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.
haha, that’s great! Why dont you live to 200 years old? In that case, you will have double or triple the time of common folks.
Twitter is my biggest time waster at times. If I’m serious about getting something done, I usually have to turn off Tweetdeck.
I love it you are so right!!!
If I really want to focus, I use a full-screen program to write in (Dark Room is a good one for the PC; I believe the Mac’s version is Write Room).
Turning off the internet connection also works wonders!
Turn off comment sniper – 3 minutes per hour
Get someone to make my coffee – 3 minutes per hour
Stop making new lists from ‘old’ lists – 5 minutes per hour
Andrew
For me, the biggest distraction is twitter. As I use Digsby to connect to all my social site profile especially twitter, I tend to check on it every minute even though I was typing the post. This make me less concentrate on what I’m typing. Discipline is the important thing in this case.
Thanks for the tips. I’ve just started to blog and have read many things on your site that are very helpful.
I realize after reading this that I’ve already allowed many of these things to waste valuable time in my day – though I’ve not wasted much time yet checking my earnings and Google rank unfortunately. :-)
Turn off comment sniper – 3 minutes per hour
Stop making new lists from ‘old’ lists – 5 minutes per hour
Get someone to make my coffee – 3 minutes per hour
Andrew
Stop commenting on blog posts I like – 9 minutes. :)
I have to agree with you Darren. a couple of years ago I would have looked at this kind of post as a slight of hand but now I find that I get buried just by all of the social media hitting me instead of me pushing to it.
If you want to be posting then you do need to turn everything off except the text file that has your notes for your post or posts and another text file to create your post.
I have tasks in outlook that are ideas for future posts and using this I can close my browser, tweetdeck and Microsoft Messenger and just focus on the post instead.
Stop with the YouTube! 37 min an hour…
Maybe stop blogging? That would save 60 min. an hour!
Just kidding!!
My biggest time wasters are Google Reader and Twitter. I try to shut them off, but all these great posts, like this one, keep drawing me back.
Stop commenting on every blog post you read.- 5 min an hour
really a great post
It’s funny because its true! Luckily I have not become addicted to facebook or twitter(yet). Plus it helps that I work on my personal blog in the evening after my normal 9-5 job. The news and twitter posts slow down a bit then.
Stop getting distracted and you’ll be more productive. Genius.
You should write a book…
I’ve found turning off IMs to save me more than 4 minutes. Maybe like an hour or more. ;)
Totally makes sense. It is so easy to get distracted and do other things. Why? Because it’s interesting!
The internet has become the most powerful source of interaction and entertainment ever. But when we are working we want to focus on what we are doing to achieve more!
I love the list…but those are the fun things! Like if u were at work, getting up and talking, getting coffee, etc. But yes, at work you wouldn’t do it every hour. I’m not a big blogger, but when I have to think, i shut off FF and work on my writing in ms word. Then, once the writing is done, copied into wordpress, I can play around again.
As an Agile developer one of the concepts we work towards is delivering the minimum marketable feature. The idea is that we break work down into chunks that actually add value to our business.
If we can’t find the value – we don’t do it!
When undertaking any activity try to understand what it is you actually want to achieve and what benefit it will bring. When you understand that you understand how to prioritise your tasks.
WOW that was funny! I can save time by not chasing down every link in every article I read online. Time saved: loads!
:)
Oouuuch….. It hits me, bullseye.
If I have something I need to get done I like to turn off the phone. If its important, they will leave a voicemail and I can check them at a few time durning the day. Saves a lot of time.
Hah, yeah I think I spend a lot more than those minutes checking all of those things. I wonder if I could get more out of my hour than just an hour…
Give up day-dreaming…15 minutes an hour – haha!
Eating and drinking: 5 minutes an hour
Going to the bathroom: 2 minutes an hour
If I can do the first part, the second part should be easy.
I’m actually surprised that a successful, profitable blogger feels the need to check all those stats – so frequently. Adsense takes care of itself. Ditto for Google ranks.
I liked the 13th one and mine would be Get Windows 7 as Vista Takes 2 minutes more each time I boot.
Turn off Twitter? That’s just crazy talk..lol
It’s so sad hwo attached I have become to twitter, I try to stay away thru the weekend, yet I find myself popping in lol
But your right, if you ad up all the 2-3 min distractions it would add up to getting alot of work done.
Ok I’m done, off to twitter..lol
Those timesinks sure are spot on. I just came to this post after spending time staring at my Analytics stats. before that I went to see my affiliate stats, lol. And came to this post from the RSS reader which I check far too often.
There are times to check those stats (maybe once a month, once a week at most) and spend time on Twitter, but unless there’s some value in what you’re doing (e.g. check those traffic stats to evaluate how the last marketing campaign went), it’s pure procrastination. But imho, blog commenting is never a waste :)
Haha.. I guess your list of time wasters are spot on! The simple rule is .. just to concentrate on blogging and you’ll end up being more productive! =D
So you’re saying I shouln’t have taken the time to read this post and then comment. :) I think I just used up about five minutes.
I guess when you’re a Professional Blogger (i.e. making six figures, people knocking on your door for an autograph for their newly purchased book that you published, etc.), you can afford to turn the world off.
For those of us who are merely mortal (and are stuck making only stick figures), we must continue to endure our fate and reduce our lifespan by 37 minutes an hour by continuing these practices . . .
Turning off the internet altogether at times :)
I would add:
14. Stop watching TV so that you can do all of the above and a whole lot more.
This reminds me of a productivity blog I came across on StumbleUpon.
The whole website was nothing but a message saying:
“You should be working.”
That is hilarious! But, does anyone seriously only spend 6 minutes an hour onTwitter?? LOL!
I would add too: Stop sleeping ;)
I think the best way to operate, is to effectively establish some sort of room exclusively used towards blogging instead of the traditional study, computer or bed room. Besides these online distractions, there seems to be way too many physical distractions that easily interupt ones productivity.
I typically give myself a consistent and regular breaks in an attempt to stay focused. Rather than jump onto facebook or twitter, I try to allocate myself a time period in which I can fulfill these desires (since they’re so hard to contain!).
I also think playing with blog design is something that unnessasarly takes up too much time of a vast array of people. I can’t begin to explain how much time I continue to spend making extremely subtle and often unwarrranted changes to my blog.
I wish I could also cut out things like laundry, cleaning the litter box and unloading the dish washer. Just saying…
stop reading other’s blogs – 10 minutes an hour :)
Darren,
The vast majority of these steps make sense. We certainly tend to do them too frequently.
But Twitter is not only a great source of information for my posts but a primary means of promoting my work and expanding my network.
RSS feeds are a primarily source of information, although I should prune my list further.
Otherwise, checking stats, monitoring revenue, and tweaking page design are all things that you frequently tell bloggers we must do in order to maximize revenue! Again, most of us naturally overdo it because it’s easy and a diversion from work. But they’re useful things in moderation.
Busted! You’ve described all the time-wasters that take up my schedule.
1. Stop reading every blog that has a new trick. They are really old tricks with new introductions. (5 minutes an hour)
2. Get your twitter following down to a manageable list. (3 hours and hour).
Give up sleeping – gain 7 hours per day!
Don’t even go into your office until you are ready to use the computer. Also, do not make non-business calls during working hours. Chatting takes major time away from productivity.
Checking Google Anylatics is my number one time waste.
Oh,there is another one:Checking my clickbank report.
Turn of every thing you are doing, and just sit at your computer and type your words.
We would add, stop reading problogger tips. 3 minutes an hour.
We’re just kidding. These are some good tips. It is hard to stay focused when you’re bouncing all over the net.
Stop checking your RSS feeds if some of your favorite blog has published something new – 10 minutes in an hour :-)