Overwhelmed Starting An Internet Marketing Blog?
Have you been overwhelmed starting an internet marketing blog, or indeed any kind of blog? I can’t imagine anyone wouldn’t feel overwhelmed at some point when starting a marketing-type blog.
Blogging and all that it entails requires a wide variety of skills which need to be developed, especially if you’re going to do it all yourself.
All the technical stuff of setting everything up at the start is probably enough to put many off, assuming you’re buying your own domain and hosting then installing WordPress and selecting a theme for your site and maybe designing your own logo.
Overwhelmed Starting A WordPress Blog
Then comes the task of optimising your WordPress blog such as setting up a more appropriate permalink structure (eg. /%category%/%postname%/), maybe adding a few more ping services, ensuring you have the right plugins installed and configured for security, spam protection, contact form, backing up, social media sharing and auto posting, statistics, SEO, and so on. Then you need privacy and terms pages as a minimum for search engine optimisation.
So if you’re new to all this, how could it not be completely overwhelming at first! And all that is before you’ve even started to write your blog or even thought about how you’re going to promote your blog and get noticed.
Starting A Blog From Scratch
…like this, as a newbie, is not something you can rush. It can also take a lot of trial and error before you’re happy with your new creation. The learning curve then continues when you start writing and promoting your blog.
Needless to say, there have been moments when I’ve become an overwhelmed blogger with all the little individual tasks that blogging involves, such as running all the social media accounts and writing to your email list (you are collecting email addresses using an autoresponder aren’t you?) which can take up more time than the actual blogging itself.
Therefore, it rapidly becomes imperative that effective time management and organisation must take priority to avoid the overwhelming chaos that such a full time endeavour as becoming a successful blogger can engender.
An colleague of mine online, Stephen Hawkins, recently wrote an excellent short piece about how to deal with being overwhelmed when faced with a multitude of tasks which demand your attention. Stephen has kindly allowed me to quote the piece here for you:
“Overwhelmed – The Wimps Excuse/Way Out…
Just to note: When I’m taking a short break from my tasks I can begin to get a little overwhelmed at the size of my list and what needs to be done in order to get where I want to be.
Some… and its mentioned a lot in the digital marketing create-a-product area, say that overwhelm is a big problem and can cause you to procrastinate and of course that’s true. What they don’t say (or I haven’t heard it) is what the actual cause is and the solution. Here it is from my own perspective:
Overwhelm usually occurs when you are in a relaxed state (not the ACTIVE state you need to be in to get things done – so it’s the opposite) such as when your taking a break or even when you are contemplating what needs to be done. And that’s the problem.
The images in your mind at the time of overwhelm are usually of the whole job lot of projects etc. So overwhelm is the EFFECT of the images in your mind. Or Overwhelm is the effect of your focus. Which makes sense because overwhelm more succinctly put is:
Concentrating on everything that needs to be done rather than on the one thing that needs to be done.
So to remove overwhelm, simply shift your focus onto the one thing that needs doing rather than on everything that needs doing.
By shifting your focus onto the one thing (even a little) the big picture/lots of pictures looses its control and is replaced by the picture of the ONE Thing.
In short overwhelm is creating a problem where there isn’t one. Its self created and easily remedied by shifting your focus.
One Task At A Time.
The first task should of course be creating a massive list of tasks?
The simple conclusion from Stephen therefore is; having massive goals and prepared lists, but focusing on just the one that needs doing.
Thanks for the quote Matt, and nice post by the way, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it as you make some excellent points.
When reading it I thought back to when I was starting out building my own blogs and other websites and the often very complex subject areas that need to be covered. Scanning through those tasks in your mind before tackling them can easily begin to instill lots of images in the mind that eventually lead to overwhelm then procrastination as you begin to accept “I Can’t” as a basic and ongoing suggestion to yourself.
What’s more…. what I didn’t cover in that quote was that creating the list first by thinking about what needs doing, then beginning the first item and the next and so on, usually makes what seemed complicated very simple.
This is akin to practicing an instrument very slowly… when you practice it slow what seemed complicated is very simple and very doable. Of course knowing that you would adopt a fundamental autosuggestion something akin to the old: “I can and I Am”
Thanks for the great comment Stephen. I’m reminded of an old ‘joke’; How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time 🙂
My business mentor/partner Dean Holland posted this today to the iPro Partners Facebook group. Very appropriate for this post and is a reflection of his commitment to his group. Contact me for how to join iPro…
Here’s a quick productivity tip that should really help you, I’ve used it for years (as some here already know)
Here’s the benefits of what you’re about to learn:
+ Reduced overwhelm feeling
+ Increased clarity
+ Increased speed of progress
+ Faster results
Not a bad list of bullets huh 🙂
So here it is…
Often as entrepreneurs (of all stages) we can feel like there’s a TON of stuff to do and work on, sometimes it’s true and sometimes it’s not.
At times this feeling can leave us paralysed into procrastination where we stop really doing anything productive as it feels a mess, and in that state it’s easier to “feel” productive by browsing Facebook etc
Also at times this state can cause us to focus on the wrong things altogether, the things that ultimate won’t put cash in our bank accounts
To overcome this I use a process called “What Matters Now” or “WMN” for short
This process is in 2 parts…
Step #1 – Take a pen and paper, or use a software tool if you prefer (I use BaseCamp, that’s what is in the screen shot) and just write EVERYTHING that’s whirling around in your head
I mean EVERYTHING, even if it’s not work related. Keep writing until you literally cannot write anything more
I call this part “The Brain Dump”
This first part of the process alone will lift a weight off your shoulders, and in fact anytime you begin to feel like there’s too much to do again I want you to grab your list and add to it until your mind is clear once again.
Now you’re holding a list of everything that’s keeping you where you are.
On this list will be some menial tasks that you’ve been putting off that you probably need to just get off your plate, there’ll be items that don’t really matter but you’ve told yourself it needs to be done
But most importantly on this list you’ll find tasks that will certainly move your business forwards in the fastest time possible and lead you to make money faster than all other tasks you’ve dumped on the list
These are what you’re looking for to take into the final step…
Step #2 – Now created a second list called “What Matters Now”
From the larger list created in step 1 now move the most important tasks to your new WHM list.
These items should only be the tasks that will lead you to making money, nothing else!
Once complete ALL YOU FOCUS ON is the WHM list tasks, the others won’t go anywhere but they are not as important. You have them out of your head and on the list to come back to but now you know what to focus on for now to move forwards fastest!
Here’s an example to help..
List of Everything (Brain Dump)
———————————————
– Check emails
– Check FB private messages
– Write a blog post
– Email my list
– place a banner ad
– wash my car
– cut the lawn
– place an order for a solo ad
– create a new squeeze page
– finish writing my book
What Matters Now
——————————————-
– create a new squeeze page
– finish writing my book
– Write a blog post
– Email my list
– place a banner ad
See how that works… ?
Now go write your WMN list following the steps above and do it as often as you need to… some will benefit from doing it daily, some weekly and a few maybe monthly