However, I understand where they’re coming from. Whenever I watch shows, read stuff, interact with people or simply observe the world, at least one idea pops up in my head like a light bulb that you see in the cartoons. In short, ideas keep on coming.

Because of that, I needed an outlet. And writing seems to be the perfect choice. I carry a notebook and a pen. I scurry to them as soon as ideas come, wanting to express them in writing. Not wanting to forget a thing.

I still forget, though. So I needed a tool that works fast. The next thing I knew, this blog was born.

However, the ideas that I want to write and finish are too much for my tools. I wanted to finish all of them at the same time, but that is impossible. Sometimes I catch myself switching from one post to another. Not to mention the distractions that surround me.

As a result, I don’t finish anything. I took a quick glance at my blog’s control panel and here’s what I saw: 10 drafts – posts that I had started but remained unfinished. Some of the posts are finished and only need polishing. Some I still intend to complete and publish in due time. I actually have more drafts but let’s keep it simple. 10 drafts.

At first I thought I was just uninspired. But I immediately nixed the thought because if that was true, how come in my mind, those posts are already done? I knew what to write, I have them completed in my mind. But I couldn’t channel them through my fingers because they couldn’t keep up.

Suddenly, I realized, it isn’t my fingers. It’s my lack of focus. Focus is what separates unrealized ideas from successful posts. Do I want this post to end up as the 11th draft in my control panel?

I do not. So I finished this entry – not because I was pressured – but because I liked to and I wanted to; It is my joy to share and express my thoughts. Therefore, I have to will myself to success.

I personally like small support groups for a number of reasons:

- I grow with them and its members
- I know the leaders and can communicate with them
- I can participate, be heard and be noticed
- I like the personal approach

Like any other relationships, memberships in support groups are two-way streets: they support you and vice versa.

Actively participating in your support groups make these groups bigger, more active and more influential. In turn, these changes make you proud, make you part of a community, give you more experience and more exposure. Consequently, you grow more as a person you intend to be.

I have plenty of support groups in my whole life: my family, my girlfriend, and a couple of organizations during my education. I will not, however, mention how I support them as it will sound like I am tooting my own horn.

Since we are in the blogging world, I have listed below a select few of my “online” support groups. (If you are a non-blogger reader of mine, don’t worry, the technical terms are minimal). Some of these you might be able to relate to. After reading, if you are interested in learning more about them, I encourage you to click on their links:

SUPPORT GROUP#1 – Readers, Lurkers, and Visitors

Let us differentiate the three first. Visitors are people coming from various sites. They can be from search engines like google looking for something and somehow ended up here. These people probably will visit once then leave. 7% of this site’s traffic are coming from search engines.

Lurkers, on the other hand, are people who visited and decided to come back. However, they prefer to just read and comment only once or twice (sometimes they don’t). There is nothing wrong with that. Some of these people, I know personally.

Readers are people who are regulars of the site. They read, go through the archives, and sometimes comment when appropriate. Most of the readers are fellow bloggers who know the ethics of blogging.

How do I support them?

One of the reasons this site continues to exist is because of them. So I will continue to write useful information to feed their hungry minds. I read my readers’ blogs and comment when I have something genuine to say. I make sure I link to the post I think others will find interesting.

The top commentators are rewarded by displaying their links on the right sidebar. On a similar note, last month, I had moved the “latest comments” high on the sidebar to easily keep track of any responses.

The following 5 readers commented regularly here: Vic the CaribooPonderer, Jeni of Down River Drivel, Marcus Langford, Frank C of OpTempo – Internet Review Magazine, and Cris.

SUPPORT GROUP#2 – BloggingZoom

If you are a blogger who wants your articles and posts get promoted, BloggingZoom.com is the place for you. In other similar social sites, self-promotion is considered a mortal sin. But the creators of BloggingZoom (Vic Franqui of Make Money Online and Court Tuttle of Internet Marketing) made it known that publishing your own posts is what the site wants you to do, and members will “zoom” your submission as a vote of approval if they found your articles worthy.

What I also like about BZ is that making friends is a lot easier and they comment on your submissions. It means one thing: you get a readership that generates quality traffic and might subscribe to your blog.

A BZ power user, Jason Clark of Inner88 – Review of Internet wrote a very good explanation of BloggingZoom. You’ll find it extremely useful if you intend to be a member of BZ.

How do I support BloggingZoom?

I like the community in BZ; the leaders are approachable even though few sensitive people might find Vic a little bit harsh. My way of supporting them is following the rules especially in post submission. Vic and Court don’t like members copy-pasting their posts for one good reason: duplicate contents. Google penalizes sites that copy others’ information. Vic also explained the benefit is mutual. I do not see any harm writing 4 sentences (approximately 350 characters) to describe your submission.

Also, they encourage you to zoom others’ submissions and visit their blogs so they get traffic as well; I have been doing that already since my first day as a member.

SUPPORT GROUP#3 – BlogHology

A blogging friend of mine – Mert Erkal of searchforblogging.com – has a vision, a vision where selected bloggers are grouped together and their best posts are promoted. I am part of that group. He calls it BlogHology. Below is a blurb of what it is:

… Similar to an anthology, a bloghology is a collection of bloggers, their profiles, photos, and links to their best posts. It is a PDF e-book which can be easily circulated throughout the blogosphere for personal branding and marketing of selected good quality bloggers…

How do I support BlogHology?

Mert is a hard-working person who is dedicated in achieving his goals, and at the same time in helping others. As a result, he inspires others using the “lead by example” technique. Seeing these characteristics in him, it is easy to follow suit. He only wants one thing from the participants: to promote BlogHology to their own readers by putting up a download link on their blogs.

I encourage you to download (by clicking on the BlogHology image above) the BlogHology E-Book, where I was also featured. Find out which of my posts were included in the first edition.

SUMMARY

I believe in the old adage “No man is an island.“. No one should be. Whether we like it or not, we need others to be successful.

In choosing the right support groups for me, I see to it they have the following characteristics:

-They should have a vision-mission
-The leaders support their members
-The members voluntarily reach out to others

How about you? Do you have support groups that you would like to share?

I’ve seen that one before. The first time in my own video. I got worried, thinking if I violated YouTube’s Terms of Service (TOS). Was the video taken down due to copyright infringement or copyright claim by other parties? I didn’t think so. Fortunately, the (only) video in my account was not deleted. So how did I fix the error?

I didn’t. It was on YouTube side. My instinct told me to press F5 to reload the page before I make a drastic move in my blog. Luckily, the trick worked.

So I emailed Janie back saying that it is normal when the page with embedded YouTube video is open for a long time. The clip is not gone, removed or deleted. All she has to do is refresh the page and the video will re-appear.

She thanked me for letting her know because she didn’t “realize that You Tube timed out like that.” to quote her.

I want to thank Janie for pointing this out. She inspired me to write a post because it seems to me that this issue looks like a big deal to a concerned viewer. I hope that this post somehow reaches YouTube so they can fix the annoying “Video is no longer available” error that makes their members and users worry.

During that time, I also learned that he does blog reviews for FREE. Knowing that Frank writes a fair and objective analysis, I decided to sign up for this free service. I also felt it was necessary to let someone with blogging experience outside my immediate connection to take a look at this site and provide an objective opinion.

However, since this is a free service, I had to fall in line and wait. It was a long list, but I felt it was worth the wait.

Couple of months later, PlanetSaedel has been finally featured on OpTempo.com.

Frank categorized his review in to two parts: Site Design/Theme and Content; it was concluded in Overall evaluation. Below is a snippet of his review:

“… The WordPress theme is a simple, two column right side bar, design with a custom logo graphic built around the K2 theme. It’s minimalist but looks good….Planet Saedel covers a lot of topics, sort of like OpTempo does in a way… Planet Saedel is an enjoyable personal blog with some interesting observations. I didn’t see anything of significance that should be changed…. ”

I am encouraging you to visit Blog Review: Planet Saedel for full details of Frank’s assessment of my blog. Then let me know what you think about Frank’s review.

I would like to thank Frank for taking time to go around PlanetSaedel. He even dug deep into my archives to look for old topics to review.

If you are a personal or professional blogger (or an aspiring one), don’t miss the chance to get your site reviewed. (Paid blog reviews range from $5 – $450). It’s a win-win situation: you learn, improve, and get promoted. On the other hand, the reviewer gains credibility, a link back to his site, and potential readers coming from his reviewee.

Quick question:
If I ask you to review this site, what would you say about it based on design and content?

If you have not, I’m inviting you to read ahead, I’ll explain it using simple examples. Otherwise, stay with me, you might be able to share here or learn new perspectives.

Imagine you have a bag of tomatoes, and you noticed one of them is rotten. What do you do to keep the others fresh? You take out the rotten one to avoid contamination.

Same thing with a team. A team General Manager should always look to improve the pack by trading away or cutting the weakest link. That’s one form of addition (or improvement) by subtraction.

The same technique can be applied to everyday life. If you want to be successful, limit your diversions and concentrate on things helpful in achieving success.

Mert of searchforblogging.com, a hard-working blogging-friend of mine, applied similar technique in his blog to improve its traffic. One example he used was cutting his TV hours to 1 so he can focus on more important things.

Now, I will explain to you how I am going to improve this blog using Addition by Subtraction.

If you are new here in this planet, you will not even notice that the BlogRush widget already got the boot. Personally, I think it had potential, as it sent me few readers that stick around. But after its Phase 2, I believed BlogRush went downhill. While the widget is now gone, I haven’t deleted my account yet, just so I can check what kind of action Mr. John Reese is going to take against this blog. (I just checked — there’s now a notice in my control panel that says my account is temporarily inactive until I put the widget back within 45 days).

That’s improvement #1. BlogRush does not deliver. Removing the widget frees up a big space in my sidebar and at the same time, I used that space by installing a new widget called “Entrecard” (the box on the right side with picture/logo, and underneath says “Drop Yours” or “Get One”). I’ll spare you the details of its innerworkings**, but let me put it in simple term: it brings traffic more than BlogRush does. By traffic, I meant more people are clicking on this blog, and it is good, whether they are interested to stay or not.

Next, I decided to remove the ads on this site, more popularly known as AdSense. They are fetched from Google, and if a reader clicks on them, I earn money. When I started this site over four months ago, it was also my intention to monetize using AdSense. However, the earning was not good (less than $10/month) because the click per ad is worth less than .25c. I got smart-priced* which simply means that Google pays me very little per Ad click.

That’s improvement #2. Adsense only works well in niche blogs, not in general-interest blogs. I have learned this from reading useful blogs on SEO, internet marketing, and money making***. If your Adsense account is currently used in a general interest blog, remove it, wait for a few weeks and then use it in a niche blog. Doing so allows your account to no longer be smart priced.

My Amazon widget (see sidebar) is not performing good as far as monetization is concerned. It also takes time to load, therefore, any first time visitor hits the back button or browse away as soon as they enter. Consequently, I will try another variation and see what happens.

That’s improvement #3. Amazon does not perform as expected plus it causes slow page loading. I’ll see if the change I am going to do will have positive effects but if none, I’ll say goodbye to this widget as well.

Via improvement #2 and #3, I am allowing myself to focus on paid/tipped reviews, which will become the main source of income of this blog. However, I’m going to be honest that it’s a big risk doing this after reading this post about PageRank Slap by the Big G (Google). It talks about blogs losing their Google-calculated ranks. I can take that, mainly because I still have a dayjob to support me, and I am experimenting on different niche blogs for monetization. PlanetSaedel is aimed for readers, not money-making.

IN CLOSING

I also did other improvements using the “less is more” principle but I won’t go into details, since they are only minor. The key here is not to be complacent. Always explore your own site and check if there are tweakings to be done.

Planning your own addition by subtraction not only in blogging but also in life, is simply a common sense; but actually doing it and being satisfied with the results is called improvement.

—–

Resources:
*** SEO, internet marketing, and money making
** Frank of OpTempo.com analyzes Entrecard traffic.
* Court of Courtneytuttle.com explains Smart-Pricing.

However, when I encounter a foreign word or a Net Lingo, I lose momentum because I still have to research its definition if I can’t figure out what it means in a sentence.

It’s frustrating sometimes when a time-sensitive discussion goes hot and I want to reply to some of the comments. Looking up the words can be a waste of time. How I wished I knew those words at the start because, before I can respond after research, somebody has already “stolen” or written my argument.

That’s the reason why I am going to share with you my top 10 popular internet lingos to help you improve your online surfing experience:

Alphabetically arranged:

• FTW – For The Win – Commonly used in sports forum, particularly in sports game updates where members talk about the player who is taking the buzzer-beating shot for the win.

• LMAO – Laughing My Arse Out – Used by people when they read something real funny. LMAO has replaced the old LOL (Laughing Out Loud) and ROTFL (Rolling on the floor laughing). Two things I noticed about LMAO. 1.) It is seldom used by women. 2.) It is frequently used by a top SEO master Vic Franqui. For SEO ranking purposes? I am not sure.

• QFT – Quoted For Truth – I personally like this one. Short but powerful. It simply means a vote of approval when a person reads something honest and truthful and he can’t pass up the chance to quote the author.

• SFW / NSFW – Safe For Work / Not Safe For Work – These terms are often suffixed after a topic title to forewarn a reader that he is about to view a post that contains graphic pictures/videos and his work might be at stake if he tries to view it. By the way, shouldn’t you be working instead of watching videos?

• WTH – What The Heck – This is usually followed by a question mark, to express utmost disbelief. “Heck” can be substituted by another “H” word unpleasant to Christian ears. WTH is a cousin of a stronger term WTF which is normally the choice expression of a foul-mouthed person.

Honorable Mentions

I separated the next 5 because their definitions are pretty much self-explanatory. All of them are used in chats, text messages, discussion boards and forum:

• AFAIK – As Far As I Know.
• IDK – I Don’t Know.
• IIRC – If I Recall Correctly
• IMO / IMHO – In My Opinion / In My Humble Opinion.
• OTOH – On The Other Hand

IN CLOSING

Learning new things is a challenge. If you are a member of a forum, don’t be afraid to ask. Most of the time, members are more than willing to help you out. But if you are too embarrassed, then make sure to bookmark this page and share it with others who are afraid to be branded as “newbie”.

Do you have a top 5 or top 10 Net Lingos? If you still have doubts on certain net lingos, feel free to come back and post them here.

Unfortunately, the physical exhaustion has affected my writing capabilities.

My fingers were stuck at the home keys, my eyes began closing, my head started dropping. I tried to fight it, but failed. I arrived at a conclusion: I was physically tired.

And there was no sense of forcing something that has no power.

So I asked myself: should I continue just for the sake of writing despite my temporary incapability? If so, shouldn’t I be worried that I might sabotage my post?

My main objectives for having a blog are 1.) to express myself, and 2.) share my thoughts, opinions, and observations with others. Writing unsatisfactorily would be a shame and a disrespect to myself and to my readers.

With that in mind, I made a decision: I turned the machine off, took a break and then slept.

Now – fresh and recharged – I am reminded of basketball players when they are not healthy. Basketball is a physical game, and an injured player is not allowed to play until he is 100% healthy or cleared by the team doctor (some exceptions apply).

The risk of aggravating the injury is simply too high if a player forces the issue. Besides, will he be able to give something of significance given his limitations?

Same goes with writers and bloggers.

A writer should also rest if he needs to, because just like athletes, he should be in his excellent physical condition to bring out the best in him.

In this post, I will discuss what viral linking is, why it is tempting, and how it taught me to be patient.

What is Viral Linking?

Viral linking is a tempting activity among bloggers because it is so easy to accomplish. All you have to do is answer some questions from the originator and list the sites/blogs in your post and “tag” other people to do the same. As a result, the list grows (or spreads) like a virus.

Viral Linking comes in various names. Meme (rhymes with “cream”), Chain Blog Links, Tagging Game are some of the names associated with it. Basically, viral linking is similar to chain linking.

Why Do Bloggers Do It?

Exchanging of links (or backlinking) is hard to come by. As much as possible, we want our site linked to others in an ethical fashion. And it’s a tough mission if your site is still new or unpopular. You might get ignored.

But since viral linking is well accepted in the blogging world, it quenches our thirst for backlinks. Below you’ll read some of the common benefits of viral linking:

• Receive Inbound Links
An inbound link means a website or another blog is linking to you. For a blog, particularly the new and low-traffic ones, receiving an inbound link is like a manna in the desert. The feeling is good when you found out that someone out there knows your site exists. So just imagine if you’re a part of a successful viral linking: the inbound links will be tremendous.

• Increase in Technorati Ranking
Technorati is a service that ranks blogs according to “reactions” or links it received. The ranking is called Authority. If your blog has been mentioned in a post of another blog, it is counted as a reaction. In the past 3 months, my blog has received 50 reactions, which is equivalent to almost 17 a month. Close to a half of those coming from viral linking.

• Receive Untargeted Traffic
Untargeted Traffic means hits from sites outside your niche or interest. If you’re a part of a tagging game, bloggers who participate might click on your site to learn more about you. How do I know? Because that’s what I sometimes do.

• Increase of Potential Readership
Readership means the number of people who read your site on a regular basis. It is manifested in the comments you receive. If those who are part of viral linking enjoy your post, there’s a strong likelihood that they come back and might subscribe in a reader or by email.

• Build a Community
One thing I noticed about Viral Linking is that bloggers involved seem to know each other. If you want to establish a community, a simple tagging game can be a good start.

Viral Linking Taught Me Patience

Knowing its benefits, it’s so easy to fall into its trap. Viral Linking is a double-edged sword. It is good if done properly, otherwise, overdoing it might cost you some readers. Just ask yourself: would like to read a blog with half of its content are viral links? As a blogger, I want to share insightful experiences and useful information. As a reader, I want to learn more about the author.

I have seen how viral links works, because I’ve been a beneficiary. But I purposely didn’t maximize its full potential. Being included in numerous linking before, I was tempted to spread the love, too. However, I had to wait for a viral linking that fits my blog, and I was glad Jeni tagged me for a simple tagging game (see below). Patience is truly a virtue.

Why Don’t Some Bloggers Do It?

Some bloggers are not really fond of viral linking, and here are my theories:

• Out of niche – Some bloggers are too protective of their niche, and they feel they will lose some readers if they participate in viral linking especially if the questions are not within their subjects.

• PageRank Concerns and Paid Links – Some bloggers have what Frank best describes as “Googlenoia“, or being paranoid of Google’s evil acts. Big name bloggers seldom (or never) do viral links because they prefer paid links. They will not link to you unless you are willing to pay for a tiny space in their sites. There’s nothing wrong with what they are doing since their priority is monetization.

• Laziness – Formatting links and post can sometimes be pain in the neck and time-consuming, especially if the blogging editor is not really user-friendly.

How Do You Play The Tag Game?

As I said above, the originator of the tag game will set some rules and you simply follow them. Most of the time, it contains questions to be answered.

In order to make the viral linking successful, you have to copy the links from the previous tag. It’s really that simple.

I was tagged by Jeni and I’m going to use that viral linking as an example:

Below are the links included in the tag, feel free to click on the sites that look interesting to you:

Limadang.com
RamblingMoo.com
blogginginmypyjamas
StylewithPassion
Chinneeq

Dora-zooropazoo
Babyshern
HiPnCooLMoMMa
Rachel’s Soulful Thoughts
When Silence Speaks

Dancing in Midlife Tune
Underneath it All
I am Dzoi
Hobbies and Such
moms…..check nyo

Choc Mint Girl
Amel’s Realm
My Thoughts
Rusin Roundup – Mel
MondayMorningPower
Comedy Plus
Mother’s Home!

Down River Drivel -> last tagger

PlanetSaedel -> my site

1st Rule: If you are tagged, copy the links above and insert your site at the bottom of the list (right under the last tagger) to make sure you’re included in the succeeding tags (see example above).

2nd Rule: Tag 5 bloggers from your list. (My tags below)

My Tags

• Vic Grace at CaribooPonderer
• Cris at KillTimeDoBlog
• Marcus at MarcusLangford
• Frank at OpTempo
• Mert at Search For Blogging

Tagging game, by its technical definition, should have a question. So for optional 3rd rule, here’s a simple question for you to answer: Briefly, what’s the story behind your site name?

Because I am the originator of the question, I’ll answer it first:

PlanetSaedel means “my world” or “my planet”. Here, I share personal experiences, tips, insights, and advices for others to use.

Since the question was a modification of the original rule, you may or may not choose to answer the question. It’s really up to you.

CONCLUSION

Viral Linking is one of the smartest methods of natural link exchange among us bloggers that will increase our inbound links. However, overdoing it might lose you some readers or turn off first time visitors. Learn to be patient, wait for the right “tag” tailored for your blog. If you’ve been tagged, it’s your choice if you want to continue the viral linking or not. And if I have tagged you, I hope you do spread the links.

Happy Tagging!

As of writing, this blog is graded 72%, still low if you base it on the “academic” grading standards; but allow me to brag a bit — that is a major improvement, considering that my previous grade was only 41%. My goal is to reach a grade of around 80%-85% before the year ends.

The rest of the post contains technical terms and blogging-related jargons, so if you are one of my non-technical and/or non-blogger readers, feel free to skip to the conclusion below.

What is Website Grader?

This is according to their website….

Website Grader is a free seo tool that measures the marketing effectiveness of a website. It provides a score that incorporates things like website traffic, SEO, social popularity and other technical factors. It also provides some basic advice on how the website can be improved from a marketing perspective.

If you are a new blogger, this is a good start to learn about SEO, internet marketing, and traffic.

A snapshot of my grade. Click for more details.

What I Noticed

There are a few things I noticed. It’s normal to get a low score if your site is new. Your grade will gradually increase if you regularly update your blog. I learned this by checking my site a few hours after I post an entry. In simple words: More Content = Higher Score.

I also noticed that my Google PageRank (PR) went up to 3 from 0. I was kind of expecting it. New blogs/sites start with a 0 PR. If your site hits 3 months and Google updated the PR, you may be given a ranking, like what happened to this planet.

I also found out that the Delicious Saved Count remains at 0 even though I saved some of my pages in my account. The Subscriber Count is also reading 0, mainly because they are using the WordPress built-in feeder as the basis, not the FeedBurner, which is what I am using. It is minor, though, since I have access to that number.

Checking Out Popular Social Sites

Out of curiosity, I checked out some of the most popular social sites among bloggers. You will find below their scores as of this writing: (click on their names for full report)

• BloggingZoom.com – 95
• Digg.com – 99
• StumbleUpon.com – 96
• Reddit.com – 86

CONCLUSIONS

My score is increasing simply because I am updating my blog on a regular basis. The more content I post, the better grade I get. But is that what I really want?

If you are a blogger, this grading system is a good motivational tool to improve your technical blogging skills and social strategies as it also reports your traffic ranking and the number of sites that are linking to your blog. If you want to be in the thick of serious bloggers around the blogosphere, then use this tool to find errors in your site and try to correct them if you can.

However, this is not the only tool available for learning. Broaden your perspective and read a lot. If you are serious about SEO and related topics, there are other good websites and blogs that offer excellent tips to increase your scores and traffic. Also, getting a high grade doesn’t mean you have to be complacent. Don’t jack up your blog with meaningless posts for the sake of increasing your score. Remember, quality content is still the champion in the hearts of your readers.

I produced results. And by that, I meant awesome results that made my co-workers and I truly proud. It was a good scenario for me because it made me happy.

I have a weakness, though. When I develop new interests, they sometimes affect my priorities. These interests become diversions.

When I discovered blogging, it became my number one diversion and it interfered with my work.

I used to hone my technical skills.
Now I enjoy lurking in various websites.

I used to read books.
Now I prioritize blog-hopping and commenting in other blogs hoping to increase my site’s traffic.

I used to enjoy updating my school’s website.
Now it took a backseat because I prefer looking for themes and plugins to improve my blog.

Suddenly, I’m the man who can’t produce results. Because at the back of my head, I keep thinking my job can wait. I know I can always do it later.

Problem is, “later” never ever arrives because:

• I look for and think of something to blog about instead of focusing on the real work at hand.
• I check my site’s stats whenever I get the chance.
• I leave my email open and check it every time I go near my laptop.
• I visit social sites to learn more about blogging tips because I’m afraid to be left behind.

Other people love to malinger during work: extended coffee break, smoking, playing games online, shopping online, and many more. I know, because that’s what I’ve observed from others. Although I consider mine a lesser evil, it is still evil nonetheless, as far as my real work is concerned. Those activities I listed above are just a few examples of little things I insert during work. Little things that when combined, become a bad habit that holds back productivity.

And it has to stop now because that’s not the way I work. I am no fan of mediocrity.

There are reasons why I didn’t quit the 9-5 job (or 8-4 for me) for blogging. It’s because my day job is one of the biggest sources of my income and I enjoy it. Simply ignoring it means taking the risk of gradually losing it. And I can’t afford that. Without my job, this site will cease to exist.

This realization has led me to think that some things will simply have to be bumped down my to-do list. Since I enjoy blogging (or writing) and it makes me happy, I will continue to post and do the “blogging etiquette”, if they are within the boundaries of my priorities; or as long as I can do it while still producing results for my day job.

So how do I intend to do it?

Simple. Stop doing unnecessary things at work. It’s easier said than done, but that’s the responsibility that we all have to take. I’ll summarize it in two quick steps:

Step 1: Eliminate non-related activities during work hours – gradually, then completely. In this case, blogging has to be dropped from my 8-4 schedule.

Step 2: Every night, spend 1.5 to 2 hours at the most (not necessarily consecutive) for diversions. Since blogging is on the top of the list, I will have to settle doing it at night or when I get home. It includes “blog-rolling”, stats checking, commenting, social networking, and the like. I feel I have already built a connection with other bloggers and I don’t want to lose that. My presence will definitely still be felt. Doing Step 2, I will not have to worry about blogging during work hours.

In simple words, I just have to be more disciplined to live more happily.

How about you, do your diversions interfere with your work? If so, what do you plan to do to remain productive?

——

Inspired by:
Haiku Blogging @ ProBlogger.com