Blog News Watch

Monitor your RSS feeds, draft new posts more often than you need to publish them, and comment on other blogs as often as you can are all catchphrases that bloggers hear constantly. They’re good bits of advice, too, but the compulsion is to spend too much time at the computer, working on our blogs, or when we’re not really working on them, refreshing the stats page.

But this kind of behavior creates blogging blindness; being so close to the subject that the most you can possibly do is regurgitate the work of others.

The mind needs time to relax and clear itself in order to put aside the ideas of others so that insight and ideas can start to form somewhere deep within the old nugget.

Many lists recommend relaxing hobbies such as reading books and watching movies, but for the outcome we’re looking for here, it’s best to avoid hobbies that are an infusion of other people’s ideas into your own mind.

1. Take a walk

Enjoy the scenery, even if it’s urban. Find beauty in the little things, but look for it yourself. Exercise your mind at the same time as you exercise your body - and remember, physical health and exercise is just as important to clear thinking as anything else. Swimming is also a great choice.

2. Play some poker with friends

Get around the table for some friendly gambling and conversation. Doesn’t matter if the conversation is light-hearted (like most poker games) or deep n’ meaningful (which has rarely ever happened to me in this setting!), just have some fun. If the conversation does get deep, try to contribute as much as you can. Otherwise, you guessed it - you’re absorbing more of other people’s ideas.

3. Learn an instrument

Sit down with a good guitar book and that $40 acoustic guitar from the grocery store (on my other blog it’d be an offense to suggest that!). Enjoy the process of learning without thinking too much about the end goal. Don’t rush it, take it one bit at a time. A common alternative is to learn a language, however, I think this overstimulates that linguistic part of your mind that you’re trying to calm down.

4. Draw, paint, or scribble

Doesn’t matter if you can draw or not! I certainly can’t - I might have a few artistic strengths but drawing certainly isn’t one of them. However, the attempt is at least relaxing!

5. Take your wife/girlfriend/pot plant to dinner

Without the movie, of course. Not scared of a bit of prolonged conversation, are you? Not only are you getting out and relaxing, having some decent food, but you’re saving your marriage/relationship/fertilizer from certain death since the significant other and the blog became competitors for your attention. Yes, I’m speaking from experience. No, I don’t have a pot plant.

Follow one or five of these steps, and do it regularly. Don’t let yourself develop blogger blindness! It’s for the good of the blog, the readers, and most importantly, you. You might just have some terrific insights along the way!

Tags: blogging, blogger blindness, relaxation, recreation