Blogging & Working Full Time


I've been seeing a few "Week in the life" type posts around lately, mainly from full-time bloggers that want to share a bit of insight of what their life is actually like and I have been loving them. I'm a pretty nosey person, so reading posts like this, and chilled everyday life kinda vlogs, is something that I thoroughly enjoy. That's why I decided to write this post, it's not so much a day to day diary of what I do, more like how I balance blogging and working full time.

I just want to start out by saying that this isn't an "oh poor me it's so much work" post, but I have had a few times when I've been completely burnt out and had to take a couple of weeks off blogging.

Luckily, blogging is something that I love doing, which means that a lot of the time I put into it is time well spent and rarely feels like a big chore. So how do I balance posting twice a week, keeping up with my blog and working full time? Not very well, I'll be honest. However, it does help that I don't really have a social life. I'm a bit of an introvert, so my weekends I usually always dedicated to working on my blog.

This year I have managed to get myself into a pretty good routine and I've also taken a few things off my plate, meaning I'm not as stressed and don't put as much pressure on myself. I developed the habit of sleeping that bit extra at the weekends, giving me less time to actually get stuff done and resulting in me feeling crap about the fact that I had spent too much time in bed. Now I'm up by 7am during the week and 8am at the weekend, I found that getting up at a similar time every day makes me feel much more awake and productive. Although, that means that I'm usually in bed by 10pm. 

I work full-time as a receptionist during the week and a lot of people think that because I don't really have much to do at work, that I have loads of time to sit and write blog posts... But let me tell you when the phone is ringing every other minute, concentrating on writing anything is just impossible. I have tried it and when I read it back, it just made no sense. So whenever I get a bit of free time during the day, I like to do a bit of research for any future posts. I spend a lot of time reading about products, seeing what's new and brainstorming ideas - A lot that doesn't ever see the light of day. I can come up with five ideas but when it comes to actually do them, I only really like one. I'm lucky that I have time at work to do that, meaning I can calmly get things done over the weekend without stressing.

In the evenings, when I get home from work at about 6pm (depending on traffic), I sit down and schedule tweets, reply to any comments, promote any new posts that may have gone live, update Pinterest and write any posts that may need writing - depending on how I'm feeling. If I get home feeling exhausted, then I'll schedule tweets and chill for the evening.

Last year I put a lot of pressure on myself to always be busy and working, otherwise, I felt lazy and like I was useless. It got to a point that I was putting so much pressure on myself with my Blog and Bleet (Which I no longer run or own) that I started feeling it physically. I went to the doctors thinking maybe I was low on iron or something, but after running a few tests, I was told that it was depression that was making me feel how I was feeling, which wasn't great. So I made a few changes and tried to change my "I must always be busy" mindset. This year, I am making sure I have days off and chill. So if I get home from work one day and feel exhausted, I make sure I sit and watch a bit of Netflix GUILT FREE. 


The weekends are when most work gets done, seen as I've spent most of the week coming up with new ideas and planning, I now know what photos I want. I tend to write down all my ideas and thoughts for photos on Friday, so on Saturday, I can dedicate my day to getting loads of shots for upcoming posts. If I shoot in bulk, I can then dedicate more time to writing. I used to just shoot for whatever post I had planned for that week and that just meant that I was constantly falling behind and ended up getting quick shots of stuff that I wasn't actually happy with. Having a day dedicated to taking photos, means I can take my time and get the shot I want.

I usually edit the photos on the same day of taking them, so I can then upload them to blogger drafts and know what I've got to write. Even though I have a yearly wall calendar, a diary, my phones calendar and a notebook...I still check my drafts often to know what I've got planned. Having so many different things to organise myself, is probably the reason I'm so unorganised.

On Sundays, I like to have a more of a chilled yet productive kind of day. I try to dedicate my morning to sorting my room out and cleaning it, mainly because it's where I write so having a clean workspace helps me focus better. Then I'll get my laptop out and write as many posts as I can, focusing mainly on the ones I need doing for the week. Sometimes I can write a lot in one day, yet other times I struggle to write anything I'm happy with. I try to plan ahead and be prepared for these kinds of days, that way I'm still putting out content I love but without the stress. 

On Sunday evenings, I like to get myself ready for the week. I'll get my diary out and set goals for each day to make sure I'm getting something done each day, even if its something small. I also try and sort out my clothes for the next day - I try and do this every evening as it makes my morning easier and less stressful. You'd be amazed by the amount of time I used to waste trying to decide what to wear in the mornings.

As for the occasional YouTube video that I put out, I tend to film those when I'm ahead of schedule with my blog content and want to work on something a bit different. I try not to stress about YouTube, as I enjoy blogging much more and I don't want to get caught up with filming videos when I haven't even got a post ready. Ya feel me? I love filming and I love editing, but it's just not my main priority at the moment. 

Like I said, I'm not a very outgoing person at all. I much prefer spending all my time working on my blog, as weird as that may sound to some. My favourite kind of weekends are the ones when I dedicate the entire weekend to purely blog stuff. Planning Blogmas was fun, I spent so much time taking photos and spent hours writing - It was great. 



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