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Nothing to Blog About: Backlogitis

Nothing to Blog About: Backlogitis

Nothing to blog about article series logoWe all have it. The email inbox reaches 1,000 unread messages like some virtual red flashing light indicator of procrastination. You’ve got 600 tweets to read and 45 DMs to respond to. Your WordPress blog is still version 2.5 and your WordPress Theme only works with WordPress 2.1. The To Do pile on your desk resembles the Leaning Tower of Pisa. You’ve got Netflix movies stacked upon Blockbuster videos past due to return. And your blog is begging for a blog post.

The symptoms are all there.

You have backlogitis.

Also known as procrastination syndrome, Backlogitis is when the backlog of things to do saps the energy required to do the things you need to do, like the creative process of blog writing. When the shadow of things undone hovers over your psyche, it’s hard to be creative and inspiring.

When it comes to finding inspiration to blog, you find yourself with nothing to blog about.

The Prevention and Treatment of Backlogitis

Don’t despair. There is hope for those suffering from backlogitis.

Begin by taking things one thing at a time, not 500 at a time. The pile, virtual, mental, and physical, grew one thing at a time. So does the treatment.

The first step is to avoid The List. The List is another symptom. We sit down and look at our backlogitis symptoms and make a list of all the things we have to do to treat and eliminate the symptoms. We start with the first item on the list, then the second, then…well, you’ve been there. The list was so exhausting to make, and intimidating to even look at, you toss the list on your backlogitis pile, adding to the misery rather than the solution.

Skip the list.

Ask yourself what is most important and choose three. Do them. Don’t list them, don’t think about them, just do them. Action speaks loudly against backlogitis.

Then do three more. Take it three steps at a time, never stopping the momentum.

Clean up your backlog. Dig into those emails and clear out the stuff so old, it’s turning into virtual petrified wood.

Get rid of all the emailed newsletters and reports you don’t read. Deal with it and stop them from entering your inbox in the future – forever. If you pick up a new skill on cleaning out the inbox, make a note of the lesson and idea in your idea file, but don’t stop cleaning up the inbox.

Update your WordPress Theme and upgrade WordPress to the latest version. Do the same with all your Plugins. If you aren’t Theme-savvy, get a new WordPress Theme. They are free and there are thousands of great customizable Themes to choose from in the WordPress Theme Directory. If, along the way, you come up with some interesting advice for others in the same spot, jot them down. Keep moving.

If you haven’t watched those movies, you won’t. Return them. Don’t get new ones to replace them.

See Also
YouTube features for Content Creators

Look at your blog. What’s undone that is driving you crazy? Then sit down and do them. Write your blog disclaimer and comments policy, along with your copyright policy so you are covered and your readers and abusers know where you stand. Clean up your blog categories and tags so they really represent your blog content.

Look at all the left over and undone things on your blog. Are they dragging your attitude down? Get cracking.

Action Begats Action

Like me, do you belong to Backlogitis Anonymous. Are you overwhelmed with your life and is your blog getting in the way, adding to the backlogitis pile? There is a solution.

The more I self medicate with action, the more action is taken, the more that is accomplished, and the more energy – creative energy – I have.

This blog post was inspired by cleaning out my email inbox, as was this whole series. You never know where an idea will come from. It came from my backlogitis.

Cheryl Richardson, author of Stand Up for Your Life, Take Time for Your Life, and Life Makeovers, explained that when you clean up and empty the junk around you, be it physically or mentally, you make room for new things to come into the space. Without the empty space, nothing can get in. This includes new ideas, motivation, inspiration, and energy.

If your blogging content ideas have dried up, maybe it’s just too cluttered and backlogged in there. Stop putting off today what you won’t get done tomorrow and catch up with yourself. You might find you’ve survived Backlogitis to blog another day.

Articles in the Nothing to Blog About Series

View Comments (4)
  • I encountered this condition few years back and it keeps coming back. What I did to completely get rid of this “nothing to blog” about think is that I conditioned myself that blogging is not an obligation anyway and I’m not letting it to rob my sanity. I only blog when I feel like doing so and I only blog if there’s a need to do so.

    Just don’t take blogging seriously. More so when nobody’s paying you doing it. :)

  • I do think it is important that you clear everything that has built up and concentrate on the things that need doing instead of worrying about the things that need doing.

    I like your point Amor when you said about blogging only if you need to, I suppose if you can’t thing of anything to blog about there is not point trying, you might as well wait till you thing of something to blog about.

  • …“nothing to blog” about think is that I conditioned myself that blogging is not an obligation… I mean “thing” not “think”. I’m sorry for the misspelling.

    What’s happening right now – because of the eagerness of many to post things in the web is that the WWW is becoming the world wide waste. lol :D Well, what’s nice is that maybe those waste be something useful in the near future. Still, (on my own opinion) it should be this way – show only relevant things over the internet and keep the irrelevant until they become relevant. In this way we can make the internet a more credible resource center. Thank you for the mention Jamie. :)

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