If there is one takeaway from 2020 that we all need, it is the importance of self-care. Honestly, I haven’t taken care of myself as much as I would have liked, but I want to do better in 2021.
I didn’t meet my #20in2020 list of posts that I wanted to write last year. I only wrote 10 posts in total. That’s half of my goal. I want to do better in 2021 by finishing that list and write more. To give my website the self-care it needs, I have to learn how to make time for myself. I have to learn to put myself first, instead of pushing it to the side for something else.
Set Boundaries
Work on defining your values. Once you’ve defined your values, then you have to map out what you need in order to meet your values. For instance, maybe your value is to have more quality time with a loved one this year. How are you going to create that one-on-one level connection? You could easily add in date night once a week to help you reach your value.
I’d like to reach a point where I am posting once per week, but I value quality over quantity so I know I won’t be posting that much. A more realistic value is to set aside time to write 500 words per day instead. To help me reach this value is to say “no” to everything else going on. This creates the time and focus for me to sit down to write.
Create a To Do List
Each morning, create a list of the top 5 tasks that you’d like to accomplish that day. This will give yourself a checklist as you begin your day. I often times write lists that I never get around to, but sometimes those tasks aren’t that important.
There’s so many things to fix on my website that the list seems endless. Making a simple top 5 tasks that I’d like to complete for the day will set me up for realistic and manageable tasks. If I want to write more or to clean up SEO on older posts, then that’s a choice I need to make. I also need to set time limits on these tasks.
Reflect
At the end of your day, take your daily to do list and reflect on what you’ve accomplished for the day. Reflect on what it took for you to get the task completed. How could you have done it better?
The same goes for your website. If writing comes easy to you, how long does it take to write a post? Can you find ways to write it faster? If you’re problem areas are focusing on SEO or content organization, can you take a week off of writing on focus on improving in those categories as well?
Progress Not Perfection
Keep your focus on making progress, not being perfect. Being perfect holds me back from even starting a task some days. As we set off in the new year, I have little goals of writing 300 words per day. This will give me a little win that I can accomplish each day. 300 words does not equal an entire post, but it will help me give myself the push I need to complete a post quicker than what I have done in 2020.
What are you self-care tips? Share them with me in the comments below.
18 Responses
It is always good to see what your colleagues are having success with. I will try to follow a few of these tips and see the results.
You are so right about not focussing on being perfect. I’ve been blogging for about 10 years now and believe me when I say it’s not a perfect blog by any means. 🙂 But its so much fun to do.
I need to work on this! I have a problem where I like to keep adding things to my plate but then I miss out on other things…like SLEEP!
These are some great tips. I do need to start making more lists and I have been setting boundaries.
I really need to learn to make time for myself. I tend to be the last on the list so always overlooked. I’m always busy working or running around after the kids.
At the start of the year, I wrote a blog post about having a “reset” this 2021. It includes being more intentional in what I do, including having a planner/to do list to make my day more productive, just like what you wrote above. I enjoy checking off my to do list now.
These tips are awesome! I will definitely need them. I am already doing to do list though. Thank you for sharing.
Love your tips. I find making a to do list so effective.
Absolutely. We shouldn’t forget of taking care of ourselves. A beautiful mind comes a beautiful outcome.
For me, there’s no such thing as perfect so I’m just continuing to do things that gives me joy and makes me happy…and blogging is one of them. 🙂 Great tips!
An amazing article that definitely will make us be on the right track especially this 2021 as we conquered 2020 with so much adversity on the pandemic that the world has just experience up to now.
These are some really good tips. We all certainly do need some self care too. I can agree with that.
I only started using a to-do list and it has been great so far. I can’t believe how much I achieve now with my lists. I always write 5 things that are manageable to achieve every day and it’s working. My biggest thing is consistency now, I hope I can be consistent.
I never thought about this! But I work full time 10 months of the year and then the other months are for catching up on everything that I neglected, so it kind of makes sense!
I think ever since I attended and spoke at BlogHer16, and watched the keynotes talk about self-care, it’s been a continuing mission to dedicate time towards self-care. It wasn’t easy in the beginning, but as I built the habit of doing smaller activities and occasionally something big, I really have embraced it. A lot of people forget that boundaries aren’t just for other people, but for themselves too.
These are some great tips, I should definitely start implementing these soon!
Great tips. This is the best way to improve our website and to keep it on a high level!
Reflection and setting boundaries are someof my takeaways last year. Writing is one of my passion and it helped me a lot especially during the lockdown. there is no such thing as perfect. Every day is still a learning process. Just keep on sharing and continue our passion but of course, we need to take good care of ourselves. It’s a must!