If you’re a regular blogger you’ve probably experienced blog burnout! Even with a topic you love, it can be difficult continually creating new content. Eventually burnout becomes inevitable if you’ve been blogging for long enough. After all, there’s only a finite amount of things you can blog about within any specific niche. You can broaden your niche, choose a different topic, or delve deeper into your own niche, looking for ideas which float your boat!
I’ve always found it better to blog about topics I have an interest in, though. In a topic which is unknown to you, it’s so much harder. One such scenario was when I built a blog about mushroom harvesting.
I knew nothing of this topic and was experimenting with ranking a niche website. (See micro niche website). After several months of blogging on this topic, I drew a blank. Unfortunately for me, I had picked a topic I had neither love for, or interest in. Each piece of content had to be thoroughly researched because I didn’t know my subject. So it was super time consuming to write about something which I wasn’t passionate about.
Blog Burnout – What To Do
I’ve been a blogger for several years now and have many blogs. Initially my blogging was sporadic. I only blogged when I felt like it and had the motivation. It worked in at least I kept going, albeit sporadically. But this doesn’t serve you well if you want to make money from your blog.
Over the longer term I made some sales through blogging from my blog content. This gave me the inspiration to commit more to regular blogging. I knew it worked so was highly motivated at this point. Whereas previously I was full of doubts! But soon burnout ensued! I set a goal of 400 blog posts and gave myself only a few months to achieve it. But I couldn’t sustain this amount of creative action! Creativity needs space, and so I eventually hit a brick wall.
Some days blogging felt as bad as a 9 to 5 job! My main motivation for earning from a blog was to escape the 9 to 5 and live on my own terms. When your passion business starts feeling like drudgery it’s time to reexamine your goals and take a step back.
Blog Burnout – Tiny Steps
If you’re not familiar with Micro Habits, there’s a couple of good books on the topic. Atomic Habits by James Clear and Micro Habits by Stephen Guise are two good ones I’ve found. Using the advice of these books has helped me maintain a good blogging habit which I have maintained without blog burnout. At times, writing a blog post feels like running through treakle. It’s these days which are the most testing. If every day feels like this, you’re not going to keep up your blogging habit for long. But if only one or two days are like this, and you have a strategy for overcoming writers block, or blog burnout, you can keep going.
A micro habit is a tiny habit which is so small it seems insignificant. A blog post can be one of your micro habits. Ideally choose a micro habit which you can perform even on your worst days. Over time, micro habits lead you to your bigger goals. But in the short term they help you overcome momentum and get the ball rolling. They empower you and make you feel good!
Your micro habit for blogging might be 3 blogs posts a week. Or it might be a blog post a day. Whatever you can sustain for the long term is your best bet. If your blogging frequency is what’s causing you to burnout, it might be worth reconsidering how often you write.
Blog Burnout: Queue Up Ideas For Content
Another strategy which has helped me come up with content ideas is to create a list of content ideas. Some days I’ll lack inspiration, but if I have written down ideas which inspired me previously, I can draw on them when I’m lacking motivation.
When inspiration comes, write it down. When you come to write a blog post, you’re not always going to be in that inspirational state. So when you are inspired, make sure you channel those insights before they are lost.
I use Google’s keyword planner for inspiration for blog post ideas but also read a lot of inspirational material which I can use in blogging content. So if you’re coming up against resistance, look for books which inspire you.
Inspiration is definitely the antidote for blog burnout!
Take A Break
It sounds obvious but the more you push against something which doesn’t move, the more tired you become. Put down those rocks in your back pack and learn to let go! This is something I’ve struggled with because once you see how blogging can work, you want to maintain your focus for the long term. When your passion wanes, it can be hard to let go when you’ve established a habit of blogging.
When it comes to making money from a blog, sales will come when they come. There’s no rushing them with blogging. When one of your posts brings in a sale, it’s a magical experience. But pushing for more and more is the best way to burn yourself out. Let go of the outcome and trust the process. Learn to give yourself a break. Come back when you are refreshed and have some new vigour and motivation again.
Blogging is a great way to earn an income, but it doesn’t happen overnight. Learn to recharge your batteries when you reach saturation point, and learn how to recognise when this happens so you can take some time out.
Make staying in the game your intention, rather than overworking to the point of exhaustion!
Use Leverage
If you’re reaching blog burnout point but still want your blog to grow, consider hiring help. You can pay someone to write for you, build backlinks to your blog or write guest posts for you. Fiverr.com offers a range of opportunities for bloggers to find freelancers who will help.
You can also use a number of plugins which can help you leverage your old content which you have already written. Revive Old Posts is one such plugin and it allows you to syndicate older blog content you have written automatically throughout your social media profiles. See best free blog plugins for WordPress.
Focus On The Small Task In Front Of You
If your focus is making money from your blogging, and you aren’t making any yet, it can be very frustrating. If you’re looking for the results of your blogging but without this feedback, you become more and more dissatisfied. It’s a negative feedback loop which can lead you to burning out and quitting. Once you can recognise this and deal with your dissatisfaction, blogging can again become a joy.
There’s a few strategies I’ve used to help me let go of the outcome, and focus on the process:
- Recognise when you’re frustrated and stop
- Start a gratitude journal – writing down what you’re grateful for daily
- Start a meditation habit – become aware of your thinking processes
- Use exercise to transmute that frustrated energy and let it go!
- Read material which helps you with your mindset – self help/psychology books.
Don’t focus on the long journey ahead of you with your blogging. Focus only on the small step you can accomplish right now, today.