Stop Trying To Be Like Everyone Else
I started blogging because I was feeling unfufilled in my job in the beauty industry and wanted to share my passion with others. And that was all well and good until I started panicking each month on what I was going to write about and if I could afford to buy all the new releases to review. I tried too hard to be liked by everyone and to fit into a hierarchy of bloggers that didn't actually exsist but that I believed did as they always had the most likes on Instagram and Twitter. And it stayed like that until the beginning of this year when I decided to start posting more about more than just beauty, other passions of mine like baking, lifestyle and surprisngly fashion. And it was the best thing I did. For me, blogging and posting on social media has become a lot easier since I stopped trying to please everyone and stopped trying to be like everyone else. Not all my pictures are stunning, not all my captions are witty and not all my posts people are going to like but my blog, instagram and twitter are mine and I've learnt it's more about what I want to post than what's going to garner me the most attention. And all of this combined has really made thinking of, planning and writing blog posts so much easier which in turn means I'm producing better content.
Plan Ahead
Now this may sound more stressful and less than the best way to motivate yourself but for me it's been a real help, especially when combined with my previous point. Incorporating my other passions into my blog ideas has really helped me take the blog in a different direction, one that I'll continue to go down in 2019 with the possibilites of new ideas along the way. It also helps that I've cut out the worry of having to have the newest releases to review as well as cutting out the bullshit of wanting to please everyone which combined has made planning out posts a piece of cake. Autumn/Winter is when I really find myself inspired to create the best content possible and by the middle of July, I had a good idea of where I wanted to take the blog come September 1st. And as I write this, I already have the next few months planned out apart from a few spaces, including a few ideas for January jotted down so I don't forget them. Now before when I worried about pleasing everyone and having the latest releases to feature, I would be extremely stressed about having that much planned out but now that I've stopped worrying so much about what people like and posting what I'd be happy reading, the schedule makes me happy and I'm really looking forward to sharing every post with you from here on out.
Not Forcing Myself To Work
As I write this, I'm doing the exact opposite of what I'm advicing. I've spent many a day and evening sat in front of my laptop, watching the cursor blink repeateadly against a blank screen. And the longer I stared at it the harder I found it to find the right words to start a post. Then came the frustration, the loss of motivation to write the post and then went my schedule and I was back to square one of feeling let down. Recently however I've really changed how I go about writing a post and when I settle down and focus on that particular post. Now I spend an hour to an hour a half a day working on posts, inbetween watching YouTube and catching up on shows I want to watch apart from Wednesdays when I dedicate my whole evening to working on posts and planning out ideas that I have. I find that this way of working on posts makes me more productive as I'm not forcing out a post ten minutes before midnight the night before it's posted and I create better content that doesn't just seem like verbal diarreha or ramblings of a mad woman. Working in this way also means that if I'm feeling it a particular day, I don't feel so bad about not doing it and when I do come back to the post at hand, I write better and in a more coherent manner.
Music, lots of it
It's all well and good planning ahead, creating a space to work and setting aside a set amount of time each day to work but without music, I'm absolutely useless. There are not many thing I can do without music to motivate me or to accompany the job. And writing posts, baking or even making an effort getting ready are things that require copious amounts of music to get it done. And there are only two artists that put me in that headspace to work, focus and not get distracted by Instagram or Pinterest. For me as long as I've got either Johnny Strong or Carrie Underwood playing, I can easily write a good two or three posts in a row without getting sidetrack by social media. Music doesn't always work a motivator for everyone but if it works for you, I highly recommend using it to get shit done. It makes the task at hand seem less like work and you get to enjoy the work of your favourite artists at the same time.
Taking A Break Every Now And Again
This last piece of advise is crucial and something I apply to all aspects of life, not just blogging. Breaks are a great way of refreshing both your mind and body. It's all well and good sitting in front of a screen staring at a blank screen or half written post but it's going to stay that way if you continue to force yourself to work on it. Taking a ten minute break from it will refresh any ideas you had, will refresh your mind and allow you to relax instead of getting wound up over the pressure of getting it finished. Going away, doing something different, then coming back to something is always the best way to move past anything that's stopping it's progress. For me if the words aren't coming, I switch over to YouTube and catch up on my watch later list for a while to just switch my brain off from what I'm working on and enjoying something others have put work into. Plus as I predominantly watch beauty videos on YouTube, I find it works as a gentle reminder as to why I'm staring at an open blog post in the first place. Breaks are also great for grabbing a snack or two and I for one am a big supporter of having a snack nearby when working on a post.
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