Staying productive as a blogger while working a full-time job can be tough.
It’s hard to find the time and energy for your blog when you’re already dedicating so many of your waking hours to your employer. And that time starts to get even more limited when factoring in the time spent with your family, friends, and all the other meaningful commitments in your life.
But if I can make it work with a super demanding full-time job, you can do it too!
Here are the top tips I’ve learned to help keep me productive and dedicated to my blog while still working the 9-5.
1. Your calendar is your best friend 📅
Hold yourself accountable by scheduling yourself time to work on your blog. Treat that time the same way you would treat any other appointment in your life, such as a coffee date with a friend or a strict deadline at your job.
And be very specific about the results you want to achieve with your time. For example, you can set aside an hour to specifically work on one of your blog posts for the week. Or an hour to solely dedicate to creating 8-10 new pins for your posts.
So find those empty blocks of time on your calendar and pencil yourself in!
2. Use your PTO days (if you have them!) ⚡️
I’m lucky enough to work at a company that offers unlimited time off so I love scheduling 1-2 days off each month to solely focus on my blog or to simply just take a rest day.
If you are in the same boat or happen to have extra PTO days, I highly recommend trying this out! It’s also just a really great practice for your overall mental health. It’ll allow you to just focus on YOU for a change.
3. Create a content calendar 🗒
Content planning will be your bread and butter as a blogger. And having a content calendar will help prevent those “Oh sh*t, I need to post and don’t have anything to write about” moments in the future.
A content calendar can be as simple as a physical calendar listing out the dates/weeks you’ll be publishing certain blog posts. And you can add it to it however you wish to make it more detailed.
I like using an excel grid with dates where I also list out the categories for each post and keywords or affiliate links that I want to include when writing it out.
I actually bought this awesome content calendar template from Cathrin Manning, a former blogger turned Youtuber. Although this content calendar is geared towards Youtubers, I found that I was able to tweak the excel grid for my needs and it works perfectly!
4. Batch your content creation ✏️
If you’re feeling especially creative or if you just have an extended block of time, it can be super helpful to batch create your content.
Draft or outline multiple posts at the same time so the hard part is already done and you don’t have to worry about it as much later on. Edit your posts and schedule them once you’re ready to push them live.
Batch creating your content will help you stick to a posting schedule. It’ll help you keep moving on those super busy days where you don’t have time to create a fully new blog post from the start.
5. Automate Automate Automate ⚙️
Automation will be your friend when you’re a busy blogger trying to get it all done!
If you’re creating content for Pinterest or Instagram, Tailwind is the best scheduler to keep you on top of your social media game.
Tailwind is an official Pinterest and Facebook partner, so they really know their stuff when it comes to optimizing your account. The platform will recommend timeslots to post your content so you can take the guesswork out of knowing when your audience will be online.
Tailwind will also let you schedule your content months in advance so you can (again) batch create your social posts and let them run automatically in the background. You don’t need to worry about getting your individual posts out each day on time – isn’t that awesome??
6. Hire help and delegate whenever possible 👩🏽💼
This tip is for everyone – even all my brand new bloggers out there! I hired my first freelancer before my blog had even launched.
If there’s something you’re REALLY struggling with, stop wasting your time and just take the plunge to hire someone! It’s worth it if you’re serious about really seeing your blog grow.
I really struggle with WordPress and I was having the hardest time getting my site ready to launch. I knew that it would take me forever to learn all the things I wanted to do on my own, and my site would possibly never even see the light of day.
So I finally took the plunge, spent a few dolla bills, and got my site to launch! It was worth it because it saved me frustrating hours and days of trying to figure it out all on my own.
7. Create a themed schedule for yourself 👩🏽💻
Set a theme for what to focus on for each day.
So for example, I dedicate Sundays to solely focus on drafting new blog posts (which is typically when I have the most time and creative energy). Mondays are dedicated to editing and publishing my post. Tuesdays are dedicated to Pinterest, and creating new pins or checking my analytics on Tailwind. And so on and so forth…
Creating a “themed” schedule helps you create a solid routine for your blog. And I find that it is way less overwhelming when I already know when I’ll be taking care of each aspect of my blog.
It’s a lot less stressful than having to figure out/schedule for when I will do each thing on my long laundry list of to-dos.
8. Forget about perfection 🧐
Learning to let go of perfection is one of the best tips I can give you as a busy blogger.
I’m not saying you can or should get by with “meh” posts. Your content should still provide value to your readers.
BUT think about all the time you spend trying to perfect something that may never truly be perfect! And think of all the time you can spend growing other aspects of your blog and business instead.
And while we all want A’s, learn to let go at a B-. It’s better to get your work out there rather than not at all! And remember, you can always go back and edit a post later on if you really want to .
9. Remember to take breaks! 💆🏽♀️
You’re already working a full-time job and doing it all! Take a break and be easy on yourself.
This is (funny enough) one of the hardest things for me to do. I feel like I need to be productive all the time and I tend to be hard on myself for taking a moment to relax.
But taking breaks is not only great for your mental health, it can often give you the clarity and creative energy you need for your blog.
So remember: love yourself first, relax, and take breaks. You’re doing great friend!
That wraps up my top tips to help you stay productive as a blogger with a full-time job! If you’re working the 9-5, let me know in the comments how you make time to stay dedicated to your blogging dream 💭.
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One Response
Taking breaks is the toughest but lately I have been taking naps when I need to and knowing the work will be there. I set one task I must get done for the day before my nap reward lol clearly I love naps 😂