Aug
2
Blogging Tips (Thanks John :) )
Filed Under Blogging | 2 Comments
One of the things I am trying to do is provide real information and value to my readers. I can see from my Feedburner stats (numbers tell the truth, sad to say!) that there is some improvement to be done. However, to improve my blogging I’m always looking for tips and ideas.
John Bennett over at ThingsThatAreFun.com sent me this and I thought it was worth a try. Plus, you get to know a whole lot of ideas that can help your blogging and become more effective.
John found this over at Cash Quests so let’s see how it goes:
-Start Copy-
It’s very simple. When this is passed on to you, copy the whole thing, skim the list and put a * star beside those that you like. (Check out especially the * starred ones.)
Add the next number (1. 2. 3. 4. 5., etc.) and write your own blogging tip for other bloggers.
Try to make your tip general.
Then tag 10 others at the bottom to keep the list going
Just think– if 10 people start this, the 10 people pass it onto another 10 people, you have 100 links already!
1. Look, read, and learn. *****
-http://www.neonscent.com
2. Be, EXCELLENT to each other. *****
-http://www.bushmackel.com/
3. Don’t let money change ya! ****
-http://www.therandomforest.info
4. Always reply to your comments. *****
-http://chattiekat.com
5. Spell check is your friend. ***** (damn right!!!! (see last post) 
)
- http://thingsbymike.com
6. Be the blog. ****
- http://www.meandmydrum.com/
7. Your readers are your treasure. **
- http://www.brownbaron.com/blog/
8. Titles Are Everything **
- http://www.realitywired.com
9. Your blog. Your money. Your rules. **
- Cash Quests
10. Content is King! *
- Things That Are Fun
11. Write Well! *
-End Copy-
I’m going to pass along the tag to some sites I enjoy now:
- Freelance Switch - http://www.freelanceswitch.com
- Miles Burke - http://www.milesburke.net/blog
- Merlin Mann - http://www.43folders.com
- David Allen - http://www.davidco.com
- Leo Babauta - http://www.zenhabits.net
- John Bennett - http://www.thingsthatarefun.com/ (Of course , get on over there!)
- Mark at http://www.meandmydrum.com
So there you go, feel free to copy the list and add to it. Let’s see where this goes.
Aug
1
One of the biggest things you’ll see on productivity websites is planning. And for good reason - good planning allows us to focus on the things most important to us and achieve things rather than just waiting for the day to end.
With this in mind, and with a degree of personal frustration about how I was managing my time while I am building up a solo business, I decided to plan my Next"Perfect" Day and determine to meet the goals I set myself. I’ve listed it below, word for word, so you know the detail I went to.
And, lo and behold, I achieved it!
Now most people would say "Well, duh! With that much planning who wouldn’t?" But that was the point. By simply having a clear mind prior to the day itself, I was able to put in the things I had to do. And they got done. Not so special, except when there are 100’s of things competing for your attention, it’s not a bad effort.
Maybe you don’t need to go to this level of detail, but I found it quite empowering to actually focus on what I wanted to do, specifically, and then work diligently towards it.
One of the keys I realised as I made the list was I knew I had to prepeare stuff the previous night to ensure I had the best chance of achieving my goals. So that was something else I had to consider.
It also brought back that good old saying about planning:
Proper Preparation Prevents a Pretty Poor Performance.
MY NEXT PERFECT DAY
6am Walk 20-30 mins
6:30 Solitude 15 mins
6:45 Breakfast (Juice and Psyllium husks, porridge or muesli [I had porridge], coffee [short macchiato] )
7:30 Work travel
8:15 Work - set objective for this session - write two marketing letters for client
10:00 Snack - fruit / baked beans / yoghurt (1 of …)
10:10 Work - set objectives for this session - review letters, commence brochure
12:30 Lunch - (walk 15 mins) Nuts, fruit, salmon
1:00 Set objectives - complete brochure draft for client
3:00 Snack (see above) and walk
3:15 Work - set objectives - make lest of household chores. Pick one and start!
5:30 Home travel
6:15 Dinner
7:30 Solitude and review day
7:50 Relax
10:00 Retire
I expect many of the standard breaks to become habitual over time. I’ve added them here becasue I generally get caught up being busy that I forget the snack time. And the snack times, I’m told, are good for weight loss, so it’s not a fetish for snacks, it’s about eating well.
P.S. I also just want to apologise to anyone who has already read this post and has come back for whatever reason. I found so many spelling errors in this post I actually went red from embarrassment! I really do apologise. It gives an impression of sloppy writing which I am trying to be diligent to avoid.