Good Day Class,
What an exciting treat we have today. Not only is Bamboo Forest of the fabulous blog, Pun Intended making a return appearance as substitute teacher (guest writer), but he has brought along his latest invention; a free online timer we can all use to monitor not only our online activities, but any chore or activity we’d like to time.
Without further ado, I’ll take a seat next to you and enjoy today’s lesson.
The floor is yours, Bamboo.
It’s great to be here again.
I’m well aware time is of the essence, so let’s get started.
* * * * *
I used to be concerned when publishing something I was thrilled with while having so few subscribers and so little outreach.
I would tell myself I’m being wasteful publishing my best stuff for just a few people.
Even worse, whatever great article (at least to me) I do publish under these circumstances is going to get buried beneath the hundreds of posts it’ll take to grow a large audience.
But then it hit me. I have it all wrong.
It doesn’t matter!
Today’s Lesson
Publishing your “best stuff” now, while you’re small, builds your creative muscles so that later on you’re capable of far greater things.
It’s like weight lifting.
When you start out, you’re only capable of lifting so much. With consistent practice, however, you’re able to lift even more. But here’s the thing: You have to lift more now to be able to lift more later.
See what I’m talking about?
Look at any accomplished blogger. Brian Clark, Leo Babauta, Chris Brogan, you name it… I bet they never saved any of their best stuff for later. They published it as soon as they could. And by doing so they’ve grown into the wickedly skillful bloggers they are today.
Holding back your best stuff for later won’t get you there.
Another advantage of publishing your best material now is it puts pressure on you to continue publishing only the best you can.
For example, let’s say you just posted an amazing article that knocks everyone’s socks off. Doing so has set a standard for your blog. You’re telling your readers what to expect and there’s no turning back now. You’ve put yourself in a position where not only your readers expect more from you, but you expect more from yourself, too.
That’s the kind of pressure you probably want.
If developing into the most skillful blogger possible is high on your agenda, think twice about saving your best for later.
Today’s Assignment
Have you ever felt regretful publishing your best material while having a small audience?
Is there ever a time to save a great piece for later?
Raise your hand and share your thoughts.
Bamboo Forest created an online timer that makes bloggers ridiculously productive. He also writes for Pun Intended, a blog that’s hilarious and enlightening.




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Hi. I'm Barbara Swafford & I'd like to welcome you to Blogging Without A Blog. Grab a seat, share your thoughts and join in the conversation. 


I don’t know about you, but I have not met a blogger who has a lot of free time. In fact, as I travel through blogosphere, I’m beginning to believe bloggers are over achievers – trying to do it all, and do it good.
Needless to say, the issue of time is often written about in blog posts and/or comments as bloggers struggle to find more.
Today’s Lesson
Although we’ve discussed how to make more of our time in the past, I feel this is a topic worth discussing further.
So, what can we do to give us more time to blog? To visit other sites? To set up additional blogs? To work behind the scenes? Or to join and participate in social networks like Twitter, Facebook or StumbleUpon?
Here are five options I’ve come up with:
One thing we often read is we need to make the Google bots happy and publish fresh content daily.
Although daily posts will show those pesky Google bots our blog is alive and well, what we’re not taking into consideration is our readers. Will they have time to visit us daily and read our latest post? Chances are, they won’t. Soon our best work is buried in our archives and few have had a chance to read it.
Networking on sites like Twitter or Facebook is a great way to connect with other bloggers and possibly drive up our traffic numbers, however, if we’re not careful, a planned 15 minute visit can easily turn into an hour. If this is an issue for you, try setting a timer.
As discussed in the comments of the He Said, She Said, They Said post, many bloggers don’t go back to check for a response to their comment until they visit the blog the next time. By using this technique it will allow us more time for other blogging activities, or life.
I don’t know if other blog platforms have this feature, but WordPress does. When we’re feeling creative, we can write more than one post and schedule them to publish at a later date. Not only will this relieve the stress of “what to post next”, but in the event life calls and we don’t have time to construct a post, we’ll have one (or more) ready to go.
Many of us do try to do it all, but for each of us there is probably a part of blogging that keeps us beating our head against the wall. Instead of wasting precious time struggling with the parts of blogging that frustrate us, we can hire an expert. This will not only save us time, but we’ll know it is done right.
Okay class, now it’s your turn.
Today’s Assignment
Which part of blogging uses up most of your time?
What are your favorite time saving tips for blogging?
Raise you hand and share your thoughts.
Photo Credits: Clock by wan fauzan
Stress relief poster by: ©aius