If you’re reading this article, chances are you are a blogger so you know what I mean when I say that there’s too much to do and it all feels urgent. It must be done today! By us! It has to be perfect! Do it all right now! Are you as overwhelmed as I am?
There are so many tasks that have to be completed as bloggers. Here’s just some tasks:
- writing articles
- reading various articles in our niches and keeping current
- creating products
- delivering services to clients
- researching
- writing comment and replying to them
- marketing tasks
- being active on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media sites
- participating in forums
- networking with other bloggers
- obtaining interesting photos to add to articles
- reading up on copywriting, best practices, etc.
- checking out affiliate products
- creating new blogs
- dealing with any technical issues on our blogs
- dealing with any support issues resulting from products
- scheduling product launches
- paying invoices associated with the blog
- making design changes
- creating videos, podcasts, etc.
- sending and answering emails
- and everything else that is associated with blogging. I’m sure that I’ve forgotten lots of other tasks that you have to do for your blogging business.
We need some kind of system to make sure that we are working on the most important items and not just wasting our precious time. That’s where the 4-Ds come into play. By completing those tasks that are important in the precious time we do have for blogging, we can accelerate our blog’s success.
Let’s see if we can organize our work so that we complete what’s important in our lives, rather than what’s just urgent.
Here’s what I suggest you do. Create a list of everything that you have to complete today. You can use the list above or start your own. List everything that you think that you must get done today.
Once you have the list, continue with the 4-D Solution.
The 4-D Solution
For every item that you have on your list, go through each of the questions below and write what you are going to do beside each task.
1. Can You Dump It?
Learn the power of saying “No” and just dump that task. Especially if it’s something that is not urgent, important or that you don’t want to do. If you don’t want to have a Facebook fan page, then don’t make one. Simply cross it off your list. Just because someone else enjoys updating their Facebook fan page, doesn’t mean that you will, too.
We all have our strengths and weaknesses and there’s no use you working on one of your weaknesses when you can better utilize your time on other priority tasks. Just dump the tasks that you don’t want to do.
2. Can You Delegate It?
Not every blogging task has to be done by you. Maybe you can outsource some of your research to someone who enjoys doing that and can do a better job than you.
There’s no use you spending hours of your time trying to create a fantastic design for your blog, when you can pay someone to do that – someone who has the experience and the training to create a design that you could never have come up on your own. So, delegate it.
Invest in your blogging business and pay someone to do something that you don’t have time to do, or are not equipped to do, or just don’t want to do. If you don’t want to create the Facebook fan page, but think that it’s important to have one, then pay someone to create it for you.
Maybe better use of your time right now is to open your blog up to guest-posts. That’s what James’ is successfully doing right now. In order to complete higher priority blogging tasks, he’s opened up this blog to other bloggers who are writing for him an article each day. It’s a win-win situation.
You can practically outsource all of your blogging tasks. I’m not sure why you would, but it can be done. If you are concentrating on tasks that are not high-priority for you, then delegate them.
3. Can You Defer It?
There are things on our lists that have to be done, but don’t have to be done right this minute or even done today. What task can you defer?
Can you defer updating your Twitter feed until tomorrow so that you can free up some time to work on your product launch today? How about deferring writing comments on other blogs? Does that have to be done today? Why not designate every other day a commenting day? Do you have to reply immediately to every email that shows up in your inbox?
Many of these have to be done at one point, but they don’t necessarily have to be done today. Maybe schedule one day where you batch write all your articles for the week. Or how about using one of the various application to schedule your tweets and other updates? Go down your list and see what you can defer to another day.
4. Can You Do It?
Sometimes we just have to bite the bullet and do it. Do those tasks that are important and are urgent.
If your site goes down, then you should be immediately on the phone with someone who can get it back up. That’s one thing that you don’t want to dump, delegate or defer. It’s your business and your responsibility.
Work on those important tasks that need your attention. Back-up your site today. Create your new blog today. Buy the theme today. Get started on your latest product today. Send that email that nets you new clients today. Create a Services or Products page today and start marketing it. Go down your list and see what you can do today. Then do it.
When you go through your list of blogging tasks, use the 4-D questions and ask yourself if you can Dump It, Delegate it, Defer It or Do It? I think you’ll find that by just asking yourself these four questions that you will be accelerating your blogging success.
Karen writes at A Meaningful Existence, a blog devoted to helping others put meaning into their existence through practical personal development strategies. You can subscribe to her RSS Feed and also find her on Twitter at @kruby.
Good grief. If you hadn’t have written down that list I’d have sailed through today like a dingy in the ocean. Now I’m stressed and anxious.
Kidding.
“Can you dump it?” is probably the one that most significant for me. Like you mentioned at the start of this post, “It must be done today!” is something we all feel. I’m a sucker for that, often finding my mind consumed with a brand new idea which, if I thought rationally about it, should probably be dumped.
.-= Mo “Mad Dog” Stoneskin´s last blog ..Enchanted Legumes: the other side of the bean =-.
Hey Mo,
I’m guilty of that, too. Who wouldn’t want to work on the cool, new idea rather than go through the tedium tasks? Sometimes it makes sense to defer the cool idea until we have a handle on the most important tasks for that day. I dump a lot of tasks, too
No worries.
Thanks,
Karen
.-= Karen´s last blog ..How To Use 10-10-10 To Get Unstuck =-.
I’m with Mad Dog. In the morning (or even the night before), I have a list of MUSTs but not all of them gets done. New or old ideas are in the way. But then again, at the end of the day, I tell myself, “at least some things were done.” My site hasn’t gone “live” yet so I guess that’s somehow acceptable.
However, reading this post will actually help me manage time vs tasks better. It reminds of the 4 quadrants of time management: Urgent and Not Urgent vs Important and Not Important.
Hey Gines,
The method is very similar to the 4 Quadrants method, but just because something is Urgent or Important it doesn’t necessarily have to be done by us, we can delegate it. The 4 Quadrant method is a really good method as well for prioritizing your tasks, but this method can fill in some holes.
Good luck for when your site goes live.
Karen
.-= Karen´s last blog ..How To Use 10-10-10 To Get Unstuck =-.
Yeah, I completely agree. I made a few changes to my plan for the rest of the week after I read this post. I’m an all-in-one machine at the moment so the delegation part is kinda out of the question. Soon hopefully.
Thanks Karen.
Love the 4 D’s. Same as Gines, it reminds me of the 4 quadrants of time management, something I used to use with my clients. I like the simplicity of the 4 D’s though, think I may try using that with a few clients and see how they respond.
.-= Phil Johnson´s last blog ..10 Reasons: Why your business needs a website! =-.
Hi Phil,
Glad that you are going to try this out with your clients. It’s not a new method and has been proven to work.
Let us know how it goes.
Thanks,
Karen
.-= Karen´s last blog ..How To Use 10-10-10 To Get Unstuck =-.
I’m big into both dumping things or deferring them. One of the reasons blogging felt overwhelming to me when I started was because I thought I had to do everything and do it all at once. Not so. Now I know I can experiment with things, do what I enjoy most and seems to work best, and get rid of or wait on the rest.
.-= Jean Sarauer´s last blog ..Eating Live Leeches, Kissing Dick Cheney, and Marketing =-.
Jean’s got the right attitude! When we’re feeling overwhelmed, create your list and see what you can dump, defer, or delegate.
If you can’t do any of that and it’s something that you feel will help your blogging, then do it. There are things that only we can do for our blog, but many other tasks don’t have to be done at all or not done by us today.
It’s all about having the system so you don’t get overwhelmed. If you get overwhelmed, chances are you’ll just throw in the towel and not do anything as it’s all too much.
Thanks,
Karen
.-= Karen´s last blog ..How To Use 10-10-10 To Get Unstuck =-.
I like these 4Ds! I especially like the “dump” section. I’ve done a lot of dumping of tasks that seemed important at first, but really were more timewasters than anything. I’ve reduced commenting, not because I don’t enjoy it, but because it’s time consuming and doesn’t deliver consistent results.
But ultimately, yes, we all have to just sit down and “Do” whatever it is we need to do.
Great post Karen!
.-= Kiesha @ We Blog Better´s last blog ..The many hats bloggers wear =-.
Hi Kiesha,
I’ve reduced my commenting, too. While I would love to spend hours on it as I normally would have, my life has gotten a lot busier now and something has to give. It would be great if there were more than 24 hours in a day, but there’s not, so we have to prioritize and dump some tasks for today. I’ve really dumped some timwasters, too, and have made conscious decisions not to pursue certain things due to priorities.
Thanks,
Karen
.-= Karen´s last blog ..Stop Lying To Yourself =-.
Excellent list!
This is a good way to really manage the tasks that must be done and by who and when. I’ve never thought of doing things this way and I think I’ll give it a shot.
It’s amazing what a little thinking and planning can do.
.-= Eric´s last blog ..Twitter Is Powerful When Used Correctly =-.
Great to hear that you’re going to put this into practice, Eric.
Let us know how it goes.
Thanks,
Karen
.-= Karen´s last blog ..The Only Words You Need To Overcome Your Fears =-.
I like your 4D tips and very practical and clever. Delegation is something I definitely don’t do as a 1 man only blogging show at the moment. But I certainly use the other ones.
.-= Dragon Blogger´s last blog ..LeapFish Displays Site Stats and Value =-.
I don’t delegate either, but I’m definitely not against it.
We can envision delegation as outsourcing or guest-posting, but what about having our kids help with technology issues? or our spouses with invoicing? or paying for logo or design aspects? Those are part of delegation, too.
Thanks,
Karen
.-= Karen´s last blog ..How To Use 10-10-10 To Get Unstuck =-.
This is an excellent system.
Email is turning into my biggest problem now. As deadlines approach, I need to be able to do fast turnaround with collaborators, etc. which means staying right on top of the email.
.-= Dave Doolin´s last blog ..The Fear – And Consequences – Of Failure =-.
Hi Dave,
I’m sure that I don’t have to tell you this, but having filters for your emails can work wonders. You can specific the person, topic, date, etc and filter all incoming messages. I like to not only filter messages to certain subfolders, but to highlight certain messages with colour tags in Gmail – that way they are easy to spot in my inbox.
Of course, a lot of newsletters can automatically be filtered to their own folders and read at leisure, too.
The Dump It action is particularly useful with email. I always figure if I delete an email by mistake and it was important, that that person would send me another email or phone me directly anyways.
Good luck with your collaboration projects.
Karen
.-= Karen´s last blog ..From Homeless To The InfoPreneur – Guest Post =-.
Heh facebook fan pages… I dumped that nonsense LOOONG ago. Sick post dude, I remember reading the automation/delegation algorithm in Tim Ferris’s book but forgot all about that shit and went back to doing everything myself. This was a nice lil reminder that I can hire minions or start my own sweat shop to make my blogging ventures extra awesome.
.-= FitJerk – No BS Fitness´s last blog ..Fit Jerk’s Collection Of – Confidence & Motivational Quotes =-.
Lol dude I love your comments
.-= Ryan Hanzel´s last blog ..Keep it simple =-.
Glad you enjoyed the article, dude
Get the whip out and start cracking on the minions, for sure.
.-= Karen´s last blog ..How To Use 10-10-10 To Get Unstuck =-.
Karen,
Very well put. I really enjoyed this post. I actually just made up a small blogger book just for me to jot down notes and help keep everything I do documented. The four D’s definitely made their way into my book since I am not refining the way I do everything and cleaning up some messes I created in my world. Keep up the great work!
.-= Ryan Hanzel´s last blog ..Keep it simple =-.
Thanks, Ryan. Glad that you enjoyed this article, even though you are already doing it.
.-= Karen´s last blog ..How To Use 10-10-10 To Get Unstuck =-.
Nice one Karen, would leave a comment but got that list to get through first!
.-= rob sellen´s last blog ..The Portland Bill site and what’s next =-.
Haha, no problem.
I’m just glad that actually reading the article made the high-priority Do It action list
.-= Karen´s last blog ..How To Use 10-10-10 To Get Unstuck =-.
Hi Karen,
Thanks for the 4d solution. I’m always writing lists and trying to accomplish everything on them. I feel like I’ve failed when I can’t get them all done.
Now, I feel like I’ll be able to weed out the things that are taking up my time rather than doing the things that will make the biggest difference.
Glad that you found the 4-D solution helpful, Jazz.
.-= Karen´s last blog ..How To Use 10-10-10 To Get Unstuck =-.
For me it’s not can I dump it but will I. There are things I need to dump that I won’t let go of.
.-= Ralph´s last blog ..The Top 17 Bloggers that keep me on course. =-.
Hi Ralph,
I would suggest you try the best you can to get the important stuff that only you can do and what you enjoy doing out of the way first. Anything else can wait (or be dumped). Take baby steps and learn to let go.
Thanks,
Karen
.-= Karen´s last blog ..How To Use 10-10-10 To Get Unstuck =-.
I think I need to focus on dumping and deligating. I have trouble dropping a task so I often end up trying to do too much in one day. I’m also looking at the possibility of finding someone to handle some of my tasks so I could focus on more important ones.
.-= Julius´s last blog ..Why Is Braille on Drive-Through ATMs? =-.
Hey Julius,
I think you’ll find that your productivity will soar if you focus on those tasks that only you can do, want to do, and are important to you. The others can be delegated to someone else or deferred or even dumped. Concentrate on your priority items and get those done, the rest will fall into place.
Thanks,
Karen
.-= Karen´s last blog ..How To Use 10-10-10 To Get Unstuck =-.
Hi Karen, We need to stop meeting like this
Over the past few weeks I have reduced the amount of comments I make, it is very time consuming as well know, 24/7 just isn’t enough time. I love your list and there’s a few I do follow, especially email. I do check it in the morning and later at night, I’ve never tried using the filter and it sounds ideal. I get around over 500 emails everyday, but these are from three different sites but its still a lot to go through. Thankfully not all of them need a reply at times or I would never get anything done.
Great post Karen, so I have a load of Ironing to do and looking to delegate.
You free?
.-= Maria´s last blog ..Build Traffic With StumbleUpon ToolBar =-.