Avoiding Blogger Burnout: How To Keep The Wheels Turning

This post on avoiding blogger burnout was written by Steve Roy of Ending The Grind.

To the untrained eye, blogging seems to be a relatively easy job. Hell, anyone can just sit around at Starbucks all day and play on the Internet, right? Not quite.

Actually, there are very few successful bloggers, if any, who have the time to just sit around. Blogging is work, lots of work. I’m not saying it’s especially hard work, but the sheer amount of to-do items on a bloggers checklist can be staggering.

The vast majority of us are not successful bloggers however, but are aspiring to become one. We are full-time employees and part-time bloggers with the goal of becoming full-time bloggers and no-time employees. Millions of people have the dream of becoming an online success story and living the fabled “Internet lifestyle” that we hear so much about.

If you are one of these people, then you know all too well how time consuming trying to build your blogging empire can be. You (hopefully) realize that creating outstanding content, building significant traffic, understanding and helping your readers, and properly marketing your blog are all vital to your success.

Since all of these things are very important and also very time consuming, where are we supposed to find the time to do them all? If you’re like me and have a full-time job, you know that trying to write good articles, network on Twitter and Facebook, promote your brand, and build a list, are all major time suckers.

Well, if you’re anything like me and want to get out of your day job as fast as humanly possible, that means forgoing those late nights out with friends, watching mindless tv shows, or playing video games  (learn about roulette strategies). If we are ever going to be successful in the realm of blogging, then our time needs to be spent building our business.

We simply cannot waste any time not working on building our sites and our dreams.

The Burnout

With that being said, many of us are burning the candle at both ends. Our sleep is suffering, our family time is suffering, and we have become almost obsessed with blogging and all it entails. We need to realize that this lifestyle is not sustainable (or our heads might implode) and we need to figure out a solution.

As our days get longer and our nights get shorter, it’s easy to start feeling overwhelmed. We are pouring our hearts into our blogs and many of us new bloggers are receiving few, if any, signs that we are on the right path. For most of us, the rewards of our hard work will take months or even years to show up.

It’s obvious that if you give up on blogging because it’s too difficult or too frustrating then you will fail. However, I’ve heard from multiple blogging pros that pushing through when things seems pointless is when people begin to make it. Yaro Starak, a highly successful blogger, has said that if you follow the right steps, the only way to fail is by quitting.

If we know that we will only fail if we quit, then why do so many fail? I think one of the main causes is getting burned out. We write and write, spend tons of time trying to make our blogs the absolute best they can be, and nobody comes…

Many of us can only do this for so long before despair sets in and we take a break from our blogs. When we take a break, we tend to forget about it. When we forget about it, we start to lose interest and focus.

Three days turns into three weeks and we still haven’t looked at our blog. I can speak from experience here and this is exactly what happens. We get excited about our blog, we write a ton of content, we try to build traffic, and then we are disappointed with the results.

We do this over and over and we get burned out. Believe me, burnout can spell the end of a blog. Don’t allow yourself to fall victim to this trap.

Here are a few tips on avoiding blogger burnout:

• Although we will have the tendency to do it, don’t spend all your free time working on your blog.
• Make sure you understand that blogging is not a get rich quick business. It takes time, often a long time to build a popular and profitable blog.
• Create a plan of action. For example, block out 2 hours for writing a phenomenal post or maybe plan an hour for writing your email newsletter. Don’t just randomly work on whatever you feel like at the time. Believe me, it’s a huge time waster.
• Find inspiration. Make sure you understand why you are working on your blog so hard. If you have a strong enough “why”, you should be able to get through the tough times.
• Find a mentor. I suggest finding a successful blogger/Internet marketer with whom you can really relate to. There are plenty of people making money online and just as many teaching us how to do it too. Your job is to find the one(s) that work for you. When you follow someone who has been through the process and has seen success, it’s easier to keep your head up and avoid burning out.

If you love blogging as much as I do and are doing it for a meaningful reason, then you are probably going to be busting your ass day and night to build your business. That’s awesome, keep it up! Just remember that too much of a good thing is not always good.

Steve Roy is a blogger with a passion for helping people who are looking to build an online business, quit their day job, and live life on their own terms. His blog can be found at EndingTheGrind.com