Stephan Miller
Building Websites, Traffic, and Income
The Elusive Clean Plate, Inbox Zero and Mind Like Water
Many people have one job. Nice! Many people have one job description. Also great. And it’s a place I hope to be some day. Until then, I have to pick my way through adapting productivity books to my life. These are some things I think I may have learned while trying to adapt them to a schedule of family, day job, affiliate marketing, freelancing and development.
Denial
I know this. Many things I deny at first come back to bite me in the ass. I had a lot of things on my plate and I had put them there. 2000 feeds. 85 social networks. 7 blogs.
Beating the Hare or How Not to End Up in the Mental Ward
- Image by Amanda Woodward via Flickr
I worry a lot. I worry that I don’t write posts often enough. I worry that I don’t comment enough on other blogs. I worry that I don’t make enough real comments at social networks, instead taking the easy route of quoting part of the page.
But going slow is just going slow. Yes, you can kill yourself to gain momentum or you can go at your own rate. But slip up once will you are killing yourself making sure you are keeping up with a minimum you have set up in your head, and it can send you in a tailspin. Falling short of a goal once makes the second one easier to give up on.
Priorities in Traffic, Time and Money
Image by eristoddle via Flickr
When you do a lot of things, you have to have a system of priorities. I say that and yet I can also say that I get sidetracked about 50% of the time. There are those days when everything comes together. But I am driven like a MoFo, so even on those days, the to do list is never empty at the end of the day.
And if these things you do are spread apart, you must create your own system. No one will show you how. Being a blogger means wearing more hats than you ever thought you would. Throw anything else in that mix and add even more hats.
Back to Writing
The books and web pages I read affect me a lot. I use them as tools sometimes. If I read a book on productivity, I become more productive while I am reading it. If I read a book on digital photography, I see pictures everywhere. If I read a book on design, I notice every logo and sign. The knowledge sticks with me afterwards, but the act of reading keeps it in the forefront of my mind.
And, if I read about programming and computers, I become a robot and start writing really shitty articles.
Where I’ve Been Lately
I can be accused of reaching too far. I can also be accused of getting in over my head, at least for a few days at a time. But, if I had a choose between having a path laid out ahead of me or just taking steps forward like an explorer, not waiting for the rules or maps, I would choose the later.
I do like making money online. I just want it to be easier. The words that I can write at the various blogs and sites I own are only one part of the equation. The part that I will continue if I didn’t make any money.
A List of Top Blog Lists
I cover a lot of topics and read a lot of blogs. Up until recently, I had them all in one folder in my feed reader. Then I broke them up into folders. That took some thought and until then, I really had no idea what all my interests are. After that two hour organizing session, a lot of things became more clearer. I saw what I liked listed by topic. After that, I was able to create a few filters for each of my blogs. Now, if I’m in commenting mode, I just go down the river of articles in each filter. I have only headlines showing and open all the links in my browser. It is training me on writing better headlines and opening the link in the browser means I don’t have to retype everything when I go to comment. Read more... (383 words, estimated 1:32 mins reading time)