There was genuine concern in my friend’s voice on the phone yesterday.
“Is everything OK? Where have you been?”
She was concerned because it has been a while since I posted on my blog and hadn’t shown my face around my usual blogging haunts.
I reassured my friend that I was still alive and that all was well. Life had just gotten in the way of my blogging activity for a bit.
You see, in addition to my consulting, I still have a day job that can be quite demanding at times. In this case my problems started even before I got back to work Monday.
My trip back from Dallas Sunday was an adventure and a half that involved not only changing flights, but entire airlines. It created a cascading travel hassle effect by making it hard to schedule my ground transport on the Savannah end.
But alls well that ends well and I made it back to my house eventually.
Monday morning was the start of taking my sleep deprivation experiment to the next level as I worked nearly around the clock with very little sleep because we are short handed and the work still needed to be done.
Then of course yesterday was Valentine’s Day and that was an evening I wanted to spend with Gorgeous. She’s always a priority for me.
So What’s my Point?
What’s my point of all this blah, blah, blah about being busy?
My point is that as a business blogger it is OK for life to get in the way of your blogging from time to time.
In my case blogging is crucial to my business. Actually it is my business.
When I tell my friends that I haven’t even had time to write a blog post in a few days they know my schedule has gotten nuts.
But even when it’s neglected, the blog is still here when my schedule eases back to normal. That is something you should keep in mind.
If one of your hesitations with getting started blogging for your business is that you know your schedule will get in the way from time to time, don’t worry about it.
Sure the ideal is to post consistently as a robot. But you aren’t a robot. You are a person.
You are writing to share you business with people, not robots (or web crawlers or spiders).
Even if you neglect your blog for a season, no worries. It will still be there when you get back. And so will a good share of your readers. Well, if you don’t let it go too long, that is.
So get started blogging. When life gets in the way, that’s OK. Just get back to blogging as soon as you are able.
Chris, so true! Since I started blogging (even though it’s NOT my living), there are times when I get antsy if I can’t get something “out there”. But I’ve found it actually makes me MORE creative when I take a break and think about other things.
How one looks at it also makes a difference. If the goal is “one post daily”, then when you miss a day it can be a source of all kinds of stress. But change the goal to “x posts per week” and suddenly, missing a day isn’t nearly the trauma it once was.
Good point Robert. The other thing I could have done to help myself out was a little planning. I could have pre-posted some because I knew I was heading for a busy period.
Of course I didn’t…
I’m with you Chris. I’m finding my blog is quickly becoming a very important part of my business. So I do my blogging the first thing each morning. Then I go off to the rest of my work. That way, the blogging is done and I can fit the rest of my work responsibilities into my workflow.
Dawud, It’s all about priorities, isn’t it? Is blogging important enough to our business to be a priority or not?
It is for me. Even so sometimes life gets in the way.
Chris, I’ve been working with university faculty in Ireland for over two weeks now. The schedule has been jam packed for work and evening meals. I’ve had to back off a little as far as my blog posts and I miss visits to others. Yours is one of two this morning so it was amazing to see you had encountered the same “exhaustion.”
Chris:
I totally agree. It’s hard to have all the roles mesh nicely and neatly, but I’ve found that blogging helps me focus. So, I guess that helps with productivity too.
Keep blogging!
Chris Brown
Robyn, Maybe it’s just the right time of year to get overwhelmed? A little post holiday over scheduling!
Chris, thanks for the encouragement! Focus is key. Although I sometimes find it hard to keep everything in focus when I’m just trying to keep my head above water. But my field of view should be expanding back out to normal here shortly, thank goodness.
Life sure does get in the way at times. That’s when I find it beneficial to have pre-posted articles ready to appear, or emergency articles ready to post. My three blogs are not time dependent so that takes a lot of pressure off.
Having a break from blogging – even if for just a day – can really recharge the creative batteries. Some months ago I took my wife away for a week while she recovered from an operation. (So she wasn’t tempted to work around the house and garden). I had no internet connection so I ended up reading for the first few days before getting back to writing. Then for the next few days I wrote several dozen articles ready for posting plus the outlines for many more. Without the distraction of the internet, visitors and the telephone I was very productive.
Down time. What a counter-intuitive idea, Trevor. And yet it is often exactly what we need to become even more productive, isn’t it?
I still haven’t gotten into the habit of pre-posting or even having some drafts stashed away for the crazy-busy times. I reckon I’ll learn that one eventually!
Yes Chris – it does take resolve. It has taken me nearly twelve months of blogging to get my head around this process. I’m still not perfect – but it is starting to work positively for me.
It’s the getting my blogging organized and planned out that I don’t have mastered yet. I’ve been able to get away with posting as I go so far. But as my business is growing it is getting more challenging so I’ll have to start practicing what I preach to busy business owners! Go figure.