feel that when we do slip up and do fall behind in our regular blogging routine, we can only learn and become stronger bloggers once we get through it and back into the game.
Blogger Maturity
It’s really not a complicated thing at all. It’s actually something you have already been through, but not necessarily something you have learned from your blog.
Think about when you were growing up and you made a mistake. Your parents would lash out on you, or you’d do something that you regret. You’d learn from it and become better as a person. You’d become more mature.
Now, when you make a mistake on your blog you generally learn from it right? As you keep making them you keep learning, and that’s how you become a better, more mature blogger (we were all n00bs once).
Maturity is such an important part of being a successful blogger, and really shapes how far you will go with your blog. When you fall behind on things, such as maintaining your posting schedule or replying to emails, one of two things can happen:
- You get caught up on these things, but continuously let it happen.
- You get caught up on these things, and don’t let it happen (unless it’s somehow out of your control).
Those of us who are more serious about our blogs and are of course more mature should fall under #2. It’s not about being perfect, but as close as possible. Again, we all mess up sometimes and fall behind. We forget something on our to-do lists, or forget entirely about something that needs frequent attention.
But maybe if you have all these things on your schedule that you’re not completing, you need to reconsider a few things.
1. Lighten Your Workload
Us bloggers want to take over the world in an instant. Long-term is no fun, and has too much anticipation around it. We want things now and we want our goals to be realized now.
So, we give ourselves a lot of work. Sometimes, so much work that it all gets in the way of each other. Truth be told, the world will still be here tomorrow and you do have plenty of time to take it over. So give you and your readers a break, and consider taking a few things off your schedule.
You either have too much to do, or just can’t work quickly enough and have lazy streaks. But sometimes, it’s not how you do it but how you are prioritizing things.
2. Prioritize Better
The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities. — Stephen R. Covey
Setting priorities, what’s most important, is one of the best productivity tips I can give you. You will get what you need to done and then some.
Some of us already set priorities, but don’t set them so they’re effective.
It is important to always get what will benefit you the most done first. For example, writing a blog post (NOT at the last minute) or replying to a comment on another post. Sure, community interaction is important, but keeping them updated with a new article is even more so.
Prioritizing what you feel like doing and not what should be done is not the way to go either. This I found out by doing just that, what I felt like. Because of that, I got a little behind on writing new blog posts and that is a major issue.
With a lighter workload and better prioritization, your overall productivity should increase and you should find yourself getting caught up better. But, what’s most important is how you work.
3. Have a Stronger Work Ethic
Everyone’s work ethic is different. Some like to get a little done in a day, others like to get as much as they have time for. Either way is fine, but it all comes down to the quality of the work you produce.
Work as long as you want to, but in the end it’s all about quality. Putting out lousy content or a flawed product will ultimately create more work for you in the end, and that’s just bad work ethic.
Always strive to deliver the best to your abilities, and you will be better off in the long-run.
See Any Value?
Falling behind does suck, don’t get me wrong. I try my best not to do it, but it happens. It has to you as well I’m sure. But are you like me, and see anything important about this?
I’m interested to hear your thoughts on the subject, and how you feel maturity falls into this topic as well. Can’t wait to hear your thoughts.
See you Friday. Until then, keep blogging!
Reader Question:
Why did I choose a picture of a fence for the featured image of this article?
Photo by Victoria Welch
The Discussion
Leave a Comment Read Again?Interesting concept, Alex. I struggle with managing all of my current commitments. Lately, I’ve been writing down tasks as they pop in my head. I have two columns. Short term, meaning, “Get it done today” and long term, meaning “Sometime in the near future.” I check the list throughout my day to remind myself. I’ve become a bit of a task master as a result. I don’t know why I never wanted to do this before.
One thing I strongly agree with is that we should not try to put too much on our plate at once, because then everything suffers. Better to achieve fewer tasks and really “knock em out of the park” than halfhearted at many.
Love the idea of that list Andrew! I might have to get into something like that, because I have a lot of thoughts that pop into my head. Some, short term and others are more long term.
Definitely with you on that kind of work ethic…that’s how I work. Sometimes I will only put in a few hours a day, or only get one or two things done. But I will never sit here all day rushing and rushing to do something, because I know I need to make it kick ass before I show it to other people haha.
Thanks as always for the comment!
Answer to the Reader Question.
Because as a young boy you fell behind your friends when trying to jump a fence and when the junk yard watch dog approached you thought he was going to eat you, but instead he returned your missing baseball. Wait a minute. That was The Sandlot. Sorry. Disregard.
Ahahahaha
Yes, my childhood did go something like that
I don’t know if it’s maturity, as much as it’s sheer determination to keep up with your blogging tasks. I read an article about Michael Arrington today and when he first started TechCrunch, he was posting several times a day. He wouldn’t have been able to sell it for $25+ today if he didn’t do that.
Are you on the fence about this topic, Alex?
Could have something to do with determination…but what’s determination without maturity? Do you think they tie into each other at all?
Good one, Nick. ;]
Yes, determination and maturity are related… Is that what you wanted from me, Alex?! Both are equally good.
By the way, I’m sure you know, but I just saw Blogussion as an example in a report that DIY just released. Good to know I’m on the right track following your advice
.
Awesome post, Alex!
I’ll be honest, I just came around to your blog today after adding it to my reader and I do respect your own work ethic and the maturity you present.
Although I’ve been blogging for a number of years, I haven’t taken it seriously until recently and sure enough, the maturity of my own blogging has skyrocketed (in my opinion, anyway) compared to where it was just months ago.
Not that it was a huge highlight, but the Seven Habits from Mr. Covey, as you had quoted, is a better part of how I try to live my own life in managing priorities. The whole methodology of “Big Rocks vs. Little Rocks” is perfect for the art of blogging and I personally thank you for the reminder.
RE: Reader Question – Perhaps it is a symbol of the barriers we place in front of ourselves that although we can see through them, we keep ourselves behind the path we truly wish to follow.
Thanks again from a new reader.
-Rich
Glad to have you around Rich! Hope to see you later down the line as well. Just remember, the best stuff on this blog lies in the archives.
So, before you started taking blogging more serious, what were you blogging for? Just something to do while you were bored?
It’s good you’re thinking more about taking things seriously though man. I love the potential that blogs have nowadays to earn you an income and get your name out there. So definitely get all over the blogosphere!
Good interpretation of the image! Wasn’t what I had in mind, but your description is just as good. Glad I’m seeing ideas other than my own.
Thank you for the warm welcome! I’ll be sifting through them, I’m sure there’s gold to be found.
I was blogging about the personal side of life and work, then went on to blog about managing relationships affected by mental health challenges. I ended up walking away from them for some time and came back earlier this year on my own blog, and just launched another new one, so I’m on my way.
Thanks again and I appreciate the work you are doing.
-Rich
Great post, it’s always good to make mistakes and your a fool if you don’t learn from them.
The world would be boring if everyone what perfect though
Thanks Peter. Definitely with you, if everyone was perfect than we’d all probably be rich, successful bloggers right? ;]
Things like his always happen and we must try to live with it and then we could follow our schedule.
When was the last time you fell behind on something? Did you learn anything from it?
one thing in my blogging career that i have learnt and adopted by heart is PRIORITIZING….
bloggers need to make it clear to themselves what they want to do first….
FACEBOOK OR WORDPRESS
STATUS UPDATE OR COMMENTING
and other tit bits
Glad to hear you have your priorities straight then Tushar.
So would you update your status or comment on some blog first ;]
Yeah, Alex, I think it is always important to be honest with yourself and realize that when things are not working out, you need to assess the situation and implement some changes. If we come out of the situation with a more organized and stronger position, then it has definitely been beneficial – the key is taking that first step.
Hey Roy, thanks for stopping by!
That’s exactly what people need to realize…and you sometimes need to make some changes that are for the best, even if it’s not something you may particularly favor (in my case, writing over designing).
Definitely brought up some good points..thanks for commenting on some of these articles!
Hi Alex,
I’ve lately had to deal with the falling behind issue. I do this full time and I really like it. My skills are wide ranging and solid. However ………… when you break a foot ……… all bets are off. O.K. …… time to panic! Man, I can’t even sit at my desk for the swelling and the pain. There goes my content, there goes my traffic.
I’m better now of course, but it took a month. Once back in the saddle I was lost.
After a week, I decided to try a different style of writing. It worked! I would never have crossed that bridge unless I were not confronted with it first.
Wow, that’s insane! I think this post is definitely for you: http://www.blogussion.com/meaning/6-lessons-learned-walking-crutches-tie-blogging/
So, has your blog actually recovered from your absence?
Hi Alex,
The first blog post I read today and it is on a topic that’s at the forefront of my mind.
I’ve been plagued by all of the demons you mention in your post, especially workload and prioritizing, and today I have put an action plan into place that will allow me to do what I need to do to move forward with my blogging.
I’ve never been big on plans, but it’s amazing how writing down your goals, strategies and an action plan can help focus your mind on where you want to be. The problem is, of course, that for any plan to work it has to be actioned.
The main part of the plan is to publish a few times a week on set days, allowing the rest of the time for doing everything else.
Really glad you can relate so much to this post then! Hopefully the new planning and organization methods you have developed help you out.
Another tip for meeting your goals – never share them with anybody. I heard somewhere it helps you get them accomplished better.
I usually spend the weekend preparing the posts to be published during the week so I can spend my time during the week to work on other things. This has saved me an unbelievable amount of time as well.
Hope to see you around Stephen!
Nice blog post, Alex. I realize, every business, organization or blogger can’t continually grow. There’s a time each of us fall behind. It’s natural process; like economy, sometimes it goes to peak, sometimes it goes to recession. There’s cycle in everything and it’s such a good chance to review the path you have walked by the points you listed in your post.
Definitely, no one is perfect! I’m sure even the top bloggers today have at one point messed up and gotten back up. I’m sure they even do today. Just think of all the emails they have to reply to.
Thanks for stopping by Mike, see you around.
Not sure about maturity, I am far from it… I guess. Learning form mistakes is fun but I am kinda learning the other way. Guh! It’s complicated.
As far as keeping up is concerned. I love the idea of “Do it Tomorrow” list. Where anything that pop-ups today to do you put it in “Do it tomorrow” list (unless it’s really urgent). So each day you have a “locked” list .. nothing can be added .. so you know where you stand and happy to see your progress. Anything popus up? Do it tomorrow!
That was Brian Tacy’s idea. It’s kinda working for me. We can end up adding too much to do but that’s where “woo woo” comes in and I delegate to known yet unknown forces to take care of it.
You really blog your life experience real time, don’t you?
Fence? Gimmes me a feeling of limitation and falling behind the fence thing. Is that what’s it about?
I definitely think falling behind once in awhile isn’t that bad, especially since most people have RSS readers. Some of the best blogs are updated just once a week, like Tim Ferriss’ Four Hour Work Week. If you don’t have anything insightful to say, just skip a day, it won’t matter.
Very interesting information, thank you
This is absolutely true! I always feel that I’m falling behind other bloggers especially when I’m visiting other blogs and – oh! I have to do more than usual!
And I do agree with your point – do emphasize on the quality of your work although it will cost you some time because the results will come later and as usual positive results will come from good works!
Well.. I guess the fence symbolizes the feeling falling behind and obstructed to move toward. Just my piece of thought
Nice blog post, Alex. I realize, every business, organization or blogger can’t continually grow. There’s a time each of us fall behind. It’s natural process; like economy, sometimes it goes to peak, sometimes it goes to recession. There’s cycle in everything and it’s such a good chance to review the path you have walked by the points you listed in your post.
Very nice tip. Very well written and explained thank you.
These are really unique and hard to find tips Alex. I’ve been encountering problems for the past few weeks, something related to this, particularly with time management and with which ones to prioritize first. This post gave me an additional solution to those problems, and I guess I need to put some level to weigh those priorities and to see which are the ones I need to get focused on. I also think that making my own deadlines (even if it’s not really needed) will make me more productive, I’ll try doing that for now and see what happens, or better yet, outsource other tasks that take too much of my time.
Regards,
Jason
Hi Ales. Thanks for the tips. Actually, I strongly agree with your tip of having a priority. We are here in the world of competition and what will stand out is the one with unique and usable content (I am pointing out about the blog). Hence, it is also true the bloggers will indeed experience downfall but this will never be the basis of proclaiming that you are a loser. In other words, make that failures be your stepping stones in achieving the success of blogging.
It’s very rare that you find the relevant information on the net but your article did provide me the relevant information. I am going to save your URL and will definitely visit the site again.
But I feel that when we do slip up and do fall behind in our regular blogging routine, we can only learn and become stronger bloggers once we get through it
Rightly said and I have faced this.
But I still cant see myself best in prioritizing things, though I am improving it day by day.
nice article. I am new in blogging. your article give me spirit to grow my blog. thanks
Goodness this is the right post for me! I know I am not alone in this. As you can see I am behind in reading this post. I am a mother of four small children and I have recently learned to let go and do the things that count. Sometimes that means not staying on task for a day and catching up later. I am constantly re-evaluating to make things work!
This is exactly what I was like when I started blogging and after all that trial and error, I’m finally starting to mature as a blogger. Awesome post!
I don’t take falling hard as a bad thing either. for me its just all about moving forward and learning from those mistakes.
I even think falling back is a good thing because if we don’t fall wrongly once in a while then there’s no reason to exert more effort, no reason to work harder and no motivation to drive us to work more.
Much like many things in life, I believe quality is more important that quantity when it comes to blogging. If you put out loads of crap nobody will read any of it anyway!
..Great post Alex! I do believe with your article. As a link builder, it was really hard to expect lot of loads in your sgchedule though you know that you can’t keep it up. In my work, I’m always doing things with quality, for me it’s better to do little things but with high quality than to work lot but actually almost all you did was not related to your keyword (just as like a link builder, if you want to have a good report you need to have quality backlinks). Thanks again for sharing your thoughts.
You’re right Alex. We have to accept the fact that we commit mistakes. Hence, these failures are not the basis of giving up but these are the stepping stones to a greater success. We must be thankful for our failures, because our blogging experience would be so boring if we were all perfect. Thank you!
I have read this somewhere “There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.”-Colin Powelland and I think it is the same with blogging and any other job. you can never be the best you can be if one way or another you haven’t made a mistake and somehow learned from it. Nice post Alex!
I’m glad I found reason to value failures. There where times that we grope ourselves in darkness ‘coz of failures; however, if we could see every failures as an opportunity of learning and growing up. I am sure we could find “precious stones in the dust”.
Yeah right! We can see the beauty of success if we learn the value of falling behind. As my old friend says, “Learn from your mistakes”.
I disagree. Fully. In the online industry, if you snooze you lose. Fact.
Blogging is one of the top demands that we have in the web society nowadays. We cannot barely deny that most of these generation is having fun when it comes to blogging. Aside from that blogging became a business since many people make money out of it. So, we as a blogger we should be fair and square when it comes to our comments. We need to be careful with our words and comments and we should also learn to respect the opinion of others. Committing a mistake is a not sin but tolerating it is the cause of everyone’s down fall in business and also in it’s self. Being in this kind of work I do believe that professionalism is a must.
well thats looks good article to read, but anyway i like it as much as y10 games
Yes, there is no exemption whether you are novice or expert in blogging. You can experience being in the downfall. I really like your perspective because you see opportunity of being in that situation. Such as developing your patience, increase your sense of professionalism and among many others. This is really a meaningful post.
hi i love the post, my blog is fedache.blogspot.com visit and see for yourself
If blogger has a good stimulation during the work (for example – money, great interest etc)- everything will be done in time.
Yeah, I do agree that sometimes we can’t barely deny the fact that we tend to fall behind on the things that we do. Since we are humans, so there comes a time that we have our ups and downs in life and if that happens everything that we do are also affected. If these things happens it will result to our frustration but as a matter of fact if we think on a more positive perspective of life falling behind is supposed to be our source of strength and courage to face our battles and challenges in life. This situation is also the same in blogging if we miss one in our blogs don’t you worry but instead try to cope up with your losses. There’s nothing wrong in correcting your mistakes as long as you’ve learn from it.
Nice information its usefulness and significance is overwhelming the way you covered all the basic necessary information is really impressive good work.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, alex. This will help perform better in my blog, i have understand better every details of it. I hope to expect more updates from you. Take care!
Thanks for your post Alex. I gain lots for ideas from your article. Bloggers will surely benefits from this. But most of all, before doing something each and everyone of us must set their priorities to avoid committing mistakes. But anyway, mistakes can’t be avoided so we just always have to prepare. Just think of your goals and do something to achieve it.
Being an expert in what we do, we need to go through a lot of learnings first. Making mistakes will make us better in our fields because we can get learnings from it. I certainly agree that we need to set priorities and have a schedule on what to do so that we have a path to follow. There’s nothing wrong if we commit mistakes in blogging as long as we know how to to correct and learn from it. For me being mature in blogging is being optimistic and patient. Nice post Alex!
I really appreciate your post. It is important to learn from our mistakes because it makes us become better. We have to go through in a learning process before we become an expert. So we need to strive hard and work hard in order to achieve what we want in life. Thanks for the post keep on posting.
If we don’t learn from ouer mistakes and make corrections on the results that we didn’t like, then we can’t grow and learn from ouer experience
I am always falling behind. I am also constantly setting goals that might be a little unrealistic; I have one of those cheap little calendar books I carry with me all the time and I plan my entire day with it. However, I have found that by setting these little goals that I can’t possibly achieve in one day, at least I come pretty darn close. Yes, I’m a workaholic because I hold down a full-time job and blog on the side, but I still put in a good 3-5 hours a day even having a wife and 2 kids. The good side to all of this for me are the amazing rewards for my hard work by setting these goals, and I’m lucky my wife lets me sleep in and rest on Saturday and Sunday.
I find if I set some serious goals throughout the week, I end up satisfied with my effort and I don’t have to work on the weekends.
Youre so cool! I dont suppose Ive learn something like this before. So nice to search out someone with some authentic thoughts on this subject. realy thank you for beginning this up. this website is one thing that’s needed on the internet, someone with slightly originality. useful job for bringing one thing new to the internet!
Those are excellent tips especially for the people who do still do not how to manage their time in work. However, in order to achieve the goals that you aimed, you must be responsible in setting your priorities in life. Know the things that are important to you and do it with all your best. Goals would serve as your guide to reach what you aimed for.
I totally agree with Cinder. Sometimes it’s all about time management and prioritizing what is important and not letting your focus get sidetracked that will make you successful in everything that you do!
Comments on this entry are closed.