Confessions of a Six Figure Professional Blogger

Becoming a Better Problogger By Becoming a Better You

September 7, 2009 | Advice

Ever been in a rut as a blogger? I can tell you that I most certainly have.

Have you ever “worked” really hard all day, then sit there at the end of the day and wonder what you really accomplished? I have.

Have you ever had difficulty concentrating? Have you ever felt like your life was not exactly balanced and felt like it was starting to get to you? I have.

One thing that always underlies all success in internet business is your foundation: YOURSELF. And what about that?

Why Personal Development Is Important

It is really interesting. When I get into the circles of some of my internet business friends and colleagues, I find that there is a common interest and drive into the area of personal development.

And it makes sense. After all, when you run your own online business, it isn’t as if you are a cogwheel in a large operation. Most likely, you are the ENTIRE operation. If things aren’t going well with you, it affects your bottom line.

At the same time, most people who run an online business seem to be into the idea of lifestyle design in some respect. Working online gives time flexibility and that means you can ultimately decide what kind of life you want to live. If your body isn’t healthy and you’re not in top form mentally, it casts a cloud over everything.

So, personal development is very important.

Not Becoming One-Sided

Ultimately, everything I talk about to show you how to make money comes down to lifestyle design. And life consists of a hell of a lot more than working.

For me, personal development means doing things which help me to develop as a person, through both education and spiritual progress. It means increasing my ability to handle problems and mold my environment to me rather than adjusting to it. It means taking care of my physical body, spending time with my family, and doing the things I enjoy other than work. It means having fun.

Some common things I hear about from people that fall into this arena are:

  • Reading books (fiction or non-fiction)
  • Education
  • Exercise & nutrition
  • Meditation, yoga, taking a walk, etc.
  • Traveling
  • Spending time on yourself and your own management of your business. In other words, work on your approach to business rather than on the business itself.

The list could go on.

I cannot overstate the importance of doing this and paying attention to it. Unless you do, your job becomes you entire life. Your entire life will take place in your computer screen.

I can tell you from personal experience that I had a realization about how important this was a few months ago. And here’s why:

  • I found myself spending all day in my office while simultaneously not getting enough work done.
  • I found myself always talking and thinking about my work, and actively battling any and all interruptions of it. It was almost a “put my head in the sand” mentality, where my office was becoming my comfort zone. Not good!

So my journey is still in progress. And it is indeed a journey.

So, what about you?

The point of this post was to hopefully get you thinking about the overall balance in your life. Realize that all that other stuff is very important to your success in online business. Blogging for a living (or any form of online business) can suck the reality out of your life if you don’t balance things out and spend time on yourself.

We don’t live to work, we work to live.

What are your thoughts on this? What routines and habits have you implemented in your own life which have made your life and work go smoother?

If you enjoyed this article, you might also like...

  1. How This Problogger Is Dealing With Uncertain Economic Times
  2. Dealing with the Distractions of a Home Office
  3. Risley’s ProBlogger Toolbox – Software & Services Listed
  4. How Much Work is Being a Professional Blogger?
  5. What Do I Do All Day? [Problogger]

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  • Marvin68
    My blog is the 10% of the iceberg showing -- my personal development is the 90% that's underwater -- If the underwater half melts -- the top disappears
  • David,

    I've implemented exercise, quiet time to just think, prayer and meditation, and time to spend with my husband and family. And sometimes even hobbies! I hate to take time away, I'm always feeling guilty when I do. But I always feel refreshed when I get back to work, and find that if I don't take a break, I can reach burn out, which causes me to not be able to work at all. So it's worth taking the time out. So now I'm off to eat some Chinese! Thanks for a great post!

    krissy knox :)
    check out my twitter:
    http://twitter.com/iamkrissy
    my main blog:
    Sometimes I Think
  • bloggersworkshop
    A very timely post, David. I just happen to be having one of those mornings when I'd rather go back to bed than do anything productive. It's a good thing so many probloggers are interested in personal development issues - everybody needs a bit of a boost now and again.

    I wrote a post a week or so ago called "When Blogging Takes Over Your Life" that provides some good tips for balancing things out... I don't usually post links in comments, but since it's relevant to your post, I hope you won't mind.

    http://bloggersworkshop.com/615/when-blogging-t...

    Thanks again for the great bit of inspiration this morning. It's time to rethink my day...

    Have a great one... also, hope to catch up with you at BWE!

    Lee
  • Thanks for this, David. It's great to always be reminded of this. I'm currently working on my own lifestyle design blog and find it takes up most of my mental energy. I now force myself to stop working on it before dinner each day so I can leave the evening time to read more. I find I'm sleeping better as a result, because being in front of a computer screen too soon before going to bed can delay sleep for many people such as myself. Cheers.
  • Great post David.

    We can force-feed ourselves with a single type of brainfood for a while and feel the positive effect, but at the same time, we inevitably become weaker at everything else. Unlike cars, we need various types of fuel to move us forward, and we can only harvest that fuel by distancing ourselves from one thing and connecting to different aspects of life. One type of fuel is simply not enough to keep us going!
  • I definitely need to work on more balance in my life. I spend WAY TOO MUCH TIME on my online businesses right now and I need to work on many of the things you have listed. I plan on doing it... I just need to stop and start prioritizing my life a little better/
  • i actually love reading self-help books and implementing all the thoughts that i read there,i can say it helped me a lot when it comes to improving myself as a person
  • I think it's easier for some people than others. I totally tend to wrap myself up in work and thinking about it all day. I find that I have to literally stop myself and tell myself that work can wait and that I need to enjoy being at the beach or whatever. The other day, I had to deliberately turn off the laptop AND close it and go wrestle on the floor with my toddler. It was so much fun, but if I didn't purposefully stop working I'd have missed out.
  • While becoming a better blogger is greatly important to me, so is my family life. Yes, I work hard and long developing my online business, but by the same token, I feel great when I take a day or two off from the activity because I know I've earned it. This is what it's all about, the freedom to do as you please.

    I have refused to allow this endeavor to totally consume me, for to do so means that I have lost control. It remains extremely important to maintain a balance and spend time away from the profession.

    My wife and I have been together for 26 years and we still have "date night". It's that quality time that keeps everything in perspective. I've found that when you get away from the grind, it has an energizing effect which allows you to return to the task with new vigor.

    Great post David, you've hit the nail on the head.
  • I think YOU hit the nail on the head Jimi. That's inspirational to know that you guys still have you date night. I haven't been doing too well with that recently. Gotta get that going again.

    Thanks for the inspiration
  • This is exactly what I have been thinking for the past few days. Although I am motivated to build my blog and my business...I have to take time to refresh and reward myself. Yesterday I did that by taking my daughter to the movies. Today, since the kids have the day off, we are planning a picnic in the mountains. (if you call our AZ hills mountains!).

    Although those are nice breaks they are still not enough. I also notice when I slip on reading my motivational books I see a change in my outlook. It's important to keep our spirit fed to have that well we can draw from..whether it be for our own tough times or to be ready to support our loved ones.

    Thanks, David for a great reminder and confirmation to many of us that we need to take care of ourselves.
  • Good post and something that will be dear to the hearts of most bloggers. It's so easy to just "Hang on" for another half hour in your office, that turns into an hour or even two.

    As both my wife and I blog, we agreed a routine that we would never spend more than two hours at the screen in one session. So every couple of hours, we go and do something else for at least 20 minutes. It'll either be heading out to do some exercise, or taking what we call a blogger's picnic, or simply reading a book. It's worked really well for us, and we find we're much more productive when we come back.
  • David, great post and a topic that's been on my mind a lot lately. As I'm staring at a week of 6 interviews that convert to 3 articles and another 2 articles on top of that (not to mention the daily blog posts), all due in 4 days, my mind reels. Where to find time for personal development and time for ME is going to be difficult. That's when I get overwhelmed. That's when I get stressed out and bitchy. But I'm going to do my best. And I'm keeping your post by my side. :)
  • Great points you make here. Personal development is ESSENTIAL to online success. I'm noticing that more and more. It's extremely important to have balance in your life, because without it, working online can become Just another J.O.B. In my opinion, that defeats the whole purpose.

    Running an online business is about Freedom, but I've also found myself at different points struggling to maintain the balance. What I've found is that in order to have balance, you have to learn to prioritize and say no to certain things.

    I've reached to the point where I've decided to make a list on a daily basis and only have around 2 things on there. I've found that I've been able to accomplish much more that way because it's much more focused.

    btw. Are there specific people you follow that deal with Personal development?
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