Discover practical tips for creating a blog schedule that boosts productivity, keeps you organized, and helps you consistently publish high-quality content. Get more done with these proven strategies.
IE 411: How to Create a Blog Schedule to get More Done with Lucy Reyes
Lucy Reyes is a productivity strategist and Trello specialist. She enjoys helping content creators, digital product creators, and bloggers to maximize their efficiency and increase their profits without doing more.
Productivity and Trello are her superpowers. She has a podcast called Cheerful Productive Chats to help you get more productive in your business.
She has two children, one who is a toddler and requires a lot of work and the need to be as productive as possible with the little amount of time that is free.
Why should bloggers schedule their week?
Lucy started in the online space as a blogger and understands you have so much going on as a blogger. When she first started blogging, she was still working her corporate job and had no idea how much work was going to be involved.
She thought she could write articles and publish them, and nothing else but still make money. It would be easy.
Once she started, she realized she couldn’t just put something out and an audience would come. She had to do marketing and social media.
There are many things you have to do. Since it is a lot, you have to create some sort of schedule so you can stay on top of it.
You need to make money from your blog. Otherwise, it is just a hobby. If you are trying to make money, you should make it easier for yourself to do so.
Bloggers wear so many hats and often feel that no one understands that. You are wearing a marketing hat, doing content writing, taking photos, dealing with sponsors, creating products, doing email marketing, handling social media, and many other things. It’s a lot.
How do you determine what to schedule for a blog first?
Since we wear so many hats, how do we prioritize which thing to do? We often try to change what we do first but you can create a system or workflow that lists out a step-by-step process of what you need to do with your blogging process.
You will just follow that every single time. Each time you blog, you won’t have to decide what to do first. You will start with a blog post workflow, which is a breakdown of steps for the process you are working on.
Take the time to create your list of steps, put them in the order you want to work on them, and reference the list every time you write a blog post. You won’t have to figure out what to work on first because you will already have decided that in advance.
It doesn’t have to be the same step every time or for every person. AI can help with things now. For example, you can get a meta description before you record your podcast because it gives you a quick summary and you can make it work for you and the content you are going to create.
What is your advice for bloggers who are working part-time because of a full-time job or due to younger kids being home?
Create systems that allow you to keep it flexible. One of the biggest myths that Lucy hears about systems is they are inflexible and too rigid. It is just the opposite.
It doesn’t have to be the same first step for everyone, it is just your first step. Systems are customizable to your business, your brain, how you want to do things, and how much time you have.
Some people are able to knock out a blog post in a day. For others, it might take two or three days. One day, you can work on it for two hours, and another day, you only have 30 minutes.
You can create your process in a way that allows you to break it down however you need to. If you have limited time, you have to know how much time you realistically have.
We are all ambitious and like to add things thinking that we can handle it all. You add all of these tasks to your list and think you are going to write a blog post and get it done this week when you only have 30 minutes a day to work on it and it takes you six hours to get it done.
Where are you getting the extra time from? You need to know how long it takes you to complete certain tasks by doing time tracking.
If you use Trello, there are some free power-up tools you can use to know how long it takes you to complete certain tasks. There are also other apps like Toggle or even using a pen and paper.
How long does it take you to do keyword research? How long does it take you to write your blog post?
Knowing that information helps you better plan and schedule the tasks you are going to be working on. You can know which ones are focused and which tasks are non-focused work.
Which ones do you need to have pure focus for? Maybe you do those after your kids go to bed or during their nap time.
You might be able to do keyword research here and there in the spaces of your day. It might take longer but it doesn’t involve focus work. Then, rely on your systems to help keep track of everything you have going on and where you are in the process.
Jenny often finds that the beginning of the week is more productive. She also works well first thing in the morning. Those are the times she chooses to do the heavy creative thinking.
In the afternoons, she might do the quick emails or make sure photos are ready for her content. Even if you don’t have little ones at home, taking the information and applying it to your schedule is key.
How do you use Trello to be more productive?
Lucy uses different Trello boards for different processes. Many people try to fit everything into one Trello board (or Asana workspace or whatever tool you are using).
Instead of trying to fit it all into one, if you create different boards or workspaces for the different parts of the business, it is easier to get more detailed with what you are doing.
Lucy has a blog post workflow and part of that is creating pins for Pinterest. But Pinterest has its own process with things like creating the pins, doing keyword research, etc. She also created a separate board with those Pinterest processes.
If you are publishing to Instagram or Facebook, everything has its algorithm. Lucy breaks it down into different places so she can get detailed about the processes. That helps her stay organized in getting the tasks done.
You know where everything is and have everything detailed out so specifically that you don’t forget what you have to do. You might be working on something and realize you forgot to do something, like add a meta description, and you have to go back and do it. Even though it is a tiny step, it is forgettable.
If you have everything in one board, it is too much. If you separate the steps onto different boards, it isn’t as overwhelming. It doesn’t have to be difficult. You are simply taking your steps and placing them onto a Trello board so you make sure you get it all done.
How do you know if you’re getting “enough” done for your blog?
We feel like we have so much on our laundry list of things to do, how do we know if we are being successful? You intrinsically know when you have had enough for the day.
We often put too much on ourselves to get more than we can do. Then, we feel bad for not finishing the tasks.
It’s okay if you don’t finish what you wrote on your planner for that day. You know when you have had enough.
We feel when our body changes throughout the day and how much energy we have. One thing people don’t realize is when you have low energy, you are not going to get a lot done. You are not going to get a lot done even if you continue working.
Sometimes, rest is the best thing you can do when you feel like you don’t have any mental creativity. You may have to wrap things up two hours earlier than you planned because you know there is no point in staying at your desk because you still won’t get enough done.
When you step away, relax, and give yourself some brain space, you are productive when you come back the next day. Feel how your body feels and what it is telling you and use that as your basis for productivity that day.
The practical part of productivity will have you create a minimum list that can change and evolve. At some points, it can be to do the blog post from start to finish. Other times, it can be just to write the post.
Work through your minimum list and then if you have more energy, continue working. Systems help with this because you can mark certain tasks as having priority. If you get to the end of the list and you want or need to be done for the day, you can know that you did your minimum and that is enough.
This can be connected to your purpose and your why. What are your goals for your business?
Sometimes, we have these huge expectations for ourselves and we compare ourselves to people on very different paths than we are. They may not have little ones at home or may have more time to spend if they want to. We have to remember not to compare our paths to theirs.
How do you get yourself out of comparing yourself to others?
This happens to all of us. Lucy tries to remember that everyone’s circumstances are very different from our own.
Even if you are not where you want to be or you haven’t achieved the goals you have set for yourself, you are still making progress.
You are still here. You are still in the game. That is enough.
Whether you use a sticky note or daily affirmation, have something that reminds you that progress is still progress. Everyone has their own journey and their own circumstances.
Take a moment and assess the situation. What are the surface-level differences of why that would be the case?
Know that there is more to it in the background. They might have different finances, have a job outside of the home, or many other things that could make a difference.
Having systems in place to get your things done every day, to get to a blog schedule that works for you, is going to be key.
The Blueprint to a Highly Efficient Online Business:
The Blueprint to a Highly Efficient Online Business is a free, private podcast that explains how productivity impacts your profitability. Being productive can impact the amount of revenue that you make in your business.
The podcast goes into more detail about keeping things organized. Lucy shares her 4-bucket system and the two biggest mistakes people make when creating their systems.
