How to work full time and blog consistently

Bloody hell I’ve got loads to do. I need to schedule at last 6 posts for this blog, update my fitness blog, prep for an Interview alongside going to the gym 5 times a week, working 9-hour shifts with an hour commute each way. Help.

Then there’s the rest of my life. Making dinner for me and my boyfriend when I get home (by choice, I like to control the food because I don’t want to eat crap and he irons and sorts the washing out in return), have a bit of time on the sofa with him.

Sometimes we even go out for meals and see friends.

There is just not enough hours in the day and it’s harder than ever these days. A few years ago I lived alone, 15 minutes from work and would spend all evening online. Now that’s not my life.

I sometimes struggle to understand how I manage to blog every day. But I do.

It’s all about breaking it down, being smart and being efficient.

I have no time for procrastination and need to be organised.

Here are some tips.

Plan your content.

Ideally, I like to schedule a week in advance. By Sunday night, I like to have the next 7 posts scheduled and ready.

I’ll start planning the following weeks content by putting some ideas into my content calendar.

There are times I don’t have a full 7 posts scheduled by Sunday. What I do in this case is to plan the content and pencil in a time to write and schedule this post during the week.

Use your lunch break.

During my 9 hour shift at work, I’m entitled to 90 minutes of break time. If work is busy, I don’t always get that but when I do, I try to use that time wisely.

I take my laptop into work, sit in a quiet office and will either write a blog post, reply to emails or schedule social media depending on what I need to do.

Last week I organised all my invoices and tracked my earnings for the last 2 months! A job I usually dread so it was nice to get this out of the way!

Automate what you can.

Tweets and Pins should be scheduled in bulk and set your blog posts to automatically post to Twitter and Facebook so you don’t have to manually do it. This can save you loads of time!

Check out Hiplay – a program to loop your evergreen tweets so you don’t have to keep scheduling the same ones again and again!

Get a partner that likes video games.

Hahaha, I’m not even joking! My boyfriend is currently addicted to Red Dead Redemption. When we’re washing up after tea and he asks if he can play on his Play Station for an hour, I get to act like an awesome girlfriend for letting him play, when really it means I can get some blog work done!

But seriously – if your other half has hobbies, it can give you a bit more time online. Some nights we just lounge about on the sofa, other nights we do our own thing. My boyfriend is understanding and if I say I need to get a blog post done, he’s completely fine with me taking myself upstairs for a bit!

Have a realistic schedule.

Posting every day isn’t a realistic schedule for everyone – so stick to one that is realistic for you. If you find that you are getting ahead, decide if you either want to stay ahead so you can have a bit more time doing other things or maybe increase the number of posts you publish a week.

Don’t put too much pressure on yourself.

Your blog is yours to do as you please. Though it’s important to treat it professionally if you are working with brands and making an income from blogging, it’s also important to make sure you don’t burn out.

If you need a break, take one. If you need to reduce the amount of time you are spending on your blog each week, create a plan to either be more efficient or publish less content!

If you don’t, it won’t be fun anymore.

So there you have it – how to blog and have a life all at the same time!