Being successful at blogging, no matter what ulterior reason one would have, means investing a lot of your time. Being online, researching, writing, proofreading and editing, video, audio and picture editing are just some of the things a blogger would be required to do at a certain point of his/her blogging career.
I am blogging for fun and I will continuously be blogging. I am going for 1 Million readers in 365 Days, and if I will not succeed, I will continue blogging right here. Blogging can be therapeutic and some people write off their daily worries. It's like talking to someone or going to a psychiatrist. Blogging can be turned into a full time job like others do. Making a living off the internet is possible nowadays. But blogging for my is a hobby right now.
So how many hours a day can you blog? I have just described above all that blogging means. This question is mostly targeted to the blogging for fun audience out there. If you are making a living out of your blog(s), then I guess you are blogging all the time.
And what's the maximum number of hours you can afford to blog a day? Let's take a closer look to that.
Of the 24 possible hours:
- 7 hours you use for sleeping. No matter what you need to sleep. A minimum of 7 hours of sleep would do the trick of keeping you fresh for the next 18. Any sex having will simply be include in those 7 hours
- 8 hours you work. If you are a blogger for fun or a professional blogger wannabe, you still have a job you go to daily. Let's assume you are working an average of 8 hours a day. We will include students and study time here.
- 2 hours you eat. All meals are included. No matter where you are when you eat, it's still part of your day. 3-4 meals can take up to 2 hours of your time, especially if you are eating at home.
- 1 hour you commute. Whether you work 5 minutes away from your house or 30 minutes by train, you still have to get there and back. I am also counting any other kind of movement you would be involved in: buying groceries, jogging, etc
- 2 hours you use for your personal hygiene and chores around the house. Every time you take a shower, go for a bath, dust or vacuum the living-room or whatever action you can think of that can be included in here
- 1 hour or a little less you spend getting ready to go out. Going to work or somewhere else, you are preparing for it. It can take more than an hour to get ready or less. However it's a daily action.
If I counted right, we are at 21 hours of the possible 24.
If you are a consistent blogger and you update daily, 3 hours should be more than enough to come up with a post and have it done. What about the necessary research? What about the inevitable internet inefficiency? What about friends and family? What about a second daily post? What about answering to fans and commentators?
I have more questions but basically there's only one conclusion. As we are not machines, but humans, three hours are not nearly enough time for us to blog a day.
Sure you can steal some sleep time. You can postpone answering to commentators for the weekend. You can blog from work if you have enough time and your boss can't see you. Whatever action you decide to take it will affect the rest of the day.
Tell me what you think? How do you manage your time? When do you find the time for blogging?
