Laina Turner, Author
L.C. Turner, Author

5 Tips to Beat Blog Burnout

I’ve been blogging since 2008, which honestly is hard to believe. It doesn’t seem like 10 years have passed since I started this journey. Though by the number of old websites Matt (my soon to be husband and web developer) has in his “way back” machine it would look more like 16 years have gone by.

Now, of course, it’s not liked I’ve blogged every day for the last 8 years, and when I first started I was a small business consultant, and I only blogged every once in a while about business stuff. I look back at some of those posts (yea they are still archived), and I just have to laugh. Pinterest didn’t exist then so there were no cute images, I hadn’t heard of SEO, my posts were so BORING. And to be honest, I remember when I first started blogging, I looked at it as a chore rather than a fun, creative outlet as I do now.

5 Tips to Beat Blog Burnout

In the last 8 years, there have been so many times I’ve thought about quitting. I started this for fun and then because I was spending so much time doing it wanted also to make some money at it. And as you fellow bloggers out there know monetization is freakin hard.

There have been days where I wondered why I was spending hours on writing the perfect post, or $600 on a “real” camera (not my iPhone) to try and get just the right image when I might make $2 this month. Or I’m just exhausted and want to want Netflix on the couch instead of commenting on other blogs trying to build a community (though truthfully those 2 things can be multi-tasked).

But at the end of the day, I know what I want from my life, and it’s to do this hard, crazy blogging/writing thing as a J.O.B. So to keep me motivated to push through those tough times here are 5 ways to beat blog burnout.

1. Realize how far you’ve come on your journey. Whether you’re like me and have been blogging for years, or you’ve just started you should be proud of where you’re at. Too many times we are more worried about what we haven’t accomplished and don’t focus on where we are at. As long as you’re one step closer to where you want to be, then celebrate. You’re much farther ahead than those who still are in the thinking about it stage.

2. Look back at some of your first posts or photography and then look at today. Enjoy even the smallest improvements. You’re moving in the right direction.

3. List all the things you love about blogging or what you get from it. Sometimes we need to be reminded of why we started in the first place.

4. Make sure you’re writing about what moves you. If you’re posting about recipes and you hate cooking you need to make a move. I know a lot of people, myself included, who have blogged what they should be blogging about not what they wanted to be blogging about. Follow your heart.

5. Take a break. Sometimes we just need to walk away and recharge. I don’t me give up and quit but take a vacation. Let your mind rest and rejuvenate so you can be at your best creative self. Don’t be so hard on yourself. We all need a break at times.

Being an entrepreneur is hard and often thankless. We work tons of hours for little pay. Taking care of our inner selves is important to our overall happiness and sanity.

What do you do to avoid burnout?

 
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Categories: Blog, Blogging