This week, on a busier than normal day, I Tweeted that I wish there were more hours in a day (or that there was a pause button so that time could stand still for a bit so I could catch up). The tweet was of course an attempt at humor but the deluge of replies that I received from that Tweet revealed that I’m not the only blogger out there that wishes they had more time.
As I giggled at the responses it struck me that if I’d not posted that message on Twitter about how I wish I’d had more time that I’d probably have had an extra 6 minutes that hour to get the things I needed to get done finished.
While I’m glad I did get on Twitter for those 6 minutes (it gave me a laugh, made me relax and lightened my day a little) I began to think about all the other small little distractions and time suckers we as bloggers face and on a whim (and for a bit of fun) came up with this list of how to be a more productive blogger.
How to be a more productive blogger:
- Turn off Twitter – 6 minutes an hour
- Turn off Facebook – 3 minutes an hour
- Stop checking your Traffic Stats – 2 minutes an hour
- Stop checking your AdSense Earnings – 2 minutes an hour
- Stop Tweaking your blog design – 3 minutes an hour
- Stop checking your Google Page Rank – 1 minute an hour
- Turn off Email – 5 minutes an hour
- Log out of your RSS Feed Reader – 2 minutes an hour
- Stop checking to see if someone Dugg your latest post – 1 minute an hour
- Stop checking affiliate earnings/e-book sales earnings – 2 minutes an hour
- Turn off any other Social Media Sites (LinkedIn/StumbleUpon/Plurk/Reddit etc) – 3 minutes an hour
- Turn of Skype, Gtalk and all other IM services – 4 minutes
- Stop Reading Blog Tips and Start Blogging – 3 minutes an hour
By my calculations this gives you an extra 37 minutes an hour to do what you need to do. Over an 8 hour work day I’ve just found you a smidgen under 5 hours!
What would you add?
Update: No I’m not really serious. While we could be more productive as bloggers by minimizing a lot of this stuff there can also be a lot of good things come from these activities. I guess it’s about knowing your goals, setting good boundaries and engaging in these kinds of activities to the extent that they help us achieve our goals.
I think if I cut out the so-called time wasters I’d go around the bend. The activities that kind of make my day slow down a little bit (Twitter, e-mail, Farmville…there, I admitted it, Solitaire) allow me to catch my breath.
If I didn’t catch my breath, I’d implode.
All good points! I agree with Thomas Fjordside who said that the best way to stop wasting time is to go off-line. Composing blog entries doesn’t usually require being on-line. Must go, need to check my Facebook page.
Maybe we all should stop reading blogging tips and just start blogging…
As a side note, maybe we all should stop also blog commenting and use that time to blog :)
Email is a novelty. Once I assert what matters to me, the rest goes to the trash bin. No time to unsubscribe either; I just block what I don’t want using SpamArrest.
Reading substantive resources like CopyBlogger and ProBlogger make sense. The rest of my time is dedicated to doing (except for this brief entry).
Ray
Okay, so I’m snickering. But really, how many minutes does it take to turn all of that off and then back on again later?
Smiles
Anna
I’m only a part time blogger, but my advice is…
Write your blog post first thing, as soon as you turn the computer on.
Only after completing the post should you allow yourself the time to do all the other stuff.
Steve
I actually found this post hilarious, because I do all of that stuff…not realizing how much time it wastes…yet I feel like a mouse on a wheel half the time!
As always…thank you for this post! 37 minutes extra….here I come!
Thank you for this information, well all are I think something funny.
I so catch myself doing these things…And yes, they are good for the business, but they have their time and place. I am glad you put it in writing. I’m going to print it out and put it on my board…Mine is: stop reading other ppls blog comments prior to commenting yourself.
I would not add what not to do, but what to do.
Start using a software like Writeroom (Mac only). It turns your screen all black, all you see is your text. You won’t get distracted, and hopefully you’ll be only thinking about your words.
It’s human nature to procrastinate. Why do it now when you can put it off until tomorrow!
Tack that 37 minutes each hour of wasted time to the end of the day, rather than at the start or during. Plow through a task list, get it all done, and you have the rest of the day at your leisure.
Now you can have your cake and eat it too.
I’ve been guilty of all on your list in the past. Now I have a daily schedule which I keep to, and yes I am more productive and get a lot done most days.
Thanks for amusing article. Have RT’d tweet.
What is left of blogging if we leave all these things ;-)
Good analysis – and some very good comments. Time on research and feedback is never wasted
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Very interesting blog, to be honest a good read.Hope to see it further when i have more time.
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