I love this online community we have at Pollinate. I love the friends and connections I have made via the world wide web. Random, did you know the internet turned 25 yesterday, crazy town! I have made so many friends online who have turned into bonafide real life friends. Women I can count on for support and encouragement. But sometimes the online world can get a bit overwhelming. When this happens I need need to step back and adjust. Here are 5 tips that help me to keep those overwhelming feelings at bay.
1. Set aside certain periods of time throughout the day where you aren’t on social media and you aren’t reading blogs etc. I usually spend about an hour and a half during the early morning hours checking social media and catching up on blogs. Part of this time is also spent doing work related things on social media but I do use it to check in on my personal accounts. I check-in again mid afternoon and again at night. Again, I check in more often as my job relates to social media, so picking a certain time of the day to peruse Instagram, Facebook or blogs can really help with the feeling of being overwhelmed with it all. It is also good to set a chunk of time aside a few time a week to schedule out your blog posts on FB, twitter etc.
2. Find a stress reliever. For me it is hot yoga. Man oh man, I have never found anything else that helps me to clear my mind. I am focused so intently on trying to hold each pose and clear my mind that I can’t think about anything else. I really enjoy running but I feel like I go into autopilot and my brain is still thinking about work that needs to be done, or another great blog post idea that I will inevitably never write! Hot yoga really helps refocus my day and my week.
3. Give yourself weekly and monthly goals. I find that if I say write 3 blog posts this week they never come to fruition. I need to say “write a post about conference tips,” “write a post sharing new living room layout,” “brain storm ideas for new blog series about blogging. I need to make my goals a bit more focused. Call me corny but I need to use the S.M.A.R.T. goal mentality, Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely.
4. Step away from the online world and meet up with a friend or two. I don’t know about you, but community is what keeps me going. I definitely need my down time but sharing stories and listening to others it what keeps me inspired + keeps me going. It is so important to make sure to schedule in time to have coffee with a friend, hit up happy hour or even schedule a run together.
5. Remember, you don’t have to do it all. Your blog and your social media outlets should reflect who you are. It takes a lot of time and energy to be someone you aren’t.If you aren’t super crafty don’t do crafty blog posts. While it might be tempting to think that if you did a few DIY how-to posts you would gain new readers or maybe have a viral pin on pinterest, in the end if that isn’t really who you are you won’t enjoy the process or the posts. We all have a reason while people keep coming back to our blog, focus on that niche and cultivate it.
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