The Art of Time-Management
Practice makes perfect.
Blogging is a lot of work.
I say this again and again, but blogging is more than just taking pictures and posting about it. Blogging isn't a 'work-from-home' kind of job. That's just the half of it.
The other half consists of experience, networking, meetings and events.
So how do you balance it all?
A huge component of balance is organization. Keeping your dates and emails sorted, categorized or in my preference, color coded, not only helps prioritize things but keeps you from stressing out.
As a visual person, I like writing out my events in a calendar. There, I set deadlines for myself, giving each campaign two weeks to complete. Timelines is key.
I even set aside dates to shoot and post. Being respectful to that time set aside is very pertinent to keeping Polydeux fully-functioning. Thinking ahead of time saves your future self so much time.
Not many people will tell you this, but to perfect time-management requires a lot of discipline and commitment. To be honest, laziness is a tough opponent to beat.
To combat this, having a business partner or a likeminded creative by your side can really enforce your work habits, keeping you from slacking off and vice versa.
However, if you're strong and independent, maybe curving the leisure activities you indulge in with a timer would increase your productivity.
To keep myself in check, I have (or try to have) weekly meetings with Justin to match up schedules, walk-through campaigns and brainstorm. This is where most of our magic brews. Not to mention, it ensures that we're on the same page focused on the same goals.
Being involved in a small group of bloggers (virtually or physically) can really stimulate a lot of creative energy. I've been involved in a lot of blogging groups via group chat or Facebook and it helps to have a support group where you can go to for advice, etc.
What also helps is having a goal to meet at the end of each week. They could be small goals that are realistic to achieve in each time frame. For example, my goal last week was to start working on creating a Wordpress to move Polydeux to.
Small baby steps eventually with turn into long strides. Being goal-oriented keeps you focused, productive, ambitious and keeps you infatuated with your work.
Finding balance in anything is difficult to achieve and I believe we will always be struggling to find a balance regardless of where we are in life.
However, I think management gets easier with time and gets even easier once it becomes a part of your routine. Through time-management, you really force yourself to develop traits and a greater work ethic, making you better at life overall.
Much like our passions, the art of time-management is always a craft we are striving to perfect and the best thing about it, is that we'll never perfect it.
Here's to perfecting imperfections.
Photography by Justin Quebral