Recently I realized that I had put a lot of my blogging priorities on the back burner while I struggled to handle blow by blow situations in real life. For the last few months things have been quite interesting for Joanne and I. And while she and I are just as good as ever, life hasn’t been so kind.

Because of this, I worked on what I thought were my biggest priorities and neglected a lot of my “less important” online duties.

After a phone conversation with another blogger, I realized I had to get it back together. Pick up and go back to the time management skills I know I’ve got. And of course, I had to readjust my priorities to mange both online and off.

Have you ever been in this type of situation? If you have, here’s my guide to how I got it back together.

Eliminate the Unnecessary

The first thing I did was take the time to go through my feed reader. More than 1,500 posts later I realized that a lot of the blogs I’m subscribed to I don’t actually read. And while I enjoy scanning headlines of some of those blogs, it’s the posts I never actually read.

Several months ago, I went on a subscribe spree and started picking up the feed from a lot of blogs I never actually got time to read.

So as I cleaned up and cleared out posts, I also unsubscribed from the blogs that I never read. Luckily, I do keep a folder of bookmarks for all blogs that I’ve ever subscribed to. This means if I have more time clear up, I can go back and check out those blogs like I had wanted to do when I subscribed!

Organizing Tasks

One thing that didn’t escape me during my offline drama is that I had to get done what I felt were the biggest priorities while smaller things could be handled later. Surprisingly this meant that I wasn’t doing as much networking as I used to do. And to tell you the truth, later never seemed to come back around for me to actually accomplish anything that wasn’t the highest priority.

Perhaps you have seen my blog posts haven’t dropped. In fact, they’ve picked up to where I’m now posting daily. This has been a pretty big deal for me. But the fact that I have quite the extensive post arsenal is what keeps those blog posts coming and doesn’t seem to change the quality in which I publish.

So, with organizing tasks, the key is to find out what you can’t stop doing. What must be done every single day to reach a blogging goal or keep your current standard?

After eliminating the unnecessary, write down your must to-dos so you don’t lose sight of goals, traffic, networking, and standards. This is even more true when something comes up for you, like it did me, you’ll be able to maintain while still handling life.

Keep a Schedule

When it’s time to work on my blog, I’m not designing, talking on the phone or answering email. Keeping my schedule is one of the hardest things I manage but it’s also the most rewarding. I’m significantly more productive as well as more satisfied with my daily accomplishments.

When writing out your schedule, prioritize it. Make sure you put what must be done first in your day so that if something comes up and you cannot keep your schedule, you haven’t dropped the most important things to you.

Consider too that you can automate a lot of your daily tasks. For example, I tend to set my daily post to get published while I’m fast asleep and in bed. When I forget to do this, it takes just a few more minutes out of my schedule in the morning. The added benefit is that my daily posts are out early for those in other counties and time zones to find while they’re starting their day.

The Results

Since making my decision to get it back together, I’ve gotten a lot of my time back. Instead of procrastinating, I’m getting more accomplished than I thought I could. My own motivation to continue my accomplishments gets me going and keeps me on track.

Because I worked my own networking back into my schedule, I’ve brought my traffic levels up significantly. More than three times was it was just last week and just about half as good as it used to be before life hit me. Sure, there’s more to do here and I’m working that in little by little but isn’t there always more to do when it comes to networking?

Questions for You

How do you keep yourself on track and ensure you meet your own standards? Do you keep a schedule or go at your tasks as you have time and motiviation?

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