Confession: Other bloggers intimidate me.
Within the personal finance blogosphere, as well as the other niches, there exists a tremendous amount of talented, smart, witty, and ambitious bloggers. These bloggers consistently write quality content, and engage with their readers on a daily basis. With quality interactions, too, not just half-assed ones! They can be found supporting other bloggers, big and small, have legions of dedicated fans, see their posts mentioned on major sites, and yet they remain painfully humble. And, on top of that, they are always creating something new–podcasts, YouTube videos, courses, eBooks. They are some of the most productive people I have ever encountered.
And that intimidates the shit out of me. Because no matter how hard I try, I cannot keep up. Even at my best, I’m about half as productive as so many other bloggers despite the fact that I have a host of projects I’d like to complete. I have the ambition, I have the drive. I’m just terrible at maximizing my time to the best of my ability. When I sit down to work, I’m extremely productive. I get shit done. But I also have a problem of getting sidetracked very easily. Mainly because when I think about all that I want to do, I get overwhelmed. And when I’m overwhelmed, I become paralyzed. And when I’m paralyzed, I stop being productive and decide that I’m not going to get anything done anyway and I’ll never be as good as the bloggers I admire so why bother even trying.
So that’s healthy.
However, I’ve been trying to overcome the paralyzed sensation I get when overwhelmed. When I get like that, it’s easy to cycle back into my depression which would be terrible because we know that I won this round. Since I don’t want that to happen again, I’ve had to employ some strategies that, when I get overwhelmed, I can use to refocus and start working again.
- Ignore the “be everywhere” philosophy. I know that many disagree, but for me, being everywhere isn’t for me. I can’t do it, and part of what was overwhelming me was seeing how many bloggers are, in fact, everywhere. I admire and respect them for that but trying to do that was too difficult. I would get frustrated that I couldn’t be everywhere for whatever reason and that frustration would lead me to throw my hands up and utter “fuck this. I can’t do it”. So, I stopped trying to do it all. I accepted the fact that I can only be in one or two places and I’m fine with that.
- Determine priorities. Once I ignored the “be everywhere” philosophy, I needed to decide what is important to me and what isn’t. I decided I had no interest in creating my own podcast (although being a guest is fun) nor do I have an interest in creating YouTube videos. But I like writing. That’s what I’m good at and it’s what I want to do. So I’ve made writing my primary focus and my priority.
- Establish long term goals. I made a list of all the projects I would like start and/or finish. Then I narrowed the list down to the 4 projects that I thought were the most doable and realistic. I wrote them down in my notebook, and now, when I find myself getting off track or becoming consumed with something that’s not related to those 4 goals, I revisit the list and focus myself.
- Establish short term goals. I broke this down into two categories: blogging goals and project related goals. My blogging goals include tasks like guest posting more, reaching a certain number of Facebook likes, creating a master list of topics, creating a queue of posts, and some behind the scenes work that I need to finish. My project related goals are more tasks and/or objectives I need to complete in order to achieve the long term goal. For instance, I need to design a website for Bloggers Helping Bloggers, I need to copy and paste posts for an eBook and I’m participating in NaNoWriMo.
- Have a to-do list. But make it manageable. I know what my time constraints are; with a kindergartner at home, my life gets really hectic at times. To manage myself, I’ve always had a to-do list. But I realized that I was being unreasonable in the expectations I laid out of myself. I would put more on the list than was practical to get done in a day and then I would get pissed that I didn’t get as much done as I wanted. And sometimes I’d look at the list in the beginning of the day, see there was too much and take a nap instead. I am masterful at avoidance. But that starts the cycle all over again, which isn’t good. As a remedy I now make a weekly to-do list, taking into account my priorities, goals, and time constraints for the week.
- Forgive myself. I spent beaucoup time being angry at myself for not being able to keep up with other bloggers. But I know myself and my limitations and I know that no matter how hard I try, I just can’t do it. And I had to tell myself that it’s okay. I had to remind myself that I’m doing the best I can and that’s all I can do. I gave myself permission to stop being so hard on me.
Great article Jana. This is something that I struggle with. I always feel like I have 25 hours of work to do and only 24 hours in the day to do it.
Sean @ One Smart Dollar recently posted…Personal Finance Week in Review for October 21
Thanks, Sean! Feeling like I’ve run out of time is awful. That happens to me a lot; I really need to work on my time management.
For me, it’s all about the list. I make a list but when things are overwhelming, I will break things down even further. Instead of just ‘Clean the kitchen’, I’ll break it into ‘Clean junk drawer’, ‘clean pantry floor’, ‘clean counters’, etc. and it will make things less overwhelming and the accomplishments along the way keep me motivated to keep going until the kitchen is spotless!
Money Beagle recently posted…You Can’t Succeed If You Don’t Put Yourself In A Position To
Specific tasks are crucial. I concur that it does help to break things down the way you describe instead of looking at the overall picture. Small, easy to manage tasks prevent us from getting paralyzed, which clearly is something I struggle with 🙂 I’ve started doing that. Instead of looking at my book as thinking I need to write the whole thing, I say “I’m going to write one chapter” or “I’m going to write 500 words”. Makes it much less complicated and overwhelming.
I like the one inch picture frame too, and the micro lists. Instead of having a huge daunting project, I try to break it into many small tasks, that I will feel good crossing off my list. It then snowballs into getting the whole thing done. Unlike you I go pretty soft and congratulate myself on achieving a 30 min task in two hours… after all, I did it, right?
Pauline recently posted…Moving abroad: The Check-list
I probably need to work more on congratulating myself. I think that’s a great way to keep motivated and focused!
Great post Jana! I can relate to this so well. I’m guilty of putting too much on my to-do list and not prioritizing. Overwhelmed? Me too.
Mackenzie recently posted…Vacation Like a Grown-Up
Jana,
To-do lists are super handy. I usually create them on a daily basis so that I don’t get caught up in what I must do later in the week.
Much like you, I’ve figured out what I’m capable of doing and working to those strengths. Yes, I still push myself. But I can’t do that all the time without being exhausted and eliminating my social life.
That’s another thing. I maintain a healthy social life. I’m an independent person who just happens to have great friends. Gotta keep them around!
-Christian L. @ Smart Military Money
Real life friends and experiences are so important, Christian. I find that when I’m more active with my friends and family, my writing is better and I’m able to better use my time.
Nice job, Jana, you’re tackling an issue a lot of us can relate to! Just remember that just because someone seems like they’re handling stress well doesn’t mean they’re not having a panic attack on the inside – so it definitely does no good to compare. (Advice I have to remind myself frequently.) When I’m feeling overwhelmed by all that I have to and want to do, which is often, I write down a schedule for the week and am sure to break everything down into small, easy to complete tasks. If I focus too much on the big picture I too will get paralyzed and accomplish nothing. But seeing a schedule written down shows me that what I need to do can be done (usually faster than I suspected) and the completion of small tasks building up to the larger goal gives me the motivation to keep going.
Shannon-ReadyForZero recently posted…Weekly Shout Outs: Presidential Debate Edition
I agree with you, Shannon. There have been times where I appear calm but on the inside, I’m having a meltdown. I just don’t want anyone to see it 🙂
I like the idea of having a schedule. I do a vague one that’s easily manipulated to allow for unexpected events but I think that maybe I need to set one that’s a bit more concrete.
I hear ya on how much work there is to do if we let it get to us!
I try and just focus on my top three things I must accomplish every day. Anything else is just gravy!
Hang in there!
Sam
Financial Samurai recently posted…Are You Scared, Confused, Or Lost About Investing?
That’s a good plan, too, Sam. Pick the top three things to accomplish every day. It’s still important to pick your priorities so you know exactly what to accomplish, though.
I don’t know where the intimidation comes from – you’re in the upper echelon of witty writers on my reading list (and it’s a strong list). Perhaps you can intimidate yourself into confidence.
(Is that possible?)
PK recently posted…How to Get Started Investing When You’re Hopelessly Clueless (Or Don’t Care!)
I’m more intimidated by their productivity and ability to do pretty much everything I want to do than I am by their writing. I don’t think I totally suck at that 🙂 But I do appreciate your kinds words.
I am overwhelmed most of the time. I think it’s wonderful you have started the Bloggers helping Bloggers program.There will always be someone who seems to have it together more than you, but most people I know are all in the same boat, some would just never admit it.
Kim@Eyesonthedollar recently posted…Inspired by Malala Yousafzai, 14 Year Old Hero
sometimes we are so hard on ourselves because we haven’t reached a certain goal that we fail to realize just how many other goals we have already achieved. great post as always. keep up the good work and happy blogging.
Wealth Effect Blogger recently posted…how do you kill a financial zombie?
This is post is perfect timing! Love it. I tend to over plan and I really just need to start doing it!
Jenniemarie @ Another Housewife recently posted…Finally Some Answers… Sort of… Maybe…