blogging, Minimalism

How To Be More Intentional As a Blogger

mindbeautysimplicity

As a blogger, it’s incredibly easy to be on the grind 24 hours a day & 7 days a week. Especially when it starts out as a passion, sometimes that energy causes you to be a bit obsessive about it. Or maybe I’m just projecting. Recently, I wanted to be more intentional with my time when it came to blogging. I’ve managed to be this way with the rest of my life, but when it came to blogging, I didn’t know how to step back, create a schedule & breathe. So, today I wanted to share with you some things I’ve learned to become more present in my blogging career & I figured other bloggers could relate.

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REALIZE YOU ARE IN CHARGE OF YOUR TIME

Chances are if you are a blogger with your own site, you are your own boss. You make your schedule, your to-do list & your overall routine. It’s both a wonderful & difficult thing when the only one you need to answer to is yourself. And with that, you need to be responsible with how you conduct your time. From my personal experience , I can really work myself to the bone. Especially when I’m doing something that doesn’t necessarily feel like work, I forget to take breaks. When I’m passionate about something I can almost become obsessive. And I feel like a lot of creative souls have this same mentality. On good days, this is what drives our success. But we need to work smarter instead of harder. No amount of success is truly worth it if your mental wellbeing is in jeopardy. So, be sure to set some time where you put away the laptop, go charge your phone & spend quality time with others or even with yourself unplugged. I recently decided to follow suit of another blogger, Restless I Roam who does #SocialmediadetoxSundays & be completely off socials one day a week. This time away can actually better fuel your creativity & inspiration.

DON’T BE ON SOCIAL MEDIA ALL DAY

Like I was saying, being on social media all day everyday isn’t healthy. And as much of a obvious statement that is, I’m sure we’ve all had days where all we do is scroll, like & follow. And we finally check the time & our entire day is lost. As a blogger, social media is how we succeed. We can’t just write a blog post & let it sit in hopes the world will find it. A huge part of blogging is promoting your work. My saving grace was learning you can actually schedule out your content, tweets & posts. The thought of having my social media platforms act as a ghost & promote my work while I’m out doing other things is magic to my ears. Ever since I started scheduling my tweets, I felt like a superhero of multitasking. And personally, I find social media to be a waste of time if you let it. Granted, the blogging community is a wonderful group of people & interacting with you all especially during such isolating times has been a gift. But with everything in life, you need to have balance. And I felt like I personally needed to make room for other priorities. Not to mention, taking breaks from the digital world is quite freeing & eye opening. Sometimes you just need to leave the desk & get outside.

IT’S OK IF YOU DON’T REPLY BACK TO EVERYONE

I think the biggest task in blogging that not a lot of people talk about is the process of replying to comments. I thought replying to the five comments I received in my first month was tough. But when it started jumping to 50+ comments, mentions & DM’s on all platforms, it was quite overwhelming. And I’m not trying to sound like I’m complaining because believe me, the fact that anyone cares to read & let alone comment on my work is amazing to me. So, please keep doing it. But I did realize it’s ok not to reply back right away. I would seriously feel bad if someone’s comment ended up in spam or I simply forgot. But now, I give myself more time & eventually I will get back to most of you. But know, even if I don’t reply, I appreciate all your words & support.

PLAN OUT TIME FOR YOU & OTHERS

I get it, blogging is a lot of fun & I love spending my time writing, planning & creating. But you NEED to step away from your passion a few hours each day & focus on quality time. Whether it’s watching a specific show in the evening with my boyfriend, cooking together or even just reading a book ; it’s so important to have other priorities. As much as I love what I do, I need to not let it consume me either. Success doesn’t happen in a night, unless you are a viral internet video. I digress. But usually things take time. I plan to write & blog for a long time. So, there’s no need to overwhelm myself by writing constantly. Quality over quantity is my motto. And part of being a great writer is living & taking in this moments so then later you can come back & tell your story.

REFOCUS YOUR INTENTIONS

I got caught up with the numbers game of it all & lost track of my initial purpose of starting this blog in the first place. And although being ambitious & setting goals is important, I was becoming way too critical of myself. As a minimalist, I was not embodying those habits on my social media & the fun of blogging was losing its luster. So, it’s important to ask yourself what you want your readers to get out of your content & if you are being true to yourself in the process. I took a little step back around Valentines Day (a week to be exact) & reflected on my purpose. And that time away reset my journey. My goal is to keep my feed & my posts as positive & real as possible.

HAVE FUN

Whether you make money blogging or not, you started on this journey because it brought you happiness. Don’t lose that passion. I was upset I was headed in that toxic direction with numbers so early on but I’m glad I caught it when I did. I want to write about things I enjoy & the readers that stay are the loyal ones. And I’m understanding it’s ok when there are people who may not enjoy what I write about. That’s life. I’m just here because I love writing & inspiring others. Everything else is a bonus.

I hope these tips help you in your own blogging journey. I think we all need that reality check sometimes. I have a question for you all, what made you start blogging?

Published by mindbeautysimplicity

51 thoughts on “How To Be More Intentional As a Blogger”

  4. Stepping away is so important for mental health on all levels. I think we often forget that social media isn’t the real world we live in, especially if we blog about our lives.
    I began blogging because I want to reach people all over the world to encourage people and share the love of God, both in scripture and personal life.

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  5. I agree that time management is critical. I only write in the mornings and leave the rest of the day for other pursuits. This creates a healthy balance for me. I usually blog about whatever topic interests me that week, but I have noticed that anything about finance is not a hit, for some reason, so I’m going to steer clear from now on. For me, that is being more intentional.

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  6. It so true that time management really is crucial for being a blogger. I have to always make sure I’m giving time to blogging but also having the work life balance. Currently I have struggling with commenting on so many different bloggers blogs. I love getting to support other blogger but sometimes it takes time away fro me organizing and writing my own blogs. I am trying now to make sure I balance my time correctly also your right it’s not healthy to be hours on social media. It’s good to take breaks.

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    1. i totally know what you mean. returning comments and reading other’s blogs takes a lot of time. i have to give myself a good few hours for this task sometimes. it’s hard to keep up with it all. yes, agreed. breaks are a wonderful thing.

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  7. I love this! you’re so right about the comments thing! I blog for fun, with no stress or obligations and often I end up replying to comments days later. THE GUILT OMG!! thanks for relieving me! 😀

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  12. I’ve had to stop and think about this very question often… What am I doing this for and am I being genuine… And my answer (after much thought) is I’m doing this for me, to find my voice but to also have something my daughter can read when she’s older… And along the way, I wouldn’t mind if I made a small difference in someone’s life here and there :).. Great post!

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  13. Social media was draining me big time. I had to take a step away and start slowly going back into. It does zap the majority of my time,

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  15. Wow, I needed this post! I especially needed the reminder not to be on social media all day. I love connecting with other people and social media is great for promoting your work, but it is so crucial to set boundaries with your screen time. Not only is spending too much time on social media counterproductive, but it is extremely unhealthy. I would get much more done if I put my phone down more often and that is something I need to work on. I like how you said that it is okay not to respond back to everyone. I feel a ton of pressure to do that, but again, it takes up so much time. I feel like many people expect this of you and get mad if you do not do this, but maybe it is not even realistic since there are days where I get dozens of notifications. This post really refocused my priorities and helped my mindset!

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    1. I think connecting on social media has been a great thing especially on Twitter but yes, we have to have balance and respond during our best times. I’m so glad this post inspired you to refocus and set your priorities straight more. 😊💕

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  21. Great post! So true about being in control – also less time on social media! Structuring your own time, as you say “you’re your own boss”. Thank you for this very useful reminder 😊👍

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  22. Love this post so much 😻😻. I do have a hard time when I don’t reply to everyone’s comments, especially when I hang out on social media. It’s just so hard 😵

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  24. Thank you so much. Even though I understood these things, I really needed to here it from someone else. I have been blogging for one year and I catch myself looking at the number of comments, likes and followers. I have stressed myself out over this because I really want to make something great. You have reminded me that I started this with pure passion and didn’t worry about the numbers. I was much better off then. I will take all of your advice and write more out of want instead of need. Thanks again

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    1. glad you enjoyed the post and found it helpful. i’m the same way, sometimes you need to hear it from someone else to really understand. i used to look at stats too. it’s natural. but i try to focus on the main reason i started blogging which was for fun and to just have a place to write. i’m always grateful to those who decide to stick around and read my posts regularly.

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