Feeling Overwhelmed with Blogging - Tips to Regain Focus and Achieve Your Goals

Are you feeling overwhelmed with blogging? My blog has been online for a year now by the end of May but I have only been actively blogging for three months.

And yet, despite the short period of time that I have spent on my blog, I do sometimes feel overwhelmed.

Feeling overwhelmed with blogging is a counter-productive feeling. We all know it.

However, we can’t whisk it off that easily. I reflected on why I’ve been feeling overwhelmed in the past few days. I’m trying to understand the root cause of this issue and to find solutions that will work for me.

I hope that this blog post helps you manage your blogging schedule better to regain your focus and balance.

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What are the reasons for feeling overwhelmed with blogging?

Since I got back to blogging, I have been observing my blogging workflow. I am observing the highs and lows, my productivity, and also the emotions that I’m feeling so I can better document my blogging journey.

Feeling overwhelmed with blogging in the past few days, I have identified the most common reasons why I’m feeling this.

The most common reasons are:

Biting More than We Can Chew

This is one of the main reasons why we newbies get overwhelmed with blogging. We create a long list of things to do. And it becomes too much for us to handle given the small amount of time that we have on our hands.

This also rings true not only in blogging but also in other professions and other activities in life.

If we commit ourselves to something that turns out to be beyond our current level of skill and competency, then things could easily be overwhelming.

Setting a Very High Expectation for Ourselves

As a new blogger who has the intention to monetize my blog, I’m always anxious to see my blog post appear in the search pages of Google.

If you’re also a new blogger like me, we have to remind ourselves that indexing takes time.

It will take days, weeks, and sometimes months for your blog post to appear on the first pages of Google and it will all depend on how relevant your article is and how it stands against the competition.

It goes the same way with monetization. If you have installed Adsense or any affiliate links, then chances are, you will not see profit right away. It will take a substantial amount of traffic before our blogs produce an income.

All the other numbers will also take time to grow. New bloggers like me have the tendency to be too excited about the growth of our blogs. It can be a good thing and a bad thing at the same time if we don’t properly manage our expectations.

And because we set a very high target to achieve, we tend to spend long hours tinkling our blogs, creating content, and consuming content and it becomes a draining routine.

Lack of Planning and Organization

Any task without a structure can trigger an overwhelming feeling.

This is also true for blogging.

Creating a monthly, weekly, and daily structure will help you navigate the crazy world of blogging.

If you don’t have a plan or structure to follow, then it’s very easy to be all over the place.

There’s a huge possibility that your goals will not be met because you might be focusing on the wrong things.

This is one of the things I have failed to do when I started. I often wake up not knowing what to do because I don’t have a plan.

And then, when I suddenly remember all the things that need to be done, I immediately feel overwhelmed and frustrated.

Focusing on the Wrong Things at the Wrong Time

I’m constantly revising the layout of my blog. And I spent tons of time tinkling with the colors and fonts and spaces in between widgets. I spent a lot of hours thinking if this is the right shade of ‘Teal’ or if the space between the featured posts is too big or too small.

And once I figure those out, I have very little time left to spend on writing content. And I end up cramming so I can finish an article in a day.

Sure, the overall look of our blogs adds value to our readership. Don’t get me wrong, I believe that the blog design and overall look provide tons of value to our audience.

But the truth is, it’s a value-added service. It’s not the main reason why people read our blogs.

It’s really our content that provides the biggest value to the people who visit our blog.

How to overcome feeling overwhelmed with blogging without compromising your goals?

Observe Proper Pacing by Creating a Schedule of Activities

I have mentioned this in my past article and I will mention this again. Proper pacing is very important not only to marathon runners but also to anyone who is trying to achieve any goals in life.

If you observe proper pacing then there’s a better chance of finishing and possibly winning the race.

How does a newbie observe proper pacing in blogging? You can start by creating a schedule of blogging activities that works for you.

This is very important, especially to those who have other important activities in life such as full-time employment or if you’re taking care of your children.

Here’s an outline that could help you draft your own schedule:

Identify the realistic amount of time you can dedicate to your blog.

Let’s say you have 2 hours a day that you could spend on your blog.

For the first 6 months, allocate your time to two things – Learning and Executing.

If you allot 2 hours a day, then that would be 10 hours a week or 40 hours a month. Maybe you’re asking why is it important to allocate half of your time to learning.

This is to ensure that you maximize the time you spend once you start executing your plan. You don’t want to spend your 100% on the execution of your ideas only to find out that they don’t work.

There are tons of tutorials online that could help you do things right for the first time. Here are some things that you have to learn before you even write your first blog post:

What are keywords?
How to do keyword research?
Is there an ideal post length?
How to write an effective headline?
What is the best way to end or close a blog post?

Once you have an idea of how to write an effective blog post, then move on to how to drive traffic to your blog. Here are some things that you should start learning once you’re comfortable writing posts.

What is SEO?
How do I do on-page and off-page SEO?
Ways on how to gain backlinks
Social media engagement
Various ways of driving traffic to blog

And if you have some spare time, then spend it tinkling your blog layout. Some people might find 6 months to be a very long time to learn just two things.

Others might find it to be a short period of time to do this given that they’re also busy with other things in their lives. So adjust accordingly.

Understand that we all have different learning curves and some might find writing articles easier than doing SEO. While some people might have an easier time understanding the technicalities of driving traffic than writing a blog post.

Focus your first 6 months on producing valuable content (from both readers’ and search engine perspective) and driving traffic to your blog.

Focusing on just two things at first will make blogging more manageable for you.

Once you see substantial traffic, then that’s the time you study and apply blog monetization.

Be Realistic with Your Goals and Be Patient

Blogging is not a ‘Get Rich Quick’ scheme. Just like any other business, growth takes time. Rushing things is one of the causes of feeling overwhelmed.

If you focus on delivering highly valuable content to your target audience and improving your sources of traffic, then the readers will find their way to your blog.

Be patient and while waiting for the traffic to appear on your blog, keep on improving your craft.

Compare Objectively and Not Emotionally

Sometimes, when we see a very successful blog, we are taken aback and we feel intimidated.

We often think,

“Nah, I can’t write a 3000-word article.”

“There’s no way I’ll have 10000 followers.”

“My blog won’t probably earn that much.”

Once we see these huge numbers, our brain suddenly bombards us with questions and action plans on how we can achieve it.

It’s an overwhelming thought and it’s an overwhelming emotion.

Most people will say that you should stop comparing yourself to others to avoid feeling frustrated.

However, I think in any business it’s important to compare yourself with others OBJECTIVELY.

If you want to earn money from your blog and if you want to make blogging your side hustle or full-time hustle then you have to treat it as a business.

And as a business, you should be aware of industry standards. You have to set a benchmark to follow in order to keep improving.

You can do this by studying the top bloggers in your niche. Try to identify their best practices. Implement their best practices in your blog.

If you do this strategically, then it can be achieved without causing too much strain or stress on yourself.

Keep Going and Keep on Moving Forward

This sounds like a contradiction to the topic that we’re discussing. But the truth is, the more you do it, the more you become accustomed to it. The more you get used to it, the easier it becomes in your perspective.

The tasks actually didn’t become easier, but the process helps you increase the level of your skill and competency thus making it look easy for you.

If your perception of a task or tasks is easy. Then it will become more manageable thus preventing you from feeling overwhelmed with blogging and avoiding getting burned out.

This is true not only in blogging but also in almost everything we do in life.

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Get Enough Rest and Sleep

I know that some of us who want to monetize our blogs are doing this for a very important reason. Maybe some of us are having a difficult time making both ends meet and we want to build something that could generate an income for us such as our blogs.

Perhaps some of us feel miserable in our current situation and want a way out.

But in the process of building your blogs, don’t forget to take some time to rest and sleep.

Lack of sleep does more good than harm. It keeps you from being creative. Feeling tired is counter-productive.

Blogging takes hard work. It’s not as easy as it looks. If you keep yourself fit, healthy, and well-rested, then you’ll have better chances of making this side hustle work for you.

Do you also sometimes feel overwhelmed with blogging? What do you do to avoid feeling overwhelmed without compromising your blogging goals? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section below.