Writing Blog Posts: An Incredibly Easy Method

Writing blog posts can be an absolute chore for some or a joy for others. I fit somewhere between the two as I am not an natural writer. It has taken me a while to define and refine my process.

I felt that it might be helpful if I explained how I plan:

Firstly, I make time. I have so many demands on my life that I need to make the time. This starts by me allocating time everyday for “things that really need to be done”. There are two parts. Late afternoon and early morning.

I use an old fashioned diary to block off time slots AND put it in my phone so that I am bombarded by notifications and reminders.

Late afternoon actually comes first. Through much trial and error, I find that I work best from morning till lunch, then around 3.30 until around 6pm. I work from home or wherever I am but it is surprising how often I am interrupted! I find that I have my best ideas for writing blog posts in the afternoon and that is why posts and content are always thought through in this time slot.

I have used various techniques to focus but the one that seems to work best for me is to set a timer for 50 minutes. When I started writing blog posts years ago, I found a much shorter period of time worked. The Pomedoro technique was introduced to me and this encouraged being focused for shorter periods of time. Now, I use an apple app called Nag on my iMac. This is perfect as I can set the timer and I start writing.

During those 50 minutes, I often have to trick my mind into just working for 2-3 minutes and then I find I am racing through the whole time. 

Sometimes, I find that I have too much on my mind so I seek help from Binaural beats. These are sounds in the theta brain wave range that are linked to reduce anxiety, relaxation, meditation and creation. I find recordings on Spotify or these can be found on Calm and Headspace apps too. Once my earphones are in, I am in the zone and off I go, thinking up ideas and writing up notes.

50 minutes later the Nag alarm goes off and I stop immediately, save, and go and have a break away from my office.  

It is in one of these sessions in the afternoon that I plan content and start to write. 

I am terrible at typing but I get the gist of what I want onto a clean page and keep going. There are various “clean page” apps that I have tried but I don’t recommend them as none worked for me. I prefer to have my usual clutter on the desktop whilst I work.

I save it and leave it overnight. I have found that sometimes, my thoughts are ahead of my writing and I miss vital words out or my sentences don’t make sense. By going back to it, I can look at it with fresh eyes and edit accordingly.

The next day, my first working session is to address the notes I made the afternoon before. 

This is the first thing that I do, because it is based on two wise people’s advice. Brian Tracy’s “Eat That Frog” was a game changer for me. He says that you must do the one thing that you really don’t want to do first i.e. eating the frog! But by doing it first, you no longer stress about having to do it during the rest of the day. The feeling of accomplishment is real.

Another book, The One Thing by Gary Keller focusses on that “one thing” that needs to be done to move you forward. For me, both of these books helped to change my mindset about writing and I actually look forward to it now. For me writing is the way forward to my accomplishing my goals.

Having reviewed my writing, I can then set it up as a blog post, or a social media post, adjust for SEO and along with arranging the images as appropriate, I publish knowing that I have created content to grow my business in some way.

Learn From This

: Plan your time

: Use Binaural Beats if you lack concentration.

: Read how Brain Tracy and Gary Keller can inspire you to find your focus.

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