What To Do When You're Behind On Your Blog
08:00
You're laying in bed on a Sunday morning, having a little scroll through Instagram admiring everyone's latest uploads whilst you sit in your warm bed with a cuppa, when suddenly you see someone has uploaded yet another new blog post that week. The realisation suddenly hits when you think back to the last time you uploaded or even wrote out and took photos for a post. With your daily routine of going to work or spending hours in education, socialising with loved ones and catching up around the house when you do get a spare moment, and overcoming any problems that arise in the week that can knock you for six, it can be easy to let your blog slip out of your hands and completely get lost in the chaos.
I'm sure we have all experienced at this at some point. I know I certainly have and I've seen many tweets over the past few months of people in a similiar boat. It usually comes with the change of the season that I somehow let things slip as I'm feeling uninspired. But also my mental health can get in the way and throw me off course. That's why I decided to share this post with you today to help anyone who falls into the same struggle and also for me to look back to when obstacles get in the way and I fall behind...
Don't panic/freak out!
It can be easy to get yourself stressed out and overwhelmed by everything you need to do. But it's good to remember that you do not need to take on this stress or panic. Remember that blogging is a hobby for most at the end of the day and your readers will understand. Relax. Take a step back. Remember why you started and why you love blogging. Remind yourself that every blogger has been in your shoes before and people will totally get it. Do not feel bad for allowing yourself to fall behind. These things happen and it's completely normal. Try not to beat yourself up for it and just focus on overcoming this slight bump in your blogging journey.
Take a step back and look at what actually needs doing
When you have that lil panic about everything you have to do to try and catch up, you can get yourself into a complete mess with trying to account for every single thing. Whilst ensuring that you do get everything done when you are on your game is a good idea, in this instance do not take everything on at once. You're only going to overwhelm yourself more and probably drive yourself to not want to do anything at all again.
Instead priorities things that actually need doing. Be practical with the timeframe you have. Don't take on pointless tasks that aren't going to help you get back on it, e.g creating a new header, updating your about me page, scheduling affiliate tweets. These can be done at a later date when you have caught up. If you need to take photos for pre-written posts, then do that before you do anything else. If you have pre-written posts, then finish them off and get them published. Once you've got some posts ready to go, then you can work on the promotion side of things and get back onto keeping up to date with your comments.
Instead priorities things that actually need doing. Be practical with the timeframe you have. Don't take on pointless tasks that aren't going to help you get back on it, e.g creating a new header, updating your about me page, scheduling affiliate tweets. These can be done at a later date when you have caught up. If you need to take photos for pre-written posts, then do that before you do anything else. If you have pre-written posts, then finish them off and get them published. Once you've got some posts ready to go, then you can work on the promotion side of things and get back onto keeping up to date with your comments.
Write a to do list
If you work better by following a list, then this next one is perfect for you. Remember to be practical with what tasks need to be completed, but writing down everything step by step that needs to be done can be a great way to keep yourself organised. This will also be a great to encourage yourself to get stuff done and who doesn't love ticking things off one by one?! It's a good way of keeping yourself focused on getting stuff done. Also think about those priorities you're going to set and what order you will do each task in. This can be incorporated into the order of your to do list.
I know for me whenever I fall behind I always take myself off on a break to try get back on it. During this time I usually have a massive brainstorming session and get back to creating lots of new posts. I've actually fallen so behind once before that I took a whole month to work on everything that I wanted to work on. It's a great way to refresh yourself and actually bring the fun of blogging back. I have a whole post here on why blogging breaks are good for you. Let your readers know on social media or type up a quick post explaining what's been going on, so then they are aware of your absence and know what to expect from you until you plan on coming back, include a rough date or return if you can.Go on an official break if you need to
Find your feet in a routine again
Routines are something you either love or hate. If you're someone who loves working to a strategic set routine that you follow out each day, then getting back into a routine will be something you know you will strive from. You can either try to get back into your old one or switch things up with a new one that might work a lot better for you than your previous blog routine. Although if you do not fancy taking on a routine and prefer having mixed days for various reasons, then it could be a good idea to still use a routine whilst you are getting back into it and want to get back on top of things, because it will give you a good guide to follow.
What do you do if you're behind on your blog?
Lauren x
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