Are You Working Fast Enough? Why the Rush?

Our host today is Alex Fraiser. If you're interested in getting in front of the readers of Site Sketch 101, check out our guest posting invitation here.

Do you live in the “now?” Meaning, do you work with the belief that things need to happen for you, and need to happen now? Bloggers like results, and the sooner something works out, the better. But of course, things don’t just happen at an instant. They usually happen over time. Many bloggers unfortunately do not accept the concept of time. I’m not talking about time management skills either. I’m talking about patience and dedication; that kind of time.

How patient are you? The reason why many blogs fail, or don’t live up to the potential they may have once shown, is because 99% of the time the blogger just misses the point. No matter what you claim, you are most likely looking for a reward or achievement that will benefit you highly.

It could be for money, fame, or just self-gratification. But, when your blog doesn’t fill that need, things start spiraling downwards. So when we work on our blogs, we work so that one day that need will be fulfilled. But for some, that one day needs to be today. And that’s when things start going wrong.

Bloggers and the “Next Big Thing”

When you are passionate about something and want it badly enough, you may sometimes do some pretty crazy things for it. Generally, a blog that is just a blog isn’t very enticing to most anymore. There needs to be something that makes you stand out from the crowd.

You can do dozens of things to make your blog stand out. Write all the unique content you want, make new additions that literally make it more than just a blog (such as a forum, or email newsletter), or maybe even run a giant contest. You know, that next big thing.

It is wise that you put a lot of thought and effort into that “thing” too. It’s what will help you achieve those goals you have for yourself and your blog. Thought and effort are necessities, but are nothing without the work of course.

You should always put in more work than anything else when you are working to expand your blog. But how much work? How do you know when you’re working too much? When you want your success badly enough, you’ll do the work. You’ll do a lot of work. But when you want it all now, you are probably working too hard. That, or you don’t understand the concept of hard work now, big rewards later.

Slow it Down

Look back at any of your success on your blog. How long did it take you to achieve that success? It can be anything, look at anything on your blog that you see as successful. Take a look at the number of subscribers you have, the amount of Twitter followers or even the quality of comments on your blog.

How long did it take you to achieve just one success? Chances are, not one of your successes was just achieved in one day, or one week. So why do so many of us work like things need to be accomplished in these such short periods of time?

When you do start developing your new email newsletter or creating your next product to sell, evaluate your workflow. If you don’t have an effective workflow, you won’t have the best outcome possible. And you want everything to be perfect, trust me. You can judge your workflow on the following two things:

1. How long it took you to get to the point you’re at now.
2. The true quality of your work.

Just like a high school exam, you cannot rush through your work and expect to have a good outcome. Good things happen through hard work, and hard work only really benefits if you spend your time wisely. It’s easy to look at your site and see how good (or bad) of a job you did with it. When you look at that “next big thing” for your blog and don’t like what you see, that’s probably a sign you need to slow down or rethink your workflow to a more effective one.

If you ever have doubts about the quality of your work, take a look through this little checklist I came up with to help you evaluate yourself:

• If you plan to spend hours working nonstop, you need to rethink it. Take breaks, or divide the work into different times of the day.
• If you are trying to work and finding that something is preventing you from doing it (such as a distraction or mental block), take the time to clear it up.
• If you want the reward of your project in the too soon of the future, plan for it later on. You will work more smoothly with less stress of a deadline.
• The more type of “I’ll do it later” thinking you do now (apart from setting your schedule), the more work you will have for yourself later, and the less quality it will be.
• If you find yourself getting frustrated often while working, you are working without the element of happiness. So stop working, and get your head back to where it needs to be.

All good things happen over time. Whether it’s the work you put into an article, or your next “big thing,” you need to understand and accept that rushing through something or expecting things to happen now isn’t the way to approach anything.