![Why Your Blogging Habits Cripple Your Productivity [And How to Get It Back]](https://i0.wp.com/beafreelanceblogger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/blogging-productivity-e1400405322893.jpg?resize=700%2C300&ssl=1)
Inefficiency and procrastination are dream killers: a blogger’s worst enemies.
So why do many of us welcome them with open arms?
Blogging is one of your passions and it’s your job. Yet, sometimes it seems impossible to turn the world off, sit down and focus on what you love. Then once you do finally start writing, you feel like your mind inevitably wanders to anything and everything else!
Well, here’s the good news:
If you feel you aren’t the most efficient blogger, it is NOT because you aren’t capable of becoming one. There are fundamental reasons why your brain fails to do what you demand, and there are tangible explanations for why you aren’t as efficient at your craft as you’d like.
Let’s make blogging easy. Here’s how:
Avoid lazy spaces
To be productive, you need to be comfortable.
But don’t blog in the same spot you sit and watch TV in every day. Your mind has already stuck a flag in that stained couch cushion that says, “I’m incredible. This is my recreational space. And yes, I am saving that Cheeto for later.”
Example: psychologists say your bed is for two things: sex and sleeping. [Note from Sophie: OK, maybe *your* bed is only for sleeping. Do the other thing wherever you like.] If you work or study in bed, your sleep life will suffer.
That’s true for your writing spaces too.
If you start working on the same couch where you watched TV and drank a few glasses of wine last night, guess what? Your mind is waiting for you to turn on the TV and pour another drink.
Several glasses later, you won’t even remember how to spell your name.
As much as we try to fight it, we’re creatures of habit and our brains have a hard time breaking the mold we’ve created. You don’t have to blog in a padded room with blank white walls, but don’t write in a space your mind has already learned is for something else.
Set aside at least one space for your productive, creative work.
Jot down ev-er-y-thing
One of the most overwhelming questions that haunted me when I decided to start writing was, “How am I going to come up with enough consistent, engaging content?” I felt like I was behind before I’d even started! I had no blog posts, I had no real writing resume. I had nothing.
But everyone has to start somewhere. So where is your content coming from? The answer is simple:
Ideas are everywhere!
Your brain has thousands of ideas ripe for the picking, you just have to be ready to take advantage of that and write them down.
Trying to keep all your ideas inside your head is like collecting apples without a barrel; you can only carry so many. And the ones you do manage to keep hold of, you’ll end up dropping or damaging (misremembering) along the way. So ALWAYS be ready by making sure you have a method for keeping track of your earth-shattering, Nobel Prize winning ideas!
Clear your mental clutter
This may come as a surprise, but you are not a machine. I don’t care how many hot dogs you ate in that contest in college.
You cannot switch seamlessly from task to task, day in and day out and expect perfection; especially when it comes to something as intensive and creative as blogging. Your mind needs time to focus on what it has to accomplish. Beforehand.
I know a lot of people shut down when they hear a word like “meditate.” And I’m not going to tell you you can hum your way to freelance blogging greatness.
But meditation doesn’t mean you’re affiliated with a specific religion or that you’re preparing to liquidate all of your possessions. Meditation, in the most simplistic sense, is a state of relaxation where focus is heightened. That’s the same state of mind you’re in when your writing flows easily.
So ask yourself, “When am I the most relaxed, focused, and productive?”
After exercising? Then this is the productive time your brain is alert and ready. After cooking? Then that’s when your superpowers kick in. After putting the kids to bed and sitting down for what feels like the first time all day? You got it: write then.
Plan to write at a time of day that helps to maximize your efforts. Not a time of day that fights against you.
Schedule deliberate practice
Like I said before: you’re awesome. I can tell that just from you deciding to read this far. But are you the best blogger alive? Are you in the top 1% of your field?
If you don’t think so, why not?
The answer probably has something to do with deliberate practice.
Expert performance is not an accident. Consistently great writing and blogging is not an accident. And, as counter-intuitive as we may think this sounds, studies show that expert performance is not generally derived from talent (If you’re having trouble keeping up, just replace “performance” with “blogging”).
How encouraging is that for those of us who are passionate about blogging, but feel untalented compared to the competition? It changes EVERYTHING! Suddenly, we live in a world where anything is possible.
Welcome to Earth. Nice to meet you.
And, now that you’re here, you can embrace the truth:
The quality of your practice is crucial if you want to deliver a quality performance.
So what is deliberate practice?
Deliberate practice is a rigorously designed method with the sole purpose of improving performance. Sounds complicated, right? But it really isn’t.
So here’s the question. Which is deliberate practice?
- The woman who practices violin for 60 minutes per day with her phone in front of her, periodically checking the time and texting her friends.
- The woman who practices violin for 30 minutes a day while solely focused on the task at hand.
The answer should be fairly obvious. And it has nothing to do with the amount of allotted time.
To deliberately practice being a more efficient blogger, you need to be fully engaged in blogging. If your attention is slipping in and out of the task at hand, you aren’t fully engaged. If you reward yourself by checking Facebook every time you write a new paragraph, you’re doing yourself a disservice.
Deliberate blogging is writing that has you engaged and fully focused.
Once you’ve got that, you can continue training your mind to increase quality and efficiency EVERY time you blog.
With the right knowledge and a little elbow grease, the career you’re striving for is in sight. So put to rest your days of inefficiency and procrastination, and become the blogger you were born to be!
If you have any of your own tips to add or questions to ask, leave me a comment. 🙂 Best of luck!
Doh! Doing this in bed. I tend to do work in bed when I’m under the weather when I should just be resting. It will be hard, but I’m going to try and not mix the two and actually take time off! That means no chores either. Thanks for these reminders.
Hey, Willi. Yeah, working while under the weather can definitely lead to sub-par work and work habits. I’m sure that’s something we all deal with! Thanks for leaving a comment.
Love your comment about Deliberate Practice, Barrett. This is so important for writers. I think the key issue with DP is to focus intensely on making your writing better. For me, this means more than not texting while writing. It refers to picking the aspects of your writing that need the most help and consciously working on them. One of the easiest and most fun ways to do this is to copy other great writers. Here are some instructions on how to do that: http://www.publicationcoach.com/why-you-should-be-a-copycat/
Couldn’t agree more, Daphne. Putting the cell phone away can be difficult, but to be truly efficient, everyone needs to master their attention. Great link too, thanks!
I often leave the house for a venue change. I suspect I’d still need it even if I weren’t running a home office. Sofas make me sleepy, and staying too long in the same environment reduces my concentration. Switching venues (between coffee houses, for instance) wakes me up, gives me some exercise and sometimes, even new ideas:)
I should be more careful with deliberate practice. Sometimes I forget to give a break, so even if I end up spending a good 2, non-distracted hours on something, it takes a while to be able to totally rest after that.
A change of scenery is always helpful. Couches sure are comfortable, but not exactly the best place for productivity. A lot of times if I’m struggling to focus, I pick different locations in and out of the house where I’ll write about specific topics, that way, my mind is already trained to focus on that given subject in that given space. Thanks for reading!
I like to sit and write in front of a turned-off TV, because I can use that black screen to imagine my own ‘movie’ and write what I ‘see’. I used to do this as a game when I was little and it always helped my creativity. 🙂
Writing in bed is actually good for me when I have a migraine or I’m down with a cold, because I can take short naps every time my brain asks for them — or I can type with my eyes closed while my back rests comfortably on a bunch of pillows. Without the added stress, my thoughts flow freely.
However, I try not to write on my bed ALL day long, or it really gets in the way of my sleeping rythm and it’s a trigger for anxiety.
Switching working place helps in my case, because I don’t have a fixed ‘quiet’ place to use home. I go wherever I can find silence and respect.
– Luana
Very interesting technique with the turned-off TV. I’d never considered that, but I can definitely see how it is effective. Sometimes it takes a little creativity like that to ensure we reach our full potential.
I go to my local Starbucks. If I sit at home, then I tend to do things to procrastinate writing/researching.
It is so easy to procrastinate, especially in the house, isn’t it? Thanks for commenting!
All of my children have been working online, and I noticed one of them does his writing on bed. I really find it awkward, but then when I see how he makes money more than his brother and sister,who sit comfortably on a table and a chair, I have some doubts if the place you work with really matters. Maybe what matters most is how comfortable you are in what you are doing . I always call his attention though to pull a chair and to sit properly and write. I can only hope he listens to me oneday.
Lourdes, productive spaces are definitely a “Different strokes for different folks” kind of thing, no doubt. A few people have commented on going to Starbucks or some place similar to write. I personally would not be able to write in a setting that’s populated like that where people are talking and coming in and out all day. If your son is able to write productively in that setting because he’s comfortable, more power to him! I would be more concerned for his sleep habits then, honestly. I’ve found if I focus as much as it takes to have great work in bed, my sleep life suffers because I can’t shut my mind off in that space. Thanks for reading and commenting!
Great advice Barrett. One thing that helps me not get tugged in different directions is timing my work. That is to say, I set a time for 20 minutes, no more, no less. It’s giving myself permission to not think about anything else. I get lots of writing done that way. It’s a fee app called: Egg Timer.
Hilarious photo by the way. Too funny.
Thanks, Rita! And that’s a great idea to time yourself like that. Setting goals like that is always beneficial.
So you’re saying I shouldn’t continue to work at my desk late at night with a glass of wine?
Oops.
Seriously, thanks for the working wake up call.
To each his/her own, Lisa! Ha
Heya Barrett, awesome post! You know sometimes the distractions for me are not alone just sitting down and writing, but also all the other stuff freelance writers have to do. From social media networking, to applying for jobs, to setting up interviews, to marketing the website, to meeting deadlines, and on and on it goes. So the only way I learned to deal with the loads of work is to set a schedule and STICK to it (like right now is my scheduled time to read posts and my social media).
I read a book called “The compound effect” and it gave me one of the greatest tips I ever received for me personally, and that is to keep a small notebook and write down what you are doing. this keeps me focused and doesn’t allow myself to start wandering off into doing something else.
Jear, I definitely hear you on all the tasks that come with trying to be a successful blogger/writer. It can be tough to prioritize your time when, really, you feel like the tasks you have to accomplish are ENDLESS. Making a schedule is a great way to do this. I generally, set aside days of my week for particular tasks and spend the vast majority of those days on one aspect. Thanks for the comment, man.
Great tips and so true! Blogging and working from home takes discipline and focus. There are so many things that could distract. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for reading, Lori!
I experience my most creative and productive thinking in two daily activities: showering and driving. I keep a sharpie ( ink doesn’t run) and notebook in the shower for brilliant thoughts. In the car, I have Siri remember my ideas. Unfortunately, at times, she/he scrambles up my brain work, and alas it is lost. Oh well, nobody including Siri is perfect. We all just blog the best that we can.
Hi, Becky!
I’ve never heard of someone keeping a notebook in the shower! I get the bit about the Sharpie…but how do you keep the pages themselves from getting soaked? :O Do you laminate them?? lol.
“We all just blog the best that we can.” <-- So true. Thanks for stopping by!
Great post! My problem is I tend to get great ideas at the most inopportune times like in the shower, on the toilet or while driving. I have even hopped out of the shower to go make a note and then forgot to get back into the shower (only once though). I have set up a whiteboard in my office and use that to make random notes from time to time – it really does help.
Ideas… Can’t live with ’em, can’t live without ’em. 😉
Thanks for stopping by, Tony!
Spot on! I felt like you were talking to me! I LOVE this part:
“How encouraging is that for those of us who are passionate about blogging, but feel untalented compared to the competition? It changes EVERYTHING! Suddenly, we live in a world where anything is possible.”
I just recently made a personal promise to deliberately practice. This post is a great encouragement that I’m on the right track. 🙂
Joy, thanks for the comment! SO glad this post spoke to you and could encourage you along the way. Best of luck!
Good points Barrett,
I’ve recently started noting down any and all ideas as soon as they come to me. I use a notepad app for my phone as it’s something i’m sadly never without.
I do write at home and sometimes find the separation of work and recreation space troublesome. Whilst I have an area specifically for writing, if I encounter a mental block the sofa suddenly looks far more appealing and a quick 20 minute gathering of myself can turn into 2 hours of wasted time! The separation is definitely needed, however, I the determination to not stray from the workspace during work hours is equally important.
Thanks for the useful post!
Ha, I hear you on that 20 minutes of gathering your thoughts turning into 2 hours. Our minds just keep coming up with new menial tasks to do – “Oh I wonder whats happening on Facebook?”, “That commercial had an interesting fact, I wonder if that’s true, let me check.”, etc. – staying away from those recreational spots is a difficult task, but definitely work while. Thanks for reading and commenting, Pete!
Thank you for some valid suggestions that really work. My favorite is to write down everything. Ideas come at completely random times so I have a notebook, even by my bedside, and an app on my phone so I can capture the ideas the minute they come.
Sometimes I just flat have days where my productivity and focus are challenged. When this happens, I go into 25 minute increments. I work 25 minutes, break for 5. On and off. It sure does beat wasting the whole day on Twitter or Facebook, which I could very easily do!
Thanks again. : )
Those bad days come for us all, unfortunately. Luckily, I’ve found with being a freelance blogger/writer, that there are SO many tasks we have to do – marketing, writing, promotion, reading – that when I can’t seem to focus on one task, sometimes I’m better suited for another that day.
Great post, Barrett! I loved that you touched the meditation aspect. It’s the first thing that never misses from my daily routine. It keeps me centered and mindful. I wouldn’t let one day to pass without meditating and setting the intentions for the day to unfold.
Meditating and/or taking some time to just generally slow down and focus before a thought intensive task is always a great idea. Thanks for reading, Anca.
Great post Barrett. Clearing clutter is so important to making sure I can breathe easier and let my mind shift to the work I’m supposed to be doing. For me it’s not only the mental clutter but physical stuff too. If my office isn’t organized I end up getting sidetracked into cleaning up and before I know it the day is half over and nothing has been done!
I take time to clear my desk, dust, clean & reorganize as necessary before I start working. It feels great and I know I’ll be able to focus when Monday morning rolls around.
Organization is definitely key for a lot of us to feel like we can work efficiently. A routine ‘clean up’ time can also be used to steady the mind and prepare yourself mentally for the work you’re about to do. Thanks for reading!
Awesome article! It is always so good for me when I read others have similar bad habits. I guess it is true, misery loves company. Thank you for your continued help.
I am very focused when I write. My problem is getting started. I have a home office and am at my desk for hours on end. While reading this article, it became very apparent I need to get my huge pile of little notes of things to do either done or put them off my desk.
Getting started is definitely the biggest mountain I have to climb. Once I feel I’m underway, its pretty easy sailing. Glad this article could help you!
I can relate to all points, especially about the bed (I’m recovering from that now), but I’ve found that I am more focused when I’m outside on my patio. I have also found that the turned off TV also works, so thanks for all of the advice…I needed it!
No problem, thanks for reading. Its definitely key for each of us to find our own creative spaces, obviously, there isn’t a one size fits all. If the patio works for you, take advantage of it!
I read somewhere the average person spends 10+ hours a week on Facebook. If that’s true, how does anyone get any work done?
And I’ll add that working in bed or slouched on the couch is horrible for you in the long run. I doesn’t just hurt your productivity, it can really mess up your back and neck. Trust me on this. My chiropractor gives me hell if I don’t work in a chair. 🙂
Well, there are 168 hours in a week… Minus 10 hours for Facebooking is 158…minus 56 hours for sleep (if you average the recommended 8 hours per day — hahaha! I wish!)…That leaves 102 for being awesome. 😉
As for slouching… heck yeah. Even if you’re not in bed or on a couch, you can end up with some horrible problems if you’re not sitting in a proper chair. I ended up with costochondritis once from a crappy desk chair! It forced me to sit in a weird, slumped-over way that ended up wreaking havoc on the muscles in my chest and between my ribs. I was literally vomiting from the incredible pain — which decreased my productivity immensely!
Fortunately, that was at one of the few “in house” writing jobs I’ve taken…and I only work from home now. Where I have control over my schedule and how/what I sit on. 😉
Anyway, thanks for commenting, Liesha!
Internet distraction, procrastination and a restless, unfocussed mind are my dream killers right now. Thanks for this timely post. I have begun to despair over my inefficiency– I’ve been roundly frustrated by my inability to get my blog off the ground for the last year. I can’t seem to get any work done and maybe these reasons you mentioned above are the enemies that are stealing my energy and focus.Thanks for a wonderful post. You hit the nail on the head.