5 Tasks to Refine in the New Year | Arrows & Awe
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5 Tasks to Refine in the New Year

Work Smarter in the New year Happy New Year! Just like everyone else, I can’t believe 2016 is over. But, I’m so excited for 2017! 

Working smarter and not harder seems to be the trend for 2017 and I’m jumping all over it. As discussed in my Best Blogging Tools post, we are using the best tools and some of our own skills to help out workflows and make the best of 2017. Here are just a few things I will be working on bettering in 2017 and you can join with me:

  • Networking

Really getting into your community of people is MAJOR. This year lets work on connecting to the right people and growing relationships with them. These people we connect with should add value to our lives – whether it’s for our blogs or our personal life. You never know who might be able to help you further your goals/dreams. 

If you’re a blogger, respond to all of your comments, comment on other (similar niche) blogs. Find your tribe on Instagram.

  • Worry less about cleaning

This is major. And you may be thinking “what..?”. This is something I had to just stop worry about so much. For me, it was to the point where I would come home from work daily and do nothing but organize, sweep and wipe everything down. It even got in the way of my blogging, crazy right? 

So here is the thing, your home will always need to be cleaned. Laundry will always need to be done. Let’s practice getting it done as we go so it doesn’t pile up. If it does pile up, we need to practice not stressing over it! It will get done. 

  • Time Management

Good old time management. I have struggled with this SO hard. You guys know by now that I work a full-time job in addition to Arrows & Awe. It has been a challenge because I want to stay consistent and make sure I produce quality content. But, finding time has been extremely difficult without feeling burnt out. 

For me, I know Arrows & Awe is my passion and I am not giving up on it. Therefore, I have been finding the time to wake up earlier, before work, to write a post. Or editing photos on my lunch breaks. Sometimes it has become such a cluster of tasks that need to be done before I can hit publish, that I have now started to create my workflow.

Which brings me to:

  • Find a workflow

When it comes to blogging, finding my workflow has been extremely difficult. I’ve tried writing the posts all in one day to scheduling the days in advance that I would write a specific post. All of it has failed until I started to read about batching.

BATCHING HAS CHANGED MY LIFE.

What I mean by batching is , literally doing each step in your blogging process in batches.   If you’re anything like me, being overwhelmed makes me just want to do nothing. So, I take each task and divide them out by days in an order that makes sense for me and my lifestyle. It’s helped my process and also my brain haha, I don’t have a million tasks floating around in my head everyday. 

What that looks like for me is:

Monday: Read & answer emails
Tuesdays: Blog research (what’s trending?)
Wednesday: Writing ( I sit down and write all of my posts for the following week, including SEO) 
Saturday: Content creating (taking photos or creating them in photoshop)
Sunday: Schedule posts for the week

Daily: Marketing, networking and engaging.
 

related: Best Blogging tools to use

  • Education 

Girl, (or guy!!) please never let yourself stop learning. Arrows & Awe has been the biggest learning experience in my life and the one thing I’ve learned the most, is to not stop learning. lol! Seriously, take those e-courses from other bloggers. Go to those blogging conferences. Social media is always changing and you know what they say, the only constant is change. 

I will be at BlogHer 17 in Orlando, FL – so if you’re going let a sister know! 

 

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24 Comments

  • Jenn Schmidt

    Love this! I have been trying hard to network this year! It has made a huge inmprovement on my blog and other social medias!

    January 17, 2017 at 8:53 am Reply
  • Samantha

    I want to do more education this year with my blog. There is so much to learn!

    January 17, 2017 at 9:47 am Reply
  • Lianne

    Lots of good advice! I might try batching! At the moment I’m not working and have plenty of time to work on my blog but I go back to work next month and I’m worried I’m going to get stressed and overwhelmed!
    Lianne | Makes, Bakes and Decor

    January 17, 2017 at 10:11 am Reply
  • Ruthie

    Love this!! Education is so key for me as well this year!!

    January 17, 2017 at 10:31 am Reply
  • Emily

    Batching works so well for me, too! I like to set timers and work on batches for a preset amount of time. This really helps me stay on task.

    January 17, 2017 at 12:01 pm Reply
  • Daria

    I love this batching idea! I will definitely sit down and brainstorm with this. I also need to take some blogging e-courses. I attended one conference and loved it. Unfortunately it’s been awhile since I’ve been to one. Education is definitely the key to continued learning to stay on course of what’s trending. Thanks for sharing!

    January 17, 2017 at 3:57 pm Reply
  • Annie

    Networking and finding a workflow are two things I plan on working on this year too! I have got to figure out some sort of system that works for me while having a 3 1/2 year old running around — if that’s possible ๐Ÿ™‚ Thanks for sharing!!!

    January 17, 2017 at 4:11 pm Reply
  • Bridget @ Antics of a Nutty Hiker

    Great advice! Time management is a huge thing for me (as in I need to learn how to do it). It’s the number one reason I always feel stressed!

    January 17, 2017 at 5:12 pm Reply
  • Danielle

    This is so great!! I started going to blogging events and it’s so fun and you learn so much!!

    Keep Sparklingโœจ
    Danielle
    Sparkling Southerner
    Find me at : Instagram

    January 17, 2017 at 6:34 pm Reply
  • Celeste

    This couldn’t be more spot on. Thanks for putting my goals into words!!

    January 17, 2017 at 6:34 pm Reply
  • Abby

    As of now, I’d like to think I’ve found my groove as far as work flow is concerned. And also networking, I’m still trying to learn my ropes on that. I will definitely keep these in mind moving forward this year!

    January 17, 2017 at 8:35 pm Reply
  • Emma

    Networking is my begone at the moment – I’m really trying to reach out to other bloggers. It can feel a bit lonely sometimes just being one person behind a screen so would nice to get to know more people in the same situation. I think we all have a lot we can learn from each other.

    January 18, 2017 at 8:45 am Reply
    • Tiffany C

      yep, i hear you loud and clear!

      January 18, 2017 at 4:56 pm Reply
  • Kate

    Wow, I am seriously impressed with your schedule and batching. Nice work!!

    January 18, 2017 at 12:06 pm Reply
  • Elizabeth - CrazyBusyHappyLife

    Networking is BY FAR the thing I need to work on most out of this list!

    January 18, 2017 at 12:18 pm Reply
    • Tiffany C

      same here! it actually scares me to network lol

      January 18, 2017 at 4:55 pm Reply
  • Brittany from The Purple Truths

    Your list revealed everything that I am trying to work on this year. Starting over on a new blog is hard. I’m definitely trying to pinpoint goals that I want to overcome and create a system that works.

    January 18, 2017 at 1:57 pm Reply
    • Tiffany C

      I can only imagine! Good vibes your way ๐Ÿ™‚

      January 18, 2017 at 4:57 pm Reply
  • Tara Berries

    Networking is so important. I want to stay on top of my blog comments this year as well.

    January 18, 2017 at 5:14 pm Reply
  • Cassandra

    Great point about coming home and having to clean everything. I’m working on this one a lot. -Cass from sugarsaltspice.com

    January 18, 2017 at 9:42 pm Reply
  • Abby

    Ummmm the cleaning thing!? You so described me. I get so exhausted and stressed out every night because my clutter radar kicks in and I can’t stop myself! I need to do a better job of a) keeping up with it as I go, and b) setting aside time just a couple times a week to clean and chilling out the rest of the time! ๐Ÿ™‚

    January 18, 2017 at 10:10 pm Reply
  • Anna Mullikin Freeman

    I love this! I’m going to be sure to save this for reference. A lot of good ideas to being in 2017! ๐Ÿ™‚

    January 19, 2017 at 8:34 am Reply
  • Jae x SCATTERBRAIN

    I absolutely love all of these, especially the last part! I went back to school (well, it’s online) last year to expand my knowledge in technical communication. It’s probably one of the best decisions I made last year!

    January 19, 2017 at 10:58 am Reply
  • Kimberly

    I’m trying so hard to do everything that you just mentioned!

    January 19, 2017 at 3:32 pm Reply
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