Dedicate 1 Hour A Day To The Blog

You might have noticed that I just don’t publish as much anymore as I use to.  Getting one blog post out a month has been a challenge.  When I started the blog, I had no clue what I was getting into.  I had an idea but sometimes you just don’t know until you do something.  I am better for having this blog though but I feel as though I am close to losing it if I don’t make a change. To save it I will dedicate 1 hour a day to the blog in the morning.  This is my personal challenge this month.

Too Many Focuses

A blog is a marathon and it is easy to get distracted along the way.  At this point I simply have too many things that I am focusing on right now.  I have a family, a day job, the blog, an Etsy shop, we sell on eBay and have various savings goals.  That is a lot to focus on and I feel stretched thin although I am proud of what we have been doing.  I love that instead of saying “it would be nice to have an Etsy shop or a blog” I can truly say that I do have them rather than talk about doing them.

The problem is that I don’t want to give anything up and honestly, there are other side hustles that I want to try although I have no immediate plans to add anything in right now.  The problem is that I am at my best when I focus on one thing.  When we paid off our debt we were hardcore focused on that the entire time.  Everything we did was in response to that goal and it gave us a clarity that has been hard to match since then to be honest.

Priorities

I have come to this self-realization that when I intentionally make something a priority that it happens.  I know it is simple and obvious but most of us never fully realize it.  So, if we want to get something done we must prioritize it.  Gone are the days where we wake up and say, “what do I do today?”  While that is fun everyday occasionally, that just doesn’t work when trying to balance a family a day job and multiple hobbies/hustles.

So how do we do it?  We schedule the priorities and let time take care of itself.  That way we don’t have to worry about when something is going to get done.  We know we have a time reserved for it. It isn’t a perfect system but once we schedule something and make it a priority it takes care of itself.  The trick is to identify the items that slip in between the cracks.  The blog has slipped both intentionally and unintentionally into the cracks.

Dedicate 1 Hour A Day to the Blog

I used to focus on the blog on weeknights and the weekends.  That has become increasingly difficult and once I started my Etsy shop I made that the priority during that time.  I am glad I did though.  In March I had 2 sales within my first week.  After establishing a goal of selling 25 items in April, which seemed lofty at the time, I sold 54 items in April.  I really think I have something going and it could get big if I keep plugging away at it.

Instead of trying to do both in the evening or weekends I need to realize my energy and attention is too low at that point.  I must find another time when I am more effective.  That would be the morning before work.  My goal is to make blogging a priority in the morning.  I will wake up at 5:00 and write for 1 hour at least.  I don’t currently wake up at that time so I must make it a conscious priority which I hope becomes a habit.

So far though, this post was written in the morning so I am happy to say it is working so far.

By having this time scheduled I won’t have to worry about the blog while focusing on other items throughout the day.  I will know it is being taken care of daily and that time and effort will add up.

The struggle I have is trying to focus on one thing yet still pursue multiple projects.  I hope that by dedicating blocks of time to focus on one thing at a time that it helps me manage these various hustles/hobbies/goals.  That way I’m not working on Etsy during my blog time and vice versa.

What Do You Struggle to Complete?

So obviously this is a more personal post that I am writing but it can apply to you.  I bet there is something that you want to do that you are struggling to make a priority.  It could be paying off debt or starting a side hustle.  Stuff like that is life changing for the better so I encourage you to work towards it and not shy away.

Find a time of day that you can dedicate towards that goal and make it a priority to stick with it.  Over time this practice will become a habit and you won’t think twice about it.  There is always a lot of effort with a momentum shift in how you use your time but once you have your path established it gets easier.  Most people can’t get over that shift in momentum and give up too soon.

That is where making it a habit is critical.  Willpower only gets you so far so let’s not solely rely on that.  Let’s rely on habit since that is natural.  Focus on establishing habits that give you the results you are looking for.

In this case, I am establishing a habit of waking up at 5:00 AM.  That will give me the framework for which I have dedicated time to write.  It isn’t me finding willpower to get an extra hour of focus in at 9:00 PM.  That leads to more exhaustion and that just sets me back in all aspects of my day.

Results

Part of writing this is to hold myself accountable.  You will see the results yourself when looking at how often I post.  The idea is to post once a week and to also use that hour to do blog maintenance, marketing, guest posts, etc.  I’m not sure if an hour is enough but it is more than I have been doing so it is a good starting point.

I challenge you to set a goal and to measure those results and/or review with an accountability partner of some type.  Focus on your habits surrounding that goal rather than willing them to happen.  Establish some priorities and make it happen.

Aren’t you tired of just wishing you could do something?  Then just do it.  That is much more rewarding.