I need some advice from my fellow bloggers on how to keep up with my blogs, reviews, forums, Twitter, Facebook and on and on. If I miss even one day, I find myself falling so far behind that I end up getting anxious. Most of the time if I miss blogging, it is due to not feeling well. Getting stressed out is counterproductive as the stress makes me feel worse.
I need some type of organizing skill to be able to do the following every day:
- Write on at least two of my blogs
- Visit at least one forum
- Visit Twitter to really connect with people, not just tweet about my posts
- Visit Facebook to keep up with my Fan Page and to comment on friend’s posts
- Comment on an undetermined number of blogs (This will have to be decided depending on how much time I have)
- Reply to comments on all of my blogs
I also need to be sure that my reviews are done in a timely manner. I am 99% on target with this. I’ve only had one problem and that was due to a bad flare up that had me in bed for a week.
I’ve tried to use a calendar system, but keeping track of forums is getting me confused. I’ve also done pre-scheduled posts, but I can’t do that now until I get caught up with all I need to do currently.
What do you do to keep on schedule?
photo link: BrittenyBush
When I got too stressed out and sick I declared and official “time out” for ATMac (the only blog I do (usually) on schedule) and for myself.
As for keeping up with other blog-related stuff, my scheme is much simpler than yours. I figure everything else divides more or less neatly into two categories – it’s either behind the scenes blog stuff which I’ll call “admin”, or it’s stuff like Twitter, blog reading, commenting on blogs, Facebook reading/commenting, forum participation, etc which all comes under relationship building/maintaining so I’ll call that one “relationships”. I have a list for each one, and I listed each thing I want to do on each list, so a made-up example for a “relationships” could be:
Twitter
BYDLS Forum
Facebook fan page for Something
Facebook business page for Something Else
The Other Thing mailing list
Write or edit a guest post
Blog on Main Blog
Blog On Other Blog
That’s just an example – and there’d be another quite separate list for the “admin” stuff which might include checking Google Analytics, evaluating a possible new Affiliate program, making sure all my WordPress Plugins are upgraded, etc. Now the way I schedule each item on the list is to set a time limit on it (“10 minutes”, “30 minutes”, etc.) and then write the full list on a piece of paper. Actual real paper – you could do it in a text file but seeing crossed off items is surprisingly motivating!
So you have your list, now each time you do a task you cross it off and write the same task AGAIN at the bottom of the list. Because these are all repeating tasks, remember. So if I do each task in order then after I’ve finished them all I’ll end up with the same tasks on my list again … only, I want to do some of these tasks more often than others … so my “hack” for this is to add them to the list more than once. Say I want to check 4 different forums but only one each day, and my other tasks are A, B, and c (to save me some typing!). My list now could become:
A
B
C
Check forum 1
A
B
C
Check forum 2
A
B
C
Check forum 3
A
B
C
Check forum 4
You get the idea! You can do something similar if, say, you want to check your Facebook twice as often as Twitter or something else.
The system could also deal with one-off tasks such as “Upgrade blog to WP2.8″ or “Write guest post for Connie” simply by adding them to the list and not writing them again once you’ve crossed them out.
One reason I think this system is ultra cool for us brainfogged and sick people is that it’s not time sensitive. You just do as much of the list as you are willing and able to do on any one day and then you stop. The next day you start again where you left off. So if you can only do one task on a certain day it isn’t “a failure” – it’s just that you only got one task done. I found that scheduling things that way meant that the pressure and anxiety part of it was very much taken away. And you and I know we’re motivated – if we can do more than we will do more… we don’t need a scheduler to remind us we didn’t do enough!
r
PS
This organising/scheduling system is just a really simple version of a system called AutoFocus that a guy named Mark Forster (I think?) designed. I actually am using it at the moment for ALL the stuff I have to do, not just blog stuff, and it’s working really really well.
.-= Ricky Buchanan´s last blog ..iPhone Voice Commands =-.
To be honest, I don’t really keep up well at all. I don’t twit at all as there’s just no way I could do that, too, but I try to visit Facebook every so often just to keep up with what’s going on over there.
Blogging is what really gets me behind as trying to keep up with all of the blogs I read is tough – especially when I work two 16-hour days where I can’t get to my Reader at all due to IT work regulations.
Lately I’ve found myself slipping in getting posts up every day, too, and that’s really bad as I’ve always been consistent with a new post. If you figure out how to get organized, can you let me know, too??
.-= Linda´s last blog ..Looking at the Sky on Friday – The Bleh Version =-.
I think something has to go! LOL
.-= Karen´s last blog ..Four Foods on Friday #81 =-.
I have most of my sites that I visit bookmarked. I have the things I need to do daily at the top of my list and the other things toward the bottom.
I even have them separated into folders, one says blogging, one says social sites and one says forums. The best part is in firefox I can open a of the sites by just right clicking and then I don’t forget any of them. It’s very helpful.
.-= Holly Brown´s last blog ..Sustainable Saturday: An Architectural Farm =-.
LOL… I am trying to catch up myself… I work about 50 to 60 hours outside the home. We are in beginnings of harvest here at the homestead. We added to our homestead this year and my grand kids were here for 2 weeks…. the blogs and forums were the ones sacrificed…. this is my first day off in 2 weeks… so…. good luck!
.-= Christina thecoffeelady´s last blog ..Butterfly =-.
I just started writing posts ahead like within the last few days because I find that when I’m in the mood to write, I’m really in the mood to write so might was well write up as many posts as possible. I’ve tried to keep organized with spreadsheets and even made myself a blog notebook which was basically a sheet with post ideas for each day of the week followed by a more definite idea of what to post in spreadsheet form. It seemed to work well for me when I was working since it was something I could thumb through at work and formulate a plan for when I had time to write that day.
This summer I’ve been trying to find a nice groove for everything but haven’t found it yet. Good luck!
.-= Lynn´s last blog ..Crispy Rice Treats =-.
Well, i just started a kinda strict Time Management. I write to-do lists for the following day. This way, i really get things done and don’t forget what to do next or i can just finish what i’m doing if ever i get distracted.
.-= Skye´s last blog ..Pretty Quiet Sunday =-.
As you know just starting I became overwhelmed quickly, LOL I am a perfectionist and am my worst critic. I think so are you sweetie. I had to revamp my time spent on line and was going to ask you for advice on how you keep up. Now I don’t feel like such a ninny HEE.
I did however, After joining more groups than I can keep up with have to get a more realistic system for me. I check my e-mail first thing and answer any e-mail. Then I check my RSS feeds where I have all of the blogs that I like to read. I do get behind but try to comment on the two most recent and forgive myself the older ones.
After that, I take a break and do other things. Then I come back to it with facebook and twitter. I too have a book of post’s and Ideas for posts and put them in drafts when able to get a head start on posting. I have a long to do list like everyone but have three columns. important,Semi-important and at leisure. I put every thing in order of importance so that I can get the things done that I have to do and the things that I should do too .
I leave twitter and facebook up on the computer during the day and pop in and out between doing other things so I keep up with them w/o spending all day on them.
If you have any other suggestions I would like to hear them. What a good idea for discussion group!