Three Steps to Come Out of the Blogging Downward Spiral

Welcome to Gauravonomics Blog! Subscribe to my feed now and you'll never miss a single post!

Most bloggers find themselves falling into a blogging downward spiral at some time or the other –

- You are growing through significant changes at work/ in life and you don’t have any time or energy for blogging.
- You have taken on too many blogging commitments (multiple personal/ group blogs, collaborative blogging projects, or over-ambitious blogging series), and you feel that you aren’t doing justice to any of them.
- You feel that you are spending too much time ‘managing’ your blog and not enough time writing on your blog.
- The number of feeds in your feed-reader have proliferated and you are so intimidated by your 1000+ unread items that you don’t even try reading them anymore.
- Since you aren’t reading any feeds anymore, you have fewer ideas to blog about and, even when you have a little free time, you don’t really know what to blog about.
- Your page views, ad revenues and feed subscriptions go down, further decreasing your motivation to blog.

Between my Athens trip that refused to stick to script, my mysterious illness that almost got me admitted to the hospital, my totally pointless shift to Kolkata for three months, my on-yet-again-off-yet-again love-life, and the absence of a broadband connection, I’m way into the downward spiral myself.

I have been through similar phases twice before, and both times, I closed down one blog and started another (gauravonomics.blogspot.com to gauravonomics.wordpress.com to gauravonomics.com). I don’t have that option this time, so I have put in place my own three-step action plan to come out of the blogging downward spiral –

- Take a mini-break from blogging: If you have unresolved issues off your blog, they will soon start to show on your blog. Take time off to sort out some issues and make peace with others. When your mind is not preoccupied with problems, fresh ideas will start to flow in on their own.

- Remember the reason why you blog: Every one of us has a different reason for blogging, and, in most cases, it has nothing to do with page views, ad revenues or feed subscriptions. Remember the reason why you blog, remember how your blog fits into your life, and you’ll re-discover the motivation to blog.

- Cut back on your blogging commitments: Reduce your blogging frequency, cut back on your group-blogging commitments, put some of your blog improvement projects on the back-burner, say no to new blogging opportunities and unsubscribe from half the feeds on your feed-reader. Focus on what is most important to you in the long term, read only what is really worth your time, write only when you have something worthwhile to say, until you rediscover the joy of blogging.

So, after not blogging at all for almost ten days, I’m back to blogging, in a manner.

I have marked all the items in my feed-reader as ‘read’, unsubscribed from almost two hundred feeds, and said ‘no’ to two new blogging opportunities. I have requested Neha, Patrix and Amit to be patient with me as I go slow on my group-blogging commitments. I have also decided to reduce my blogging frequency to two to three posts per week on both my blogs (Blog and Diary).

Even though you’ll see less of me for a while, you’ll see some at least of me, a ‘blog brake’ instead of a ‘blog break’. So, subscribe to both my blogs (Blog and Diary), if you haven’t already, boot up your laptop, plug in your broadband cable, sit back in your favorite chair, put your feet up and relax. Normal programming will soon resume on Gauravonomics.

Related posts:

  1. Google Reader Link-Love
  2. Twenty Two Must-Do Blogging Tips from Must-Read Blogging Experts
  3. Bloggers Share Their Blogging Mistakes
  4. Should You Show Your Feed Count?
  5. What’s Next in Blogging?