Mixing your Day Job with your Blogging Addiction
These days just having a job is a blessing. We all know people who have lost jobs in this economy. It’s tough, but so is the addiction that is blogging. Have you taken time during your regular job to blog? This is a slippery slope and something which must be carefully considered. How do we balance our daily work schedule and our addiction?
Get up early
I usually go to the gym very early in the morning. I do this so I can avoid rush-hour traffic and so I can get into work before my regular working hours. I usually have a good 45 minutes before my regularly-scheduled working hours to be able to work on my blogging.
What is great about the timing is that the act of working out usually springs blogging ideas for me. I can then transfer these ideas into a Word document at work so that they don’t get forgotten.
Take advantage of free training classes at work for inspiration
With the recent downturn in the economy and a hiring freeze at my company, I have noticed that our Human Resources personnel have a lot of time on their hands. As a result, more and more on-site company-sponsored training sessions are being offered by HR. As an opportunist, I tend to take advantage of any training I can get at work.
We recently had a Time Management training session that was available for all employees. Surprisingly it was not as well attended as I would’ve expected. The tips I received in this class not only helped me manage my time in my regular job but it also helped me free up some more time for my blogging. On top of that, it gave me some ideas for another blog post on time management. Talk about a win-win-win.
Block out your lunch hour and book a conference room
I book a conference room during my lunch hour so I can just escape my real job and connect with my blogging. Fortunately for me, my company has a number of small conference rooms with network drops. These are for people who may only have a cubicle for an office and need to give a presentation to a customer over the internet or just need to have a place to work in peace.
This is my time and moving to another location other than your own cubicle will let others know to “stay away”. You’d be surprised what you can get accomplished in an uninterrupted hour. I can check my personal email, quickly check out my personal blog traffic and comments, and work on one of my own posts or on a guest post. It tends to break up the day for me and it actually energizes me for the rest of my regular day job.
Surf your company’s intranet
Nearly every company these days has its own intranet. This site typically has a lot of very interesting information related to health insurance, benefits, and company-related activities. You’d be surprised at the information that you can gather that could be used in an upcoming post or it could sprout ideas for a number of other posts.
My company’s intranet also includes links to PowerPoint presentations of company-sponsored training classes that have been offered to employees. And on top of that, you cannot be dinged for surfing the net because it is all company-related.
You can work successfully at your day job and still find time for your blogging addiction. If you take the necessary precautions and work on your blog on your own time, then you can mesh your regular work with your blogging. You’d be surprised at how your regular day job can supplement your blogging addiction by taking advantage of company-related training and available information
Written by Bob Bessette from Totally Unique LifePosted on October 28th, 2009 and filed under Blogging
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13 Responses to “Mixing your Day Job with your Blogging Addiction”
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Great tips Bob, somthing I seem to struggle with everyday. Getting out of the office (or cubicle) is a must. Thanks for sharing.
Hi,
Thanks for reading my post. I am with you on the “struggle” issue. There is a growing trend of people who want to leave their jobs to blog but I try to find ideas at work. I also have the comfort of knowing that I have a full-time job. Good luck with your “struggl”. I can surely relate!
Best,
Bob
struggl = struggle
I tend to concentrate my blogging time at lunch break
(as you also do) and after dinner.
I have a technical blog and most of the times the inspiration comes from problems that I have faced during my day-to-day job, or fromot other posts or books in the same field.
Then again I am not a frequent poster (roughly once a week), therefore I can dilute my efforts in more writing sessions.
Hi Stefano,
I have a technical job and another technical blog which I haven’t really kept up-to-date lately. I also tend to post once-a-week because when I post I want it to be valuable and I write all of my posts myself. I will definitely check out your blog.
Good luck with your blogging!
Best,
Bob
Get up early and work late is what I do But obviously you have to make sure you do not alienate your family.
Hi Tom,
Thanks for commenting on my post. That is certainly good advice on not alienating your family. I make it a point that when I get home from work each night I do not go to my laptop until after dinner when my wife goes and watches TV and my kids are working on homework. I think it is important to catch up on the day and get away from the computer for a while to be with my family. We also have dinner together every night which is a great time to rehash the day. By the way, I enjoy your blog.
Best,
Bob
Great suggestions Mate. One has to balance the fine line between job and addiction. Hope, people like me who are hooked to it will be able to implement the suggestions.
Hi,
That balancing act is tough for me but I’ve been able to pull it off so far. Good luck with walking your tight rope and thanks for reading my post.
Best,
Bob
Hi Bob
Great post. I fit my blogging around working 4 days a week. I have found getting up early has made a real difference. I need to start utilising my break abit more though.
Thanks for some good tips here. As always, your pro active attitude really shines through Bob. Thanks for the inspiration.
Jen
Hi Jen,
Thanks for reading. I guess I’m a morning person and I do most of my best work earlier in the day. As you could guess I usually hit the sack pretty early each night as a result. It sounds like getting up earlier has helped you become more productive as well.
Best,
Bob
The working before thing is good.
I do it and it works, my mind is fresh and awake. Also writing at work means the family don’t get annoyed.
My only other bit of advice though is don’t blog every day before work and every lunchtime. Your brain needs time to chill out.
Always make some time to get away from your screen and take a break.
Good point Chris. I don’t blog every day. In fact I typically post once a week so I’m thinking a lot on what topic to blog on. I usually finish up each post during the weekend and try to publish earlier in the week.
Thanks,
Bob