I had to face a ‘blogger burnout’ in the last few days!
This happens to me as to all bloggers every now and then and it’s scary and frustrating.
I’ve been experiencing an interesting increase of viasualizations, readers and collab opportunities, this amazing activity is growing so I’ve been generating ideas and wrote and wrote and I was a train full of words and enthusiasm.
And you know what? This is the step before the blogger burnout for many of us: a very excited period when you overwork… without even realizing it.
And after the first day of relax you can’t start writing anymore. You enter your blog admin area to start writing a new post or one you’ve listed in the previous days and weeks but… nothing. The mind is empty.
It can last for one hour, one day, more weeks. And what’s worst, if not well managed this can lead some blogger to abandon the job, and that’s very sad.
Now I’ll tell you what I do to overcome this ‘Blogging burnout’ that periodically happens to almost all of us.
#1 – Mind the gap
Do you have a ‘gap’ in your mind? Don’t pretend that nothing is happening. Stop searching for ideas or will to write and ask yourself why this is happening.
Did you work too much lately?
Something has recently happened that might have caused demotivation?
Don’t you like what you’ve been writing about recently?
Write all the possibile questions and answers on a board, and try to analyse the causes.
Naming a problem is the first way to solve it.
#2 – Gap the mind
I think we must respect and take care also of our mind-void when it accurs.
If you write about travels, like me, and you are experiencing a burnout of ideas and enthusiasm about that, try to talk about something else. Even about your gap-of-mind.
Coherence at all costs can’t be applied on blog and bloggers. First of all because this is your own blog. Your readers matter as long as you matter, and if you feel like going off topic, then you must do that. Your readers will feel confident with that, because they’ll feel you’re talking about something real, as usual.
#3 – Plan, and follow your plan
Planning your articles is like when an animal eats more in summer to have stock of energy for the winter lethargy period.
As you write a post in one of the more productive moments, you might think about other possibile titles. Write them donw as a future posts plan, together with a scheme of the argumentation of the post.
This will make it easier to write when you can’t invent a new title and follow a new inspiration.
Making a plan also implies scheduling a date for the post to be published.
I suggest you to respect this schedule even more when your mind is full of energies and ideas: it happen to me that, in one of these lucky and long productive periods, I write always more than scheduled.
Have I scheduled one post a day? I’m so eager to write that I post twice.
4 posts a week scheduled? I write 8 of them.
This often leads to a burnout!
So keep calm and respect your schedule also (and mainly) when you want to do more. Take your time to rest!
#4- Be your own boss and leader
Be your own boss!
But remember that a boss is not a mad and crazy person who wants to exploit you and take all your energies! A boss is a leader! A leader is someone who wants to take the best out of you, someone who knows that the ‘production’ grows along with your wellness, motivation, happyness.
So you should be the boss who comes to you every now and then and says: “Come on girl, you are supposed to go home and relax now”.
#5 Be you own employee
In this pshycho and bipolar role play you must never forget that you play 2 parts: the boss and the employee.
This is a precious role, the one able to look at the product from the outside, able to take it less seriously and that must give some good advice to the boss about the working methods.
If you see that a burnout happens more than once in a month, this means clearly that something must be changed in the way the business works.
#6 – Translate your blog.
As I wrote in this post, transalting a blog can be a good idea for many many reasons. I generally don’t transalte a post right away.
I often do it after some weeks and also when I have a lack of ideas (and motivation).
This is also a way to read back some of the older posts, so that you can generate new ideas from them.
I recently wrote new articles about my Australian experience after some clue I had translating old posts. You don’t need to write them right away, but you can plan them for the next weeks.
#7- Fast solutions and posts
Finally, there are posts that can be easily produced also when you can’t concentrate and in a very short time, such as Photo posts like this one.
Or you can make a post about (and with) your Instagram pics (embedding them in the post, so to make your insta traffic grow). Something like: “My last 6 months seen trough instagram”, or this post of mines
Remember that being tired happens when you love what you do and do it with all your heart.
NEVER GIVE UP!
21 Comments
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blonde faux locs
This piece of writing provides clear idea designed for the
new people of blogging, that in fact how to do running a blog. -
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janella panchamsingh
Great post! I go through this alot myself and sometimes I just walk away for while to regroup. Thanks for sharing because it gets hectic sometimes
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The Practical Saver
Blogging burnout is true and I have experienced it a couple of times. What I do is I step away from my computer for a couple of days, regroup my mind, and tell myself that I am passionate with what I do. After that, the bad feeling goes away and I get to write again.
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Denisa
Ideal is to live a life worth bogging about, but most of the cases blogging is combined with a job + a family+ the house; so it can be overwhelming. I love mind maping , other thing I find useful is taking notes about random post ideas
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ROBERT LEE
I find that revisiting old posts and reading comments sometimes could get me going. For instance, I find a comment I wanted to reply to. What I could do is write a new post in relation to the comment.
It is important also to have something to write about. Often, when we are out doing other things, we suddenly have an idea we wanted to write about. Gotta jot it down for later else we forget about it.
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Adina M
This happens to all of us, it’s so true! Sometimes it’s tough to take it easy but if we’re not careful, it ends up being worse for us. Thanks for the gteat tips!
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Katrina
If you are continuously pushing yourself too hard to complete too much without rest and breaks you will feel drained. I know that from experience.
Great post! -
Franco
Great tips! I for one doesn’t have a posting schedule and just post whenever I feel like blogging. This could really help!
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Franco
Great tips! I for one doesn’t have a posting schedule and I just blog whenever I feel like blogging. 🙂
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PJ Zafra
Hey there,
Great post! I can definitely relate to what you’re writing about. Blogging is no easy task. I find that forcing the issue when your blank never helps out. It pays a lot when you take a quick breather and refresh your mind.
I love the tips you’ve shared here. Blogging is really a personal journey. It’s about how we lead our own lives, become more organized and share our wisdom or experiences with other people. It’s tough, but in the end, it sure is worth it. Being a blogger that makes a difference is such a fulfilling feeling, wouldn’t you agree?
Great job on this post. Thank you for sharing this. Keep it up!
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Nina Alexander
I know exactly what you’re talking about! Sometimes I experience these moments even when I simply have so much on my mind that I don’t know where to begin from.
One thing is sure: being bilingual is a blessing in moments like this 😉 -
Frank Priegue
We’ve all been there. I usually have problems when I feel my next post is going to be easy to write. You just have to keep plugging along. I liked the Instagram suggestion.
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Sabrina - In My Suitcase
Brainstorming map are very very useful! As far as concerns quantity… well, I’ve been working as ghost blogger for 4 years and I MUST write every day for my clients. So I’ve learned some tricsk to be as qualitative as possibile and this turned to be good for my blog too.
Unfortunately sometimes I have to deal with demotivation (BURNOUT) and it gets so hard to keep on working while this happens, gasp!! :-O -
Cherish
Great post!
I haven’t hit the wall, yet. Luckily, I am a fast thinker, however I only post 3 times a week. I don’t understand how some people can roll out so many ideas to post every day (although I may be a bit jealous!).
I just remember quality over quantity and I write a bunch of brainstorming maps!
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