Do You Spend Too Much Time Blogging

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Do You Spend Too Much Time Blogging

I am well aware that many of my readers are not bloggers but today this article is very much aimed at all of you that are.

Have you yet reached that point where you have been blogging for quite some time now, and you’re now asking yourself the question is blogging actually getting you anywhere? Is it achieving anything? Is it bringing you results?

Maybe the key question should be “Is blogging worth the time it takes to do it?”

In my case I work a full time job as well as run my blog, support in various ways two other blogs, and work as a Life Coach, all of which together definitely stretch me. Sometimes it’s hard juggling everything.

I find it important for me to remember why I’m blogging in the first place. Blogging at the outset was the perfect medium to establish myself as a credible expert in my field.

It gives me the opportunity to share my knowledge, my ideas and my passions, to make an impact with a potentially massive audience. It provides me with a way to positively affect the lives of other people. I personally find it extremely rewarding and a fantastic creative outlet.

My blogging goals have grown. They are ambitious, but at the same time realistic. I’ve achieved so much from blogging so far, it’s natural for me to widen my expectations. Who knows, this may ultimately include devoting 100% of my working hours to blogging while travelling the world, or residing in a hot climate with my home overlooking the sea. But this article isn’t about me, it’s you my reader I’m interested in.

“Is blogging helping you reach your goals?” Have you even taken the time to ask yourself how it’s working out for you? Maybe you are avoiding the question “Would spending your energy elsewhere be better?”

Blogging can take so much time and energy. Many bloggers I interact with are constantly struggling with time. When they analyse the time they spend blogging they are really shocked. Often they cannot find enough hours in the day for all they want to do. It throws their life out of balance, with the other important things in their life, like friends, family, job, health (mental and physical), and other hobbies and activities getting ignored.

So ask yourselves these questions:

  • Are you spending to much time on your blog?
  • Do you need to get away from your blog and get on with other things?
  • Are you letting other areas of your life slide because of the amount of time you spend on your blog?
  • Do you have other things to do and other activities to put your time into but you just can’t drag yourself away from your blog?

It is so easy to slip from something you are passionate about, to something you become obsessed about.  I touched on this subject in a previous article.

Are you sliding towards a  serious blog addiction:

  • Are you always obsessed with thinking about the next post you are going to write
  • Are you thinking about your blog just before you sleep and then again first thing in the morning
  • Do you wake up in the middle of night and rush of to check the statistics or activity on your blog

First thing in the morning and multiple times throughout the day do you check:

  • Your traffic numbers
  • Your twitter account
  • Your Facebook fan page
  • Your email
  • Your link backs
  • Your google analytics
  • Your google adsense
  • Your dashboard for comments left on your post

Even worse, if you discover that your readership drops, your traffic drops off , people don’t tweet or like your articles in your social networking groups, and nobody is commenting oin your blog, you begin to panic.

There is no doubt that Blogging can be a very addictive past time. If we allow it to, it can consume an unbelievable amount of time, stealing us away from the other important areas of our lives. So, if you spend too much time blogging or fretting about your blog, and it effects the other areas of your life, you now need to do something about it.

Here are a few tips of how to get yourself back into control, and stop your blog taking over your life.

Just make the decision. In my opinion, everything you do, and don’t do, is all about the decisions you make. You made the decision to blog and decide how much time you dedicate to blogging. When you see that blogging is interfering with other important parts of your life, then you just have to make the decision to cut back on the time you spend doing it.

No blogging Sunday. Sunday is my no blogging day. I don’t go into Twitter, facebook or do anything with my blog. I don’t turn on my computer at all. I get on with my life without blogging taking any part of it. Monday, it’s back to it, I have lots of new blog articles to read and people to interact with. No matter how much we love blogging it is important to step away from it and spend time with your loved ones, devote some time to your health and other areas of your life.

Schedule the time you will do certain things, and only do them once a day. I admit there was a time where I would constantly go back and forth to check my google adsense, my traffic on google analytical or stat counter, and in and out of my blog’s dashboard to see whether I’d received any comments. Now, I do this only once a day at 8pm of an evening. That way I am able to focus more on my other tasks, including my personal and career responsibilities.

Set aside a maximum amount of time for blogging. You have an article to write, comments to reply to, other blogs to read and comment on, and let’s not forget your networks in facebook and twitter. You also may want to be redesigning something on your blog, or maybe adding some new widgets. For you to do this, but also to keep all your other responsibilities in order, set aside a specific amount of time each day that you will set aside for blogging. Give yourself a start time and end time. Now stick to them.

Find help. For a start invite guest bloggers to contribute. Your readers would benefit from reading a wider range of topics and opinions. (Now lets check how much attention you bloggers are paying – this is also an invitation to you … want to contribute … come talk to me). This also takes pressure of you having to meet your set schedule of the number of weekly posts you make. Within this I also believe you can delegate some of your work. Neil of Slim Express Blog takes care of much of my SEO work, and is a big help in working on the appearance of my blog.

Maintain a blog/life balance. Your health is more important than blogging. You have to maintain a balance between your blogging and the time you spend on your other activities and responsibilities. I wrote in a previous article  “As I’ve said, I love blogging, and love being part of the blogging world. But after all I am a healthy lifestyles blogger, and I owe it to my readers and my community to remind you of the importance of living a healthy, balanced life”. Throughout your life you  constantly try to juggle so many things, which is why you need to learn to prioritise and learn how to say “STOP!”.

Stop Burning the Midnight Oil. Do you know when to quit for the day? How often do you find yourself at the computer and suddenly realise it’s 2am in the morning. Burning the midnight oil gets you nowhere. You just end up burning yourself out.

In worst case, if you can’t get control over your blogging addiction, stop blogging!

Time is free, but its priceless. You can’t own it, but you can use it. You can’t keep it, but you can spend it. Once you’ve lost it you can never get it back. Harvey MacKay

So how much time do you spend on your blog daily? What if you add the time you spend engaging with other bloggers in facebook and twitter? 

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About the author: Larry Lewis
My name is Larry Lewis, Health & Wellness Life Coach, Founder of Healthy Lifestyles Living, contributor to the Huffington Post, recently featured in the Sunday Mail Newspaper and somebody who went from being an owner of a chain of gyms and fitness fanatic, to a visually impaired overweight and incredibly sick person. Read about my illness to wellness story.
27 Comments
  1. Anna Sides says:

    Yes, yes, and yes Larry! To everything! And I run myself crazy jumping from one place to the next! But that is how I live. I have to have chaos, so to speak, in my life to flourish. That is just me 🙂 Always love your posts!!!

    • LarryLewis says:

      Anna – lost for words. No i’m not. Would you mind if i write an article titled “I have to have chaos in my life to flourish” dedicated to …. Anna Sides

  2. You know me Larry…always! It will all go back to normal when the cold months start 🙂 Then, I can sit back and get back on track with reading and commenting!

    • LarryLewis says:

      Mary – please understand, i live in the North East of the United Kingdom. Summer came and went after a few days. We are now back to rain and grotty weather. Your comment suggests you are staying off line to enjoy the heat and the sun. Well quite simply, i don;’t want to know. Roll on my summer holidays. Sadly i’ll be taking my laptop with me to keep my blogging going. I’d better read my article again

  3. Bec Owen says:

    I’ve asked myself these questions a few times, Larry…and I think I’ve got a nice balance between blogging and my other activities. I really enjoy all the connections I’m making through blogging…so many great people!

    I agree…it is so important to have some balance in our lives 🙂

    • LarryLewis says:

      Bec – strange that i’ve asked those questions myself a few times. Like you i love blogging for all its parts. It does now play a key role in my life, and features in many of my big plans for the future. The connections i have made have been awesome, and at times somebody comes along that you can really relate to, and helps one improve in the messages they deliver. I think you are starting to help me along now.

  4. Abhisek says:

    I work full time as a film editor and I face a lot of problems when it comes to keeping my blog updated and visiting other blogs.Still I love my blog and try updating it at least once every 2 days and try visiting some blogs every night before sleeping.

    • LarryLewis says:

      Abhisek – we all have to keep in perspective where blogging sits in our lives. It’s hard to have a full time job, that after all places many demands on you, but pays the bills. That has to be your priority over and above this ‘hobby’ we call blogging. As long as the time you spend, refreshes you, and that you enjoy it that is what matters. Never let your blog take over, be happy the time you do get to spend on it, but never panic when you simply can’t find a second to spare for it

  5. rimly says:

    Like I told you earlier blogging is very addictive and can become an obsession, consuming all of your time. But I have my breaks, especially weekends when I spend time with real friends not virtual friends. I have to read so i spend time doing that, and other things like cook, wash, clean. I hope I dont go to that stage when I cant do without being online all the time. thank you for this wake call post Larry.

    http://rimlybezbaruah.blogspot.com/2011/07/i-am-not-photographerron-is.html

    • LarryLewis says:

      Rimly, forearmed is forewarned. Spot the signs, and take immediuate action. You are a great blogger, and a great lady. Keep a good life balance .

  6. Jessica Brant says:

    Larry,

    Great advice my friend…..

    xoxox
    Jess

  7. Neil Haywood says:

    Larry, it’s a good you job you said ‘No blogging Sunday’. If you had called it ‘Lazy Sunday’, I would have been after you for copyright lol! Thanks for the mention although I’ve taken Lazy Sunday to the extreme for blogging recently. I haven’t posted in over 8 days now (need to change that). I must admit I’m hooked on blogging and will get back to my rambling on slimexpress soon hehe.

    • LarryLewis says:

      Neil – don’t i spend enough time with you. If there any need to pop up in my comment box. We will let you off for not blogging. Firstly you have an imminent exciting event which of course has you distracted, taking up all your time. It’s understandable. Take the time you need until we launch the new blog, then things will get back to normal. By the way don’t forget to get on with some painting, because you got your 1st born child arriving in a matter of weeks.

  8. Bongo says:

    LOLOLOLOL..great article Larry…I’m working on my friend Mary up there above..not an easy task …LOLOLOL as for me..I spend more time working on guest posts then I do my own stuff. It’s actually harder to have guest posts then my own stuff because you have to get inside them and find graphics..infor and intros LOLOL..just my opinion..as far as stats and stuff I try not to even look at them but once a week..comments come to email so I don’t have to keep opening my blog..the time that I find myself dragged into is blogging groups..reading others and leaving comments to be sure not to leave anyone out… could use some help there ..LOLOL..thanks again…As always…XOXOXOX

    • Ok BB, so what are you saying…that I am OCD??? Well, maybe just a little 🙂

      • LarryLewis says:

        Mary – behave. This is my blog. And if Bongo wants to grass you up she’s more than welcome too. We’ve all seen you two sitting on the veranda, sipping god knows what. Now sit down relax, don’t get stressed and let me read what Bongo has to say.

    • LarryLewis says:

      Bongo – excuse me madam. You are certainly somebody that i would say spends an unbelievable amounty of time on line. What you do with your writings, and blogs is awesome girl. But you know i think that. You are always in and out of certain social media networks, plus i believe you were the one to lead my favourite group astray with a certain thing called skype. What you do, is put the emotions into blogging, you support 100’s probably thousands of others … the world would not be the same without bongo blogging. I mean that

  9. mike smith says:

    yes i have obc obessin with blogging lol

    • LarryLewis says:

      Mike – lol, so you’re saying, i’m a blog addict, totally ovcer the top, but i love it so i don’t care. i certainly can think of far worse things to be addicted to i suppose.

  10. Oh, Larry, quite right. But still I can say that I don’t get panic attacks when I don’t see my blog. I can still manage when I am away. I guess I fall somewhere in between. The urge is high some days and absolutely nil certain other days.

    Good one.

    Joy always,
    Susan

    • LarryLewis says:

      Susan – thank you for visiting. I like that approach. Take it or leave. Today i blog, tommorow other things are more important. That means you have stablished a good balance.

  11. sulekha says:

    I am not a blogoholic yet and will never be because though I love blogging, I do it at a specific time daily. Other times, whenever I think of an article to write, I scribble in a book and later on copy it on my blog. I spend my online time reading and commenting on the blogs I follow.

    • LarryLewis says:

      Sulekha – i love how organised you are. What a wonderful way of taking control of what you do in your life. You are the master of blogging, its not your master, alas many find that it has taken some control over them.

  12. It is an obsession,and I was like that sometime back,but now I have realized there is more to life..u have to get your priorities right…very insightful Larry..

    • LarryLewis says:

      Thank you Aplana – it is good to see you have the right perspective on life. There is no doubting your value or your contribution to the blogging world. Whatever you do, i see someone that puts 100% into it. But we all have to make sure blogging doesn’t take over our lives.

  13. jerly says:

    meaningful and useful article

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