Finding Balance Between Blogging and Life {Part I}

I'm not the first to say it but running and maintaining a blog that works hand in hand with your business is one giant commitment. I know I know what you're thinking, "But Rhi, you should only blog because it's fun and what you love to do and it's strictly for the sake of personal fulfillment!" and let me scream it from the rooftops friends, I do love what I do and yes, blogging is certainly all about those above mentioned perks. It's just that when you are incredibly passionate about what you do and you have goals in mind and things your serious about accomplishing it can be a tinsey bit difficult to draw a line between work, blogging and life. Here are a few things I've started doing so I can add structure to my schedule and draw that fine line between work, blogging and my life as Rhi.

{Set Hours} One of the benefits of working from home is being able to roll out of bed and walk 15 feet to your desk. No work day commute, no need to get dolled up for the office; it's not a bad set up. Yet on some days I find it is incredibly easy to roll out of bed, slump on the couch, turn on TLC's hoarders marathon, and realize that come 6:00 pm I haven't even brushed my teeth. Um gross. Setting a work schedule regardless of where I work from, not only provides structure and meaning to my day, but gives me a deadline to get things dome. I try to be on my computer by 9:00 am and pending my work flow logged off by 5:00 pm. I will then check twitter, email and so forth again before bed in case something pressing has happened. By giving myself a normal work day schedule I hope to make room for other activities in my life; like a shower. Too much information? Maybe. But it happens.

{Set Priorities} I love commenting on other blogs, I love watching television, I love taking naps and I love doing other leisurely things that are carefree, fun and enjoyable. But if I did these things all day every day whenever I wanted, it's highly unlikely that there'd be any content on Hey Gorg leading to no job; and it's highly unlikely I'd have a happy husband or supportive friends. Set priorities. Commenting, tweeting to and about others, linking to other sites, getting out of the house, going to a yoga class, calling home to family, sending friends a card in the mail, snuggling up on the couch to watch a movie. All of these things are equally important and crucial to a well rounded life. The key is setting priorities and making sure these things are done at the appropriate time. Just like I urge you above, to set hours, within those hours set priorities that provide you with personal and professional fulfillment, satisfaction and success.

{PreBlog} This sounds a little nutty but I'd say a good half of the content on Hey Gorg is preblogged; meaning it's written days, if not weeks, before it goes live. If I get an idea for a post, or a submission that I absolutely love, I start formatting the post when I have a bit of free time so that when a day comes where I'm stumped for content all need to do is hit "publish." Since I'm dedicated to blogging at least once a day and on some occasions twice, preblogging has made my life a little less stressful and frantic for me. For blogs where spur of the moment content is what you're all about then preblogging doesn't make sense. For a blog like yours truly it absolutely does.

{You're Not Perfect} This one is a toughie for me. I thrive on the notion of perfection and bless my heart, have been medically diagnosed with a mild form of OCD. While it benefits things like my event styling work (and my closest and underwear drawer), in the grand scheme of things I am easily let down, frustrated and frazzled when things aren't up to my standards. At the end of the day which these days unfortunately is midnight and beyond, I too often measure my success on the comments I've scored, the tweets I've tweeted and the amount of e-mails I've successfully responded to and archived neatly in the appropriate folder. Once you're able to say "That's enough for the day" or "Or well the feedback for today's post wasn't what I expected" and you are able to move forward and embrace a new day, you can allow yourself to grow, learn and experience positive thoughts as opposed to thoughts of not meeting your potential. And remember, if someone comes across as being a master at doing it all, chances are they are missing something in their life whether it be personal time, a social agenda, a gym routine, an orderly home; or they can afford to pay for an assistant. No one is perfect.

What are your thoughts on Balancing Blogging and Life?