I’ve been blogging for nearly two and a half years now, and it has integrated itself into my life. No week goes by without me thinking about the next blog post I need to publish, or my scheduling system, or batch creating, or graphics… you get the point.
If you’re planning on running a blog, or are just starting out, this post is for you. And if you’re an experienced blogger wanting to refocus, it’s for you, too.
So here’s how blogging has changed my life, and how it’ll change yours, too.
It challenges your time management.
The older you get, the more work is placed on you. That’s just a fact of life.
Blogging consistently pushes your time management skills, changes you to write consistently, and get out quality content on a constant basis.
It adds stress, and it adds pressure.
Having to publish posts consistently forces you to reevaluate your priorities and check up on your schedule often. There’s only so many hours in a day, and sometimes it takes a lot of shuffling around in a schedule to be able to fit in work (and/or school), rest, and blogging.
It keeps your brain working.
Blogging keeps your mind working because you’re always having to coming up with post ideas. Whether you’re batch creating or writing the post for the week, you are the only person who can come up with ideas. Especially if you have a small audience. When you have a larger audience, people may start asking you questions (which you can then turn into blog posts). But until then, you’re on your own.
It’s a constant cycle of asking yourself questions like:
- What do my readers want to read?
- Would I search up this topic online?
- Does this post match the needs of my target audience?
(Hint: you can totally use these questions to guide you when writing blog posts.)
It helps you hone your skills.
Once you start blogging consistently, you’ll realize that you’re getting better at certain things. Writing is the obvious one, of course, but the more you publish blog posts, you’ll see that you’re also getting better at making graphics, taking photos, and marketing your work.
Plus, blogging forces you to interact with people because you’re putting yourself out into the world. You’ll improve in answering comments and engaging in online conversations.
OTHER POSTS YOU MIGHT LIKE:
Things I Learned After 1.5 Years of Blogging
It helps you create new connections.
Then comes this point. Blogging means you’re writing for more than yourself. That means that people are going to see your work. Even if it’s just one person. Eventually, you’ll notice a couple of people who come a little consistently to your site. And then you’ll make some new online connections that you wouldn’t have made before.
(Shoutout to Ash and Nicole, who I wouldn’t have found had they not left comments on a couple of my blog posts–you’re amazing!)
It takes patience.
I’ve made a lot of mistakes in the time I’ve been blogging. And I’m making mistakes now, and I’ll probably keep making mistakes. I’ve only just started trying to branch out in a different way, and MailChimp is still mad at me for something I did (I have no idea what went wrong). I look back at old posts and regret writing some of them.
Improvement takes patience. Growing your subscriber count takes patience. It’s not always possible to blow up within a month of blogging.
It takes time, it takes patience, and it takes perseverance.
But you can do this.
Starting out is the hardest part.
That’s all for now!
Do you run a blog? What have you learned from it so far? And if I haven’t met you yet, leave the link to your site below so I can check it out!
Make your mark,
