Getting Regular

I've been through my statistics and let's just say they are not great.  Why doesn't anyone want to read my little blog?  I'm funny!  I write about interesting things.  I'm opinionated!  (Okay that last one was true.)  So I did some research about how to grow your blog.  Apparently you need to post regularly.  Who knew?  Well I did actually, but I just never managed to be regular.  So I needed a way to be regular, a way to add some fiber to my blogging diet.

Some self-reflection showed me that I tend to procrastinate a little,  sometimes for perhaps months or maybe a year.  To get over this I will run the timer experiment.  I will set a timer to write everyday  which will hopefully lead to blogging everyday and hopefully to not posting the exact same article everyday, since that would be embarrassing.  Setting a timer is a way to get started on a task.

The Timer Experiment

Method.

Think of something you want to do but never really get around to.  Choose an amount of time you think you can give this thing right now.  Set the timer.  Do the thing.  When the time goes off reassess.  Do you want to keep going?  Is that enough for now?  Simple right?

So today I tried this method on several tasks, gardening, cleaning the bathroom, (I really do get around to cleaning the bathroom. Promise!  Just not normally on a Monday.) doing some sewing, sorting out my menu for the week and of course writing this post.  I weeded for 30 minutes and then stopped.  I set 30 minutes to clean the bathroom and then tidied and vacuumed the bedroom as well, since I had time left over.  I did some sewing in two x one hour long sessions, set a menu for a fortnight and I set another half hour to write this.

Today the Timer Experiment has been an unmitigated success, since I tackled every job on my list plus my regular jobs, (you know, laundry, making dinner, buying milk...) on a day I normally don't do too much because I teach an after school class in the afternoon.  Having that class sitting there makes me feel like I can't start anything because I have to finish in time for my class.  The timer made sure I would stop on time on tasks that can get a bit open ended.

We will see how things go tomorrow.