How to blog with a full time job

If you’re like me, then one of the things you struggle with is not having enough hours in the day. Juggling a full time job, blog, YouTube channel, social life and relationship can be exhausting at times. But I wouldn’t have it any other way. I know I put a lot of pressure on myself to succeed in these areas but I think it’s achievable. Now I’m by no means an expert but I think with good planning, hard work and effective time management you can do it all. So here are my tips on how to blog with a full time job.

Write a to do list

This might seem a bit obvious but I wouldn’t get anything done without writing a list. For me this is the easiest way of staying on top of everything and seeing what needs to be done. For my day to day life I keep my to do list in my phone as it’s easy to see what needs to be done when I’m on the go. For blogging, I use a notebook to keep track of everything that I need to do. This lives on my desk at home and absolutely everything goes into this. From what pictures I need to take to what content I need to write, plus what videos I need to film. The list can get pretty long but I love the satisfaction of crossing something off once it’s done.

Plan ahead

As I work full time Monday to Friday most of my blogging is done at the weekend. And I find that planning ahead really helps me keep on top of it. But as weekends are also the time to spend with friends, family and my other half, planning my time well means I can enjoy the best of both worlds. I normally spend about 30 minutes on a Friday evening working out what posts I want to write over the weekend, what pictures I need to take and what videos I want to film for my YouTube channel. Once this is done I can plan when I’ll do them around everything else I want to do over the weekend.

Use your time wisely

This follows on from the previous point. Once I’ve made my list for what I want to achieve over the weekend, I mark next to each one how long I think it’ll take for me to complete. For example, a blog post may take my 30 minutes to write, but a YouTube video could take me an hour to set up and film. By writing down how long I think each task will take, helps me plan my time. So if I have a spare half hour, I’ll sit down to write the blog post. So if you have a spare half hour on your commute or on your lunch break use it to write that blog post, or plan what pictures you need to take.

Schedule your posts

This might sound a little too organised but I’ve created a content calendar for my blog and it’s been so helpful with keeping me organised, especially as I blog everyday. When it comes to scheduling content, I normally work about two weeks in advance. Sometimes that slips, but generally it helps to know that even if I have an extremely busy week at work, there is still content going out everyday.

Don’t panic

I think the key thing to remember when you’re struggling to juggle all your commitments is that blogging is, for most of us anyway, a hobby. And you’re the boss. You can make the choice to take a day, week or month off from blogging if you want to. Blogging is meant to be fun, and like most of us, you probably started it because you have a passion for something. If it’s not fun, or you just don’t have the time to dedicate to it, then that’s OK.

I hope you found my tips on how to blog with a full time job useful. Let me know what your tips and tricks are for managing a blog and a job.