I have written 46,543 words since launching Time Value Millionaire back in November 2020.
And in that time period, I have experienced blogger burnout.
For me, this has manifested itself in thoughts such as:
- Writing a blog post takes too much time, is it even worth it ?
- Writing feels more like a job than having fun and being creative
- I can not find any motivation to write
However, quitting was not an option.
Instead, I implemented 5 habits that have successfully helped me further avoid blogger burnout.
Habit #1 – Having a Plan Before Writing a Single Word
Before writing a single world, I always sit down and develop a realistic objective.
In order to do this, I ask myself questions such as:
- How much time do I have write?
- Do I have a rough idea/outline already written out or do I need to some brainstorming?
- How am I feeling right now?
The answers to these questions help me understand what I am capable of completing that day and tailoring my expectations accordingly.
This is extremely important because if I am dead tired and only have 2 hours to write, there’s only so much I can do with that. Maybe my goal under those circumstances would be writing 300 words.
However, let’s suppose I got an amazing nights sleep, have a fresh cup of coffee next to me, and also have the entire morning to myself. At that point, my goal might be to write 800 words.
The bottom line is that I like to have a target to measure myself against.
Without a baseline plan, I could write an entire post in one day and my mind would still say “well, I could’ve done more,” discounting everything I did that day. That’s a deflating feeling.
Having an upfront plan and measuring myself against that plan has helped me celebrate my wins and avoid blogger burnout. This has been paramount in keeping me motivated.
Habit #2 – Sticking to a Schedule that Works for Me
When I first started blogging, one of my goals was to consistently publish great content.
In order to do this, I knew that I had to stick to a consistent writing schedule.
I did not want to just haphazardly write only when I had extra time in the day; finding and dedicating time to write was a priority for me.
As a result, I took a look at my life obligations. From there, I was able to develop a schedule that I knew I could stay consistent with that would not overlap on my other commitments.
Here is what my schedule looks like:
- Monday + Tuesday = No Writing
- Wednesday + Thursday + Regular Fridays = Writing from 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM
- No Work Fridays = Writing from 9:30 AM – 3:00 PM
- Saturday + Sunday = Writing from 9:30 AM – 12:30 PM
While things can/will occasionally pop up, I am fairly consistent with maintaining this schedule.
This consistency has resulted in several things:
- I write a lot more (my brain muscles are getting a constant workout)
- I have a sense of satisfaction that I’ve made progress towards my goals
The truth is that everybody has a different schedule that works for them.
As a result, it doesn’t matter what your schedule is as long as you are consistent with it.
Habit #3 – Optimizing Content for SEO
I believe that the number one cause of blogger burnout is not seeing a return on our investment.
More specifically, investing the time to write great articles and not seeing any significant changes in traffic. However, there is a way to avoid blogger burnout from this.
And that is to invest the necessary time to optimize our content for SEO.
More specifically, focusing our time on:
- In-Depth Keyword Research
- On/Off Page SEO
If you want to learn more about SEO, check out my 7 lessons I learned in my first year of blogging where I go over some of my favorite free resources.
This has become such an important habit that I spend almost as much time optimizing my content for SEO as I do writing.
Sure, I may not be publishing as much as I’d like. However, I know that I am setting up my content for success in order to potentially earn free traffic for years to come.
And because my goal is to be a time millionaire, I want to make sure I’m not wasting any time writing content that will not contribute to the growth of the website.
Habit #4 – Minimizing Time Doing Things that Don’t Matter
Every week, I have a limited amount of time that I can dedicate to growing my website.
I can either use that time to focus on building long-term sustainable growth via writing SEO optimized content or through short-term spikes via social media.
In the beginning, I used to focus a lot of my time on doing whatever I could to feed those short-term growth spikes. It was fun, saw instant results, and saw it as validation of my content and a way to avoid blogger burnout.
However, in reality this took away a huge chunk of my already limited time that I could spend working on my website. I was not setting myself up for future success.
As a result, I developed the habit of only doing things that would contribute to the long-term sustainable growth of the website. In other words, I focus on writing as much quality content as possible.
Yes, writing is the hardest part of running a blog. However, it will provide the greatest return on investment for your time vs obsessing over your analytics.
Speaking of google analytics…
Habit #5 – Review Google Analytics Once a Month
When I first started Time Value Millionaire, I used to constantly check my Google Analytics.
That’s because it’s extremely exciting to see spikes in page views, content being shared, etc.
However, I soon realized all this did was provide quick hits of dopamine, similar to how we feel when getting likes on Instagram/Facebook/Twitter. It was much easier to feel good by checking my analytics vs putting in the hard work to publish a great article.
This completely eliminated any motivation to write. The little motivation that I did have was tied to chasing metrics beyond my control like page views.
As a result, I knew something needed to change. I subsequently made the decision to limit reviewing my Google Analytics to once a month.
Furthermore, I now only judge my success on the one metric that I can control: how much quality content can I publish in a given month. While this change in mindset was difficult to do, it substantially contributed to helping me avoid blogger burnout.
At the end of the day, we need to trust the process on what works to grow a website. Google Analytics provides a lot of great data, however it’s just a means to an end that can end up being a major distraction.
Final Thoughts
Whether you are new to blogging or have been doing it for awhile, chances are that you may have felt blogger burn out at some point.
However, it doesn’t have to be that way.
Instead, we need to set ourselves up for success in order to avoid blogger burnout. For me, implementing the above habits have made a drastic impact on how I view working on my website.
Have you ever experienced blogger burnout? What strategies have you implemented to get through it?
Thank you for reading! 🙂
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