Are you not getting your blogging tasks done as quickly as you would like?
Is your blogging business not moving forward as swiftly as you expected?
Do your blogging goals never seem to be met?
If you answered yes to at least one of those questions, then there’s a good chance that you are suffering from “blogging procrastination”.
What Exactly Is Procrastination?
Procrastination is when a person:
- Carries out general tasks instead of more urgent ones;
- Does more pleasurable things instead of the task-at-hand;
- Puts off tasks altogether until a later time.
So in other words, if you don’t particularly want to do something or find the task overwhelming or boring, then you’re more likely to procrastinate and keep “putting of” that task.
Procrastination is a great problem amongst:
- Students who need to study;
- Home owners who don’t want to do mundane housework (that’s me!);
- Employees in the workplace; and more importantly to you the reader,
- Home-based, self-employed bloggers!
So as you can see, procrastination affects just about everybody in every corner of the world in just about every genre you can imagine.
How Does Procrastination Affect Bloggers?
Procrastination is huge amongst bloggers. Of course, some bloggers suffer more from procrastination than others, but I would say that every blogger procrastinates at one point or another.
Procrastination is a terrible “disease” and can hinder or even kill the success of your blog if you don’t tackle it head-on.
Here are some ways which procrastination can affect bloggers:
Blogging Fears
Scared to promote your ebook or worried that no-one will like or read your blog posts are two common ones.
Overwhelm
This can come in the form of “too many tasks” and not knowing which one to do first and in what order.
You could also become totally overwhelmed by a large project you want to accomplish. For example writing an ebook or a training course are huge projects which are too daunting for some bloggers to get their head around and therefore unfortunately never successfully complete.
Low Motivation
By being a self-employed professional blogger you have to wear “many hats”, i.e. you have to be very versatile because there are so many different aspects to blogging. However, you might not enjoy certain tasks which come with the blogging experience.
For example, you might enjoy:
- Writing blog posts (which you should do);
- Tweaking the design and layout of your blog;
- Socialising on social media sites.
If you enjoy these blogging tasks then there’s a less chance that you will procrastinate in carrying out those tasks.
However, if you don’t enjoy:
- The technicalities of running a blog;
- Learning new stuff (blogging is a never-ending learning curve);
- Answering blog comments on a daily basis.
Then you will have low motivation to carry them out, and you will find all excuses under the sun not to do them; this is procrastinating.
You know you’re procrastinating when you:
- Check your email more than twice a day;
- Spend too much time on Facebook and other social media sites;
- Spend too much time in forums (apart from doing research);
- Browsing on shopping sites such as eBay and Amazon;
- Doing “too much” competitor analysis;
- Have a back-log of uncompleted tasks.
3 Things Bloggers Can Do To Overcome Procrastination
First and foremost, the most important thing you can do to beat blogging procrastination is to realize and own-up that you are in-fact procrastinating in your blogging business.
Once you’ve identified that you procrastinate, you can then go about putting measures in place to block procrastination for at least 80% of the time.
So just to get you started, here are three ways which can help you overcome procrastination:
#1 Create Micro Baby Steps
As mentioned above, a large proportion of procrastination in bloggers is due to overwhelm and fear, and the best way to overcome these two problems is to break each blogging task down into tiny micro baby steps.
Break the task at hand down into tiny parts and only focus on the immediate task and do it to the best of your ability.
For example, writing an ebook is popular amongst bloggers but many bloggers don’t accomplish this goal due to the scale of its enormity. However, if you break it down into little micro baby steps and only focus on one step at a time, then it doesn’t seem to daunting.
Writing an eBook: Micro Baby Steps
Task 1 - Brainstorm Topic ideas
Task 2 - Research
Task 3 - Create Your Outline
Task 4 - Write Your Table of Contents (Chapter headings)
Task 5 - Write the Introduction
Task 6 - Write Chapter 1
… etc.
If you still feel overwhelmed, then simply break those tasks down even further:
Task 5 - Write the first two paragraphs of the Introduction
Task 6 - Write the middle two paragraphs of the Introduction
Task 7 - Write the last two paragraphs of the Introduction
This is why I call them “micro” baby steps. Very small tasks which can easily be achieved by focusing on only one micro task at a time.
#2 Declare Your Goal
Let your readers know what you’re up to and publicly declare your goal. Once you’ve declared your new project, it will be much harder for you to not meet your deadline because your integrity will be on the line.
So for example, you could write a blog post about your new product which you are working on explaining what it’s about and when you expect to have it finished and ready to sell to your blog readers.
This way your blog readers are waiting in anticipation to purchase your new shiny product, but it will also put you under-pressure to not procrastinate as you don’t want to let your audience down and lose your credibility.
Think of other ways you can declare your goal/project; Facebook, Twitter, forum post.
#3 Use Set Time-Blocks
I think this is a great little strategy to help you focus on certain tasks which need to be done during a given day.
What this strategy involves is setting times in the day into “blocks” where you focus on only one task at a time during a set “time block”.
So for example, say between
9.00 - 10.00 am, you schedule in to check your email from the day before.
10.00 - 10.30 am, you respond to any blog comments you received while you were sleeping.
10.30 - 11.00 am, you go for a walk or make a coffee and read a newspaper.
11.00 - 12.00 noon, you write a chunk of your next blog post.
… etc.
Here’s a photograph of my own personal daily tasks schedule in “time blocks” in action.
N.B. You obviously don’t need a fancy worksheet like mine, you can simply use a diary or even a notebook to write down your time blocks and tasks.
So by implementing these three simple strategies, they will help you overcome at least 80% of your blogging procrastination.
Special Offer For ProBloggingSuccess Readers
The above worksheet is one of seven printable and interactive worksheets obtained through my Stop Procrastinating Workshop. The worksheets also come with an 18 page Cheat Sheet Tutorial.
ProBloggingSuccess.com readers can get a 25% discount off the price of the Stop Procrastination Workshop simply by entering Coupon Code PBS-25.
Iíve researched, listened and took notice of the frustrations and anxieties of bloggers and have come up with a solution to help beat blogging procrastination. My Workshop will help you overcome 80% of your blogging procrastination.
To your success!
Claire Bullerwell is the owner of Blogging Toolkits where she creates interactive workbooks and worksheets to help bloggers be more productive and organized. Start by downloading her free Business Blogging Checklists to make sure your blog is set-up ready for success.
Hi Jane and Claire, I liked your suggestion about the time blocks. i must admit that I do tend to do the things that are more enjoyable to me. I have another ebook on the back burner and need to get down to business and get it put together. Thanks for the nudge. Amy
Hi Amy,
I must admit even using time-blocks takes dedication, and yes, you can easily ‘time block’ your most enjoyable tasks only. If you’re not getting the tasks done which you least enjoy, consider outsourcing them (although I personally wouldn’t outsource writing an ebook).
Good luck with your ebook project!
Hi Claire, and welcome to Jane’s blog
This was a wonderful post, which most bloggers would be able to relate to because it’s exactly what most of them go through
Speaking of myself, I think I face the issue of being overwhelmed with SO many tasks in hand, especially now with a growing, new community and forum to manage at my blog. Yes, taking small, baby steps helps, but if you have too much to cover, the only thing that works is setting your time schedule, just as you mentioned, in a way that best works for you.
You need to balance things out, especially if you are working from home, or even managing a job and a blog, and that requires the fine art of time management as you said - time blocks, which work best for me, thus one is able to do a lot of things if we follow a proper schedule.
Thanks for sharing. Have a nice day, both of you
Hi Harleena,
Thank you for my warm welcome!
I’m definitely with you on the overwhelm of the ‘tasks overload syndrome’! That’s why I have started focusing on just ONE task at a time until that ‘baby step’ is finished, otherwise I skip, hop and jump from one task to the next and consequently end up getting none of them get finished!
At the end of the day every blogger has different ways of working, and you just have to find a method which works best for you, and sometimes that can mean going through a lot of trial and error.
Thanks for your comment!
Hi, Jane and Claire, I’m going to implement *ultra* micro baby steps. I like that your worksheet includes time at the gym, it’s really difficult to switch off like that…
Hi Donald, I love doing ‘micro-baby’ steps - I use that technique all the time.
At the end of he day, you have to fit blogging in around your daily life, so don’t forget to go to the gym or feed the kids!
Hi Claire. This is a great way to approach procrastination. One thing I have learned is never to start your day thinking you are behind from the day before. If you don’t finish your list then you just need to start a fresh tomorrow and re prioritize those items
Hi Kostas, That’s another great tip, you definitely don’t need a ‘build-up’ of tasks you wear you down!
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Hi Powerby247, Thanks for your comment; I’m glad you found it helpful!
Hi Claire,
What a wonderful topic shared. Blogging procrastination is really killing the success of my blog. It’s seems like my story. I am home owner as well as self employed blogger with having a small 2 years kid. Which is really disturbing a lot with my blogging.
Thanks for sharing these 3 strategies to overcome with Procrastination. This is really helpful. Declaring your goal is a good idea. I already tried sometimes. This is really workable.
I am not able to use set time-blocks due to my small baby. I will try to build it soon. This can really boost my web presence and overcome at least some % of my blogging procrastination.
Thanks again for sharing this wonderful and helpful post. Have a great weekend!
Wow Claire,
Top post and thank you for sharing your thoughts! i
suffer a lot from procrasination and at times I think i take a lot on.
currently I am working on 5 different projects as well as a side-project
and my own blog. plus social media as well. It can get overhwealming to
say the least!
When I first started I was all over the place,
not though I am much better at prioritizing my time and getting things
done! Timetables are a must in my game and I love having mine set up
each morning!. Love your idea on ‘Baby Steps.’
Thanks again for sharing!
- PD
Hi Claire,
This is a really good post.
Procrastination is a major thing that many of us face and struggle to overcome. It can be tough to overcome it at times, but I really liked the tips you provided here.
One of the biggest things I do to overcome it is to create micro steps. I plan out what needs to be done then I break it up into smaller steps/goals to get accomplished. By doing that, I’m constantly focused on things and find that I’m never straying away from the task at hand.
Setting goals and time slots are things I already do as well and they’re terrific advice. When you know your goals and you have a set time frame to work on things, you can dedicate that specific time to getting what you need to get done, done.
Great post here.
- Andrew