You’ve probably heard of the old housewives’ system for managing housework and other chores.

It went like this:

Wash on Monday,
Iron on Tuesday,
Mend on Wednesday,
Churn on Thursday,
Clean on Friday,
Bake on Saturday,
Rest on Sunday.

That routine helped those women stay organized and focused on their chores so that they could get everything done — and they had a LOT to do!

As bloggers, we too have many different things to accomplish, and although I typically hate the thought of following a schedule, I do find it helpful to have some sort of plan to help me stay focused and on task.

Take blog post writing for example.

I prefer to write two or more blog posts in a sitting to queue up for later delivery. The day of the week and time of day I write depends primarily on the time of year. In the winter, I write first thing in the morning; while in the summer I like to write in mid-afternoon when it’s too hot to be outside. I also like to group article topics by season and will start working on my Christmas season posts as early as July.

Granted, that doesn’t look much like a daily writing schedule, but it works for me.

Create your own schedule.

Consider what works for you and your current schedule. Here are some points to ponder as you create your own blogging routine.

• At what time of day do you feel most alert and motivated? That’s probably the best time to write articles.
• On which day of the week do you have the most time to write?
• Does your job allow you time during the day to write? This can be a great escape from the drudgery of work too!
• Do you work nights? I used to write my best University essays while on midnight shifts.
• Can your partner take the kids to a weekly class to free up time for you to write?

Figure out what schedule suits you best and set that day and time to write.

You should also consider that the day you publish your articles will be busier than others with reader responses to your post, so make sure you can set some time aside for comment moderation on those days. The days you publish are also good days to comment on other blogs with links to your new post.

Provided you don’t work in the online business opportunites market which is rife with weekly product launches and ‘extra’ writing, you should schedule a separate session for product research and review writing. You can do this bi-weekly or even monthly when you have sufficient products to promote on your site.

Avoid distractions.

I tend to be easily distracted, so I’ve set things up to make sure that I’m not (usually) interrupted when I write.

I go into my office prepared to write, so I bring a beverage  and clean my desk of paperwork that might change my focus. I refrain from checking my email, Google Reader and other sites by keeping programs and browser windows closed. I prefer a quiet room for writing, so I’ll shut my office door and/or the windows depending on the noise levels inside and out.

My affiliate managers know that I prefer to be contacted by email – not phone. If the phone does ring while I’m writing, I just don’t answer it.

Make your schedule and your environment as distraction-free as possible to minimize work interruptions.

Now commit to your blogging schedule.

You won’t need to work your schedule for too long before you notice that your workload becomes both easier and more fluid.

The key to getting to the point where it is easy is committing to your plan.

For example, when you know that you’re going to sit down between 9AM and 11AM every Tuesday to write a few blog posts, you’ll start thinking about your topic ideas and article flow well in advance. Maybe you’ll jot down a few ideas  on paper or create a rough draft on your blog when you have a few spare minutes during the previous week. In that way, you’re already prepared to write and you can get the job done faster.

Once the writing gets easier and faster, you might also be inclined to write more posts which always makes the search engines happier and more productive on your behalf.

Try working a blogging schedule for even just a month and see how good you feel about what you’ve accomplished in terms of content creation and increased revenues!

Don’t feel that you have the self-discipline to set a schedule?

Then check out Brian Tracy’s “No Excuses! The Power of Self-Discipline”.

Learn how to apply Self-Discipline to: Goal Setting; Time Management; Health Habits; Relationships; Sales; Business Operations; Physical Fitness; Personal Development; Negotiating; Communications; Character Development; and many other areas.

With Brian’s training, you’ll accomplish more in a month than most people accomplish in a year and take complete control of your life.

So, do you have a blogging schedule or a strategy that you to stay motivated as a blogger? Please share your tips and ideas with us in a comment below.

I was out playing in my garden one afternoon when the realization suddenly hit me that I was way behind on writing & queuing up new content for one of my affiliate sites.

Two hours later (while I was still pulling Lombardy poplar suckers), the image of checks in the mailbox finally caused me to drag my butt away from the garden and onto the computer chair.

After spending the next 2 hours skimming / deleting emails, and perusing a few dozen websites – I had to wonder where my self-discipline had run off too.

Fortunately, all  I had to do to muster the reserves was to re-read an article by one of my long-time mentors, Brian Tracy. I include it here just in case you find yourself a little short on self-discipline — and if that doesn’t quite do the trick, you can avail yourself of Brian’s ‘The Miracle of Self-Discipline course on CD or MP3.

Self-Discipline for Success

by Brian Tracy

There is one special quality that you can develop that will guarantee you greater success, accomplishment and happiness in life. Of a thousand principles for success developed over the ages, this one quality or practice will do more to assure that you accomplish wonderful things with your life than anything else. This quality is so important that, if you don’t develop it to a high degree, it is impossible for you to ever achieve what you are truly capable of achieving.

The quality that I am talking about is the quality of self-discipline. It is a habit, a practice, a philosophy and a way of living. All successful men and women are highly disciplined in the important work that they do. All unsuccessful men and women are undisciplined and unable to control their behaviors and their appetites. And when you develop the same levels of high, personal discipline possessed by the most successful people in our society, you will very soon begin to achieve the same results that they do.

All great success in life is preceded by long, sustained periods of focused effort on a single goal, the most important goal, with the determination to stay with it until it is complete. Throughout history, we find that every man or woman who achieved anything lasting and worthwhile, had engaged in long, often unappreciated hours, weeks, months and even years of concentrated, disciplined work, in a particular direction.

Fortunately the quality of self-discipline is something that you can learn by continuous practice, over and over, until you master it. Once you have mastered the ability to delay gratification, the ability to discipline yourself to keep your attention focused on the most important task in front of you, there is virtually no goal that you cannot accomplish and no task that you cannot complete.

Successful people engage in activities that are goal-achieving. Unsuccessful people engage in activities that are tension-reliving. Successful people discipline themselves to have dinner before dessert. Unsuccessful people prefer to have dessert most of the time.

Successful people plan their work, and work their plan. They take the time to think through their responsibilities before they begin. They make clear decisions which they then implement immediately. They get a lot more done in a shorter period of time than the average person. And it all has to do with their disciplines.

Perhaps the most important benefit of self-discipline is the personal benefit that you receive. Every act of self-discipline increases your self-esteem. It gives you a feeling of personal power and accomplishment. Each time you discipline yourself to persist in the face of distractions, diversions, and disappointments, you feel better about yourself. As you continue to discipline yourself, you achieve more and more in life. As you achieve more things, you feel more like a winner. Your self-confidence goes up. You feel happier about yourself. You get more done and you have more energy. You earn the respect and esteem of the people around you. You get more rapid promotions and are paid more money. You live in a nicer house, drive a nicer car, and wear nicer clothes. You get a natural high from the thrill of achievement. And the more things that you achieve as the result of employing your personal habits of effectiveness and productivity, the more eager you are to achieve even higher and better tasks. Your life gets onto an upward spiral of success and happiness. You feel great about yourself most of the time.

Every act of self-discipline strengthens every other discipline in your life. Every weakness of self-discipline weakens your other disciplines as well. When you make a habit of disciplining yourself in little things, like flossing your teeth every night, you’ll soon become able to discipline yourself to accomplish even larger things, like working long, long hours to bring a major task to completion.

Your entire life is an on-going battle between the forces of doing what is right and necessary on the one hand and doing what is fun and easy on the other hand. It is a battle between the forces of discipline and the forces of ease or expediency. And when you develop the strength of character that gives you complete self-mastery, self-control and self-discipline, you feel wonderful about yourself. You develop a deep inner sense of strength and confidence. You replace positive thinking with positive knowing. You reach the point inside where you absolutely know that you can do whatever it takes to achieve any goal that you can set for yourself.

Self-discipline is its own reward. Not only does it pay off in terms of greater self-esteem and a more positive mental attitude, but it pays off throughout your life in terms of the goals that you achieve and the success that you attain in everything you do.

Self-discipline is a skill and a habit that can be learned by practice. Every time you practice a little self-discipline, you become stronger and stronger. Bit by bit, you become more capable of even greater disciplines. As you become a totally self-disciplined individual, your entire future opens up in front of you like a broad highway. Everything becomes possible for you and your future becomes unlimited.

Get more done today! Check out Brian Tracy’s “No Excuses! The Power of Self-Discipline”.