Blogopolis is a world brimming with a billion posts and comments; a place where we can plant our flag and build the value of our property without ever leaving our chair. A land thriving on communication and community, where participation is paramount.

Blogs come in every sort, expressing opinions to every willing pair of eyes. Grouped together in niches, these various platforms live dual lives. Blogopolis is filled with bloggers helping fellow bloggers, as they themselves are climbing for the top, rung by hard earned rung. Opportunity abounds for those with the proper toolbox, and though drive and determination are essential, they are only part of the equation.

Blogopolis is indeed a wonderful place. Making friends and spreading thought has never been easier or more effective.

Our future is now.

How did we arrive at this current intersection between communication and technology? Who is responsible for this unique, complex, and elegant system?  When did blogging begin, where does it come from, and what winding roads did it wander to end up here? Prior to the Renaissance, communication was a luxury. In the West, the church held dominion over the flow of information, and this is how it remained for several hundred years until early in the sixteenth century when Martin Luther pounded his 95 Theses through the front door of the church.

Luther challenged the establishment, in effect saying the rules were no longer written only by them. Luther’s revolution however, would have likely died immediate death had it not been for another equally profound development a few decades prior.

Johanas Gutenberg, a German goldsmith and printer, first dreamed and then developed movable type; an innovation that altered the landscape of communication forever. Movable type meant books were no longer imprisoned by the sluggish speed of human hand. With the advent of movable type, books were able to be printed in a primitive version of a process still in use today. This new procedure meant the papacy no longer held a monopoly on information. Bibles were for everyone.

Access led to literacy, literacy to questions, questions to answers, and finally, answers to the Renaissance.

This is where we find ourselves again, hinged on the precipice of our next great awakening.  That dawn is here, and it is bloggers who are most likely to push the sunrise further and faster than any other tribe.

The dawn of the information age.

The Internet is the largest organism yet made by Man. Its fingers graze every continent on Earth, yet can be accessed in its entirety from an iPhone (a device which in itself is a marvel; the first legitimate PC in a pocket). Amazingly flexible, the Internet is as big as we want, yet as small as we need it to be. In its infancy, the Web was no more than an efficient way for universities to share information.  Hobbyists employed it to play games with other like-minded geeks across the globe.  In its dawn (the 70’s and 80’s), the Net was far from mainstream.  It wasn’t until the early to mid 90’s that circulation of the Internet spread to most of the planet.  The Model T- like milestone of a computer in every household cleared the road for the rest of the world to way for the masses to dial in.

As we marched into a new millennium, the World Wide Web quickly took its place alongside previous technological revolutions such as electricity, telephone, and television. Almost all of us were aware of (and had access to) this bold new technology.

There was no doubt we stood at the edge of a new age.

Never before have we held more power as a people; never has the world been so connected.  It is difficult to argue against the idea that we are now one vast global district.  The internet has rendered futuristic theory into any minute reality.  Now anyone with a phone jack may gather that which makes them unique, and send it in a signal to every spot on the map, sometimes mere seconds from conception.

The class of 2009, has little memory of life before the web. These are tomorrow’s leaders. Collectively, they and all behind them will lend voice to our global future.  It is they who will take what we are building and shape it into something we can not yet fathom.

The Blueprint Team

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I remember the first time a friend of mine equated blogging to a pyramid scheme. My initial reaction, just a couple of months into the game myself, was of indignant defense. “No,” I insisted, Blogging is the great equalizer, where anyone can take their voice and spread it like wildfire until their own millions are burning inside their bank.

Who hit the head harder with the hammer? Is blogging a giant pyramid scheme or a legitimate way to mine untold riches from a winding stream of passive income?

I believe a bit of both.

Blogging is an amazing opportunity for anyone willing to devote the time, attention, and perseverance required to make it BIG TIME. It is also a scaffolding upon which a few nobles rest upon the top as scads of lowly serfs scramble about below.

Let’s look at what constitutes an old fashioned pyramid scheme, then compare it to the relatively new world of blogging.

By traditional definition, a pyramid scheme requires an upfront investment of cash to buy in on the ground floor. With the easy  set-up of a Blogspot or WordPress, is there any investment required for blogging?

Absolutely. Nothing is more valuable than our time, and few things can zap it as quickly as blogging. Though there is no immediate certifiable out of pocket expense required to join the club, there is a non negotiable investment of time. This, in addition to the multitude of add-on expenses that can quickly accumulate, such as hosting, premium themes, and an infinity of info-products promising to smooth the rough edges of your daily game.

Yes, there is an investment required, but by nature, an investment of time carries more soul than an investment of money.

Use your time wisely, climb a step.

A pyramid scheme’s success lies in a steady stream of new recruits. In order for an investor to recover their initial risk, there must be people below them on the pyramid willing to wager their own money. This justifies the speculation of the original investor while it elevates their standing on the pyramid. Is this similar to blogging?

Yes. Simple math states each new wave of bloggers will elevate the preceding generation. Of course, not everyone will hold firm and many will fade along the way, but those who stick around will become part of a narrowing class as more and more newbie bloggers flood to fill the bottom.

Staying consistent and falling into a healthy blogging rhythm can render a one time ordeal into simple routine. Make it past that first retaining wall (many bloggers agree it’s around the six month mark) and you earn the experience no new blogger can ever be given, no matter how many info products they’ve downloaded.

Stick around, climb another step.

Aren’t pyramid schemes inherently fraudulent?

Yes. The fundamental problem with a pyramid scheme is their models are impossible to sustain. Even supposing the entire globe agreed to buy into a particular scheme, there are only a finite number of participants who would ever be able to profit. Because this inevitability grinds against the grain of the original promise, it is fraudulent by nature.

When a cycle cannot sustain itself, the majority of investors become vulnerable to loss. It is estimated that 90% of people involved in pyramid schemes are on the losing end of the deal. Aren’t 90% of bloggers also working way too hard for way too little.

Absolutely, but this is where blogging and pyramid schemes spill into two separate seas. It is true that many internet marketers sell products expounding upon new ways to make money from blogging, and yes it is a bit incestuous, but in no way is a blogger obligated to follow any particular set of guidelines or pay for anything they don’t want to. Blogging is so young, the rules are being rewritten before the ink is even dry. It is still possible to get to the top and do it in your own way.

Stay true to yourself, climb another step.

It’s easy to see how people are so easily lured into the plush promises of a pyramid scheme. They work to whet our hungry appetites and convince us the richest meals may also be the quickest to prepare. It is never acceptable to take part in any scheme that involves deception or fraud either implied or promised. Anything that guarantees wealth without risk, time, or effort should ring in your ears like an entire fleet of fire engines.

Blogging, I believe, is different. With blogging you can build your own pyramid, start your own tribe, sell your own product, create your own network. If you see a product worth buying from a person you trust, priced at a fair point that you can afford – buy it.

Learn all you can, take another step.

When it comes to working online, backsliding is only an illusion, unless it leads all the way back to surrender. You may fall short of specific goals in regards to traffic, comments, followers, sales, etc. but the experience you gain can never be taken away. When it comes to online prosperity, there is no single ingredient more essential to success than forward momentum.

Blogging may share some similarities with a traditional pyramid scheme, but I think it has far more in common with the laws of compound interest. With compound interest you can pay and pay and pay, month after unceasing month, feeling forlorn as you tear open the envelope of every statement only to find your continuous contributions have yet to add to substantial earnings. At some stage however, the tipping point is reached and what you make each month from interest far exceeds the effort exerted.

Keep contributing, take another step.

This is why blogging is different. Those bloggers at the top; Brian Clark, Darren Rowse, John Chow, just to name a few, are not reaping the benefits of bringing others into a bad investment, they are merely earning interest from effort expelled a long time before.

There is no discounting the intelligent strategy and hard work that has placed the A-listers all at the top, but it cannot be argued that they’ve been climbing longer.

Sean Platt is a dad and ghostwriter with a creative streak.

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Enjoy the links, have a wonderful weekend, and we’ll see you next week.

If you haven’t checked out the hottest new WordPress theme, you really need to. It’s awesome, free, and designed by none other than the Blueprint’s own Eric Hamm.

Did you know that WordPress has it’s own URL-shortener built right into the architecture? No! Neither did I, but now I do.

Sean has been wondering for a while if he should stick with Writer Dad or move to Sean Platt for his Twitter name. This post articulates 10 reasons why real names are better.

The categories vs. tags debate has raged since the blogging’s beginnings. The battle continues.

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Though this post is nearly as old as the Blueprint, the subject of making a living with blogging is one we’ve covered quite a few times around these parts.

Remember last week when Twitter was getting all that mainstream attention? Yeah, I know. Who could forget?

Remember when Eric and Sean were on ProBlogger talking about being blogging buddies? Darren did too.

Gary Vaynerchuk is everywhere. Why? Because he’s doing what he loves and waves his passion like a weilded weapon.

Michael Martine has been publishing some deep, meaty posts. This week’s on whether blogs should have a blogroll was a total winner.

See you Monday,

The Blueprint Team

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Sure, you could get rich blogging the “old fashioned way” through assorted affiliate programs, Google Adsense, or direct marketing to those on your carefully gathered mailing list, but why would anyone choose to do it that way when they could purchase my product and get rich in 5 minutes per day or less?!?!?!

Nothing will take you farther in less time than my patented Get Rich in 5 Minutes per Day Formula. Other products promise the moon, mine GUARANTEES THE BIG BANG!!!

This offer is good today only, and only for readers of this blog. If you don’t act NOW, you may as well kiss all your dreams of retirement goodbye!

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• My formula will establish you as an instant expert and unquestionable leader in your field, no matter how much experience you actually have. Janitor or brain surgeon, it doesn’t make a bit of difference. My unique algorithms will tell Google exactly what it needs to know. As soon as you install the Get Rich in 5 Minutes Per Day! plugin into your WordPress dashboard, your readers will begin to foam at the mouth as they eagerly await your every word.

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• The Titanium Affiliate Program. I could just stop at selling the Get Rich in 5 Minutes Per Day! program, but where would that leave you? About four minutes shy of getting rich, that’s where!!! It’s one thing to be rich, it’s another to ride in a limousine pulled by a team of assorted endangered species while lighting cuban cigars with the Constitution. With the Titanium Affiliate Program, you’ll have affiliates giving you money WHETHER THEY SELL YOUR PRODUCT OR NOT!!!!

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Sean Platt is not really releasing Get Rich in 5 Minutes per Day! He is a ghostwriter who is launching an out of this world creativity blog with co-conspirator David Wright.

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Of the thirty-four thousand or so blogs that currently swell my reader, the average post length runs the full gamut from a few sentences barely clinging together to a mounting migraine waiting to happen. As with all things blogging, there are no hard rules. Writing style of the author must meet reader expectations in even measure to best dictate the length of each post.

But is there an ideal length for a blog post?

Since post length not only varies from blog to blog, but often from post to post, is there an optimum post length that generates the most traffic, invites the most discussion, or cements your readers into fans? I would say no, and by trying to fit inside narrow criteria we only succeed in the limitation of our possibility.

I recently came to the realization that I had been keeping myself far too confined while writing for Writer Dad. What had started out as something novel had slowly drifted into a formula. Each and every post, give or take, ran about five hundred words. When I started Writer Dad I followed no template, I simply wrote in the way that made the most sense to me. It was exciting, the response was encouraging, and I failed to make the growth I should have. Because I was unwilling to follow a template, I became a slave to my own.

After taking a little blogging break, I returned to Writer Dad with a fresh pair of pupils, seeing my half year of work like an old city after a new snow. With renewed vigor I endeavored a different approach. While talking about my last day of high school, I ran a post that ran a few syllables past two-thousand words; four times my normal length. I wondered if it ran too long. Certainly, I mused, it wasn’t what my audience was used to. I wasn’t sure if I should run the post in full, break it into pieces, or set it aside to later serve my memoirs.

I elected to publish the post and the results were a roadmap to a new way of thinking.

It was an important piece of writing and it received a warm and generous response. I was left with the lingering notion that I should embrace the liberty inherent in having my own blog, rather than simply resign myself to the prison of past procedure. Blogs are an exciting medium, changing slower than thought, but faster than law. The most exciting bloggers are those who adopt the medium not as a frame to hold a single snapshot, but as a wide canvas to fill with shades of surprising color.

A 500 word post, a 3000 word essay, or a single sentence spilling into an engaging video. There are no rules. Yet, as humans we find it all too simple to manufacture them so that we have something to follow. Fixed rules do not fit this medium that is still as soft and yielding as unbaked clay. Having said that, it is best to keep your audience surprised. Not jarred. I prefer blogs that have a baseline or standard to expect. It is then easy to recognize the surprising difference when it appears. Here are a few simple tips to help you find an appropriate length for your typical post, so you can color outside the lines whenever the crayons are calling.

Posting Schedule

Your posting schedule can help dictate the length of your post. If you are regularly posting only a couple of times per week, you might want to consider publishing posts that are a little on the longer side. If you are posting with more frequency, say once a day or more, shorter posts might be a better fit. Services like Twitter are slowly replacing the singular notion of a constantly updated personal blog. This will eventually clear more room for domains of longer thought.

Niche

What are you writing about and who are you writing to? The best post length covers your topic thoroughly. No more, no less. An in depth review of a system or product will invariably require a lot of words, a simple product announcement or case in point will not. If you have gathered a few interesting online finds, a sentence to introduce each link may be more than ample. Write toward your topic and make sure all your points are covered. Never fill space to just to hit a target word count. This will only cause your copy to suffer.

Attention Span

The average web reader, it seems, can sometimes share the attention span of a toddler. The average Writer Dad reader sticks around for about three minutes. For a long time I thought this was normal length of stay. Turns out, it isn’t. The actual online average is on the short side of a minute. Each blogger must know the limits of their individual audience and publish to that end. This is a place where it is appropriate to check your stats. Knowing how long your average reader stays fixed to your content should help you write accordingly.

SEO

The rules of SEO are sometimes about as easy to understand as stereo instructions written in Klingon. It isn’t that they’re difficult exactly, it’s more that they seem to constantly evolve depending on who you speak with and whether or not Mercury is in retrograde. It is commonly agreed however, that posts that are not too long and not too short are ideal for search engine optimization. This would mean a post running in length from two-hundred and fifty words to no more than a thousand.

Ultimately, the best length is the one that makes you feel most comfortable with your content. No more, no less. Wherever you end up, just remember it’s only a suggestion. Never be afraid to do more or less with your blogging. It is your voice that makes all the difference.

Never write just to darken the space, don’t press publish until it’s done, and remember your words are forever.

Sean

Sean Platt is a father and ghostwriter who also tweets.

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The value of a meme lies in both the building of community and the exchanging of a link – both of which are strong currency along the boulevards of Blogopolis. It’s up to each blogger to decide whether or not they participate in memes, but as long as they don’t hold their content too dear (which I myself have been guilty of doing), then there’s no real good reason not to, and plenty of benefit from happily playing along.

Each meme has its own individual set-up and coinciding set of rules. This latest meme is brought to us by Dave of Do you Dave Ramsey? Here are the rules:

1 – Link to your original tagger and list these rules in your post.

2 – Share 7 facts about yourself in the post.

3 – Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names and links to their blogs.

4 – Let them know they’ve been tagged.

I’ve decided to take one fact, each from a five year interval of my life, starting at birth and ending in the present.

1. When I was in pre-school I was given a pile of newspapers and magazines and told to make a collage. I did. The collage I crafted was comprised of nothing but lingerie ads. The school, quite upset, phoned my mother and demanded she come to school and pick me up. She asked if I had followed the directions. YES. She asked if I had been told I couldn’t use any of the lingerie ads. NO. She asked if the ads were in the materials that had been handed to me. YES. We got ice cream on the way home.

2. When I was 8, I snaked Stephen King’s The Talisman off my parent’s night stand and read it cover to cover. Reading was never the same.

3. In 5th grade I was really into playing Nintendo, just like every other kid in my school. The difference between me and them, however, was their moms did not make puffy painted sweatshirts for them saying, “Nintendo-Sauras” across the chest, complete with a picture of a dinosaur holding a controller. Even if they had they were probably not forced to wear them. My face met a lot of fists that year.

4. I got in three car accidents within a month of having my license (none too serious). Fortunately, this forced me into being a fairly conservative driver. I didn’t have another accident for fifteen years and that one was a collision with a black mustang in the dead of night during a city wide black out.

5. I met my best friend a few months shy of my 21st birthday and married her four years later.

6. In between 25 and 30 I had two children, bought three pieces of property, and completely shifted careers.

7. Discovered I was a writer and headed online to reach for the sky.

That takes us to the present. Life is just getting started, I’m dying to see where it goes. Now for the list of bulls-eyes.

1. Marc at Welsh Scribe. Marc is an excellent ghostwriter and all around good guy.

2. Sid Savara, a guy who manages to stand out in a the full productivity niche.

3. Hayden Tompkins because she is always awesome and allows her awesomeness to own personal development.

4. Shanel Yang because, no matter where I see her comments she always has something intelligent to say.

5. Randi because she always speaks with crisp articulation and it is a joy to read her thoughts.

6. Tess at the bold life, because the tagline “take action and make things happen,” really says it all.

7. Bamboo Forest because never ever have I ever not enjoyed what he’s writing in his playground.

In no way do I wish to obligate anyone. There are many individuals left off this list for precisely that reason. If you’d like to play along, wonderful. If not, I totally understand, chain letters are annoying.

Meme ya later,

Sean

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Blogweary? How to Beat the Blogger’s Blues and Spring Clean Your Blog

Let’s get straight to the heart of things.

1)Why do you blog?

No, it’s not a daft, simplistic question. If you were a major corporation, meetings would be held regularly to discuss the firm’s direction, branding and mission statement – especially if profits and morale were down. If you’re blogweary, it could be that you haven’t poked around in this question deeply enough for a while, because you’re scared of what you might find there.

If the simple answer is “To make money.” Then fine. Your blog’s a vehicle. See this article as a way of cleaning it up, tuning the engine. Upgrading to a newer model.

Or maybe your blog’s your brand, your shop front, the front porch of a cottage industry, the smart business suit that announces you when you walk into a room. Either way, spring cleaning is always good. So is touching up paintwork, clearing out and doing basic maintenance.

Clearing out makes way for abundance, for fresh ideas, for new inspiration and direction. Maybe your reasons for blogging aren’t the same as they were last year when you built your blog, or last month even, when you weren’t anxious about money. We evolve. It’s natural.

Maybe your blog got so successful you want to get more spiritual, provide a different kind of value and usefulness.

Maybe you blog for connection, for the exchange of comments.

Are you creating a legacy, a business to pass on, a sideline stream of income?

Do you blog for self expression?

Would you keep blogging even if your Google Stats crashed and your comments counter had a glitch?

Be very clear….

Why do you blog?

It’s a biggie, one we need to investigate alongside the next one…

2) How do you define blogging?

Let’s face it, it’s a humungus, morphing term for everything we do to create, maintain, promote and market our blogs.

No wonder folk get blogweary – if we lump it all together on our tired days, without separating the strands, it can be overwhelming: creating posts, reworking posts, filing them, adapting them for guest posts, sending out emails about guest posts, answering emails from readers, writing bios, comments, replies to comments, twitter posts, social networking updates, tweaking SEO, adding functionality to our web themes, writing ebooks, mini e-courses, attending classes to improve our skills. And here’s a biggie, one that is so easy to overlook – doing what it is we’re skilled at or love enough to write about in the first place!!

So have a look at that list above, print it out or cut and paste it into a document you can work with. Add anything I’ve missed. Then, number all of those things in order of preference. Not importance, preference. Which elements of ‘blogging’ do you enjoy most? Keep that list safe.

On blogweary days, ONLY DO YOUR FAVOURITE THINGS! The sky won’t fall in if you take a total break – and if you ease yourself into taking a break by only doing your favourite things and not should-ing all over yourself  every day, you’ll feel better.

3) Who are you?

I mean who are you NOW? What are your values, your roles, your goals in each of those roles? MAKE A LIST – I’m sure you already make To Do lists! Asking these questions can freshen up your blog immediately by helping you go deeper and get off the hamster treadmill, mindlessly churning out ten point how to posts, and comments… and replies to comments, every single day, without giving your soul some breathing space.

If you’re a committed parent, and your answer to question one was “To make money.” is it really sensible to keep pushing a rock up a hill when you might find that a day job + family time + expressive blogging actually makes you happier and brings in more money. Maybe a stint of blogging has made you realise that we create our own cubicle nation mentality and take it with us.

Maybe you’ve realised that you are a passionately happy blogger, who’s found the perfect vehicle for expression and a business that makes you want to get up in the morning and get at it. But you’re just tired, because it’s really hard work.

Are you an artist, a business owner, a writer, a marketer, an inspirer, a supporter, a recommender, a connector, a communicator, an entertainer, a friend, a flesh eating cannabalistic bloodsucking vampire (come on, we all know bloggers who have gone over to the Dark Side!)

Here’s another fun exercise to help you redefine yourself. Which two words define you? One for your essence and another for your special edge, your special twinkly something. Does your blog express those elements?

When you know who you are, why you blog and what blogging means to you personally, you can spring clean your blog by trying out some of the following tips.

Ask for feedback. Ask regular readers to describe you in two words; ask what they get from you and your blog; ask which of your posts have been their all time favourites; ask why they think your comment numbers are dropping or going up; ask what they need from you, what they want from you.

Find a working rhythm that suits you based on your needs, bio-rhythms and preferences – ditch the shoulds.

Visit blogs that have nothing to do with your niche. See how the other half lives while recognizing the common language of niche passion!

Freshen up your gravatar, headshots and any photos of you on the blog. Go out with friends and family – give them a mission: capture my soul, the best of me!  See it as part of your job to get out and get those photos upgraded. What do your photos say about you.? What would a first time visitor to your site learn and feel about you just by looking at those? Go somewhere you love, the ocean, a favourite bistro, the park…Or, pay to get a professional photographer to capture the parts of you that emerged  in questions 1, 2 and 3.

Change where you blog. If you have a laptop, go out and write posts somewhere completely different. Better still, buy a beautiful notebook and pen. Feel like a writer and an artist as well as whatever kind of specialist you are. Make it a mission, a fuel-hunting, inspiration-seeking mission. Give yourself permission to moodle and people-watch in the real world, far away from Cyberland. Go to a café, wear a new persona like a new coat that makes you feel great. If you’re so addicted you can’t leave the house, change rooms. Leave the home office; write at the kitchen table, answer comments in the garden; read other people’s blogs in a cosy armchair.

And while you’re out there, enjoying the breeze, a clear blue sky, people in lighter clothes and brighter moods, take a digital camera or a Flip camera to take photos or make mini videos of the world as you see it. Be a photographer – hunt for our own photos this week instead of reaching for the stock collection. Share a bit more of yourself. Have fun doing it.

Whether it’s autumn where you are, or spring, enjoy some colour on your blog. Change a font, colour some categories, create a rotating header. PLAY a bit!

Have a clear out. Weed your blogroll, clean out your archives, fix broken links, upgrade your slugs and your SEO, tidy up your side-bars, get some new RSS symbols, freshen up, express a new you. I mean, how many people ever click that calendar thing in the sidebar or use your search box anyway?

Drop in a week’s worth of surprising posts. Connect your specialism to film, book reviews, politics, home design, holidays, a You Tube video – anything you don’t usually go near.

If you’ve read this far, you’re a committed blogger and I wish you all kinds of success!

Janice Hunter is a writer and certified homelife coach who writes a monthly column called Coaching Moments for VOICE, the official newsletter of the International Association of Coaching. She’s currently spring cleaning her own blog!

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Needless to say, this was unproductive. As my plate grew fuller, my need for focus expanded, and I found there are definite times of my day suited to particular tasks.

From a hundred strategies, it is parsing my days into effective fragments that has had the most impact in boosting my overall output. I find I routinely have a stretch in early morning to early afternoon when I can consistently fire on all cylinders. My mind is clear, my coffee has kicked in, the caffeine is caressing my shoulders, and I feel creative, eager, and ready to roar.

This is the best time to turn off tweetdeck, ignore my inbox, and make my fingers fly across the keyboard. If I use this span of time to my fullest potential, I can close the lid to my laptop two hours later feeling surfeited with accomplishment.

Of course every sunrise is followed by a sunset and I invariably face dead spots in even the most delicious of my days. These nooks and crannies use to frustrate me, rendering me aimless, useless, and tired. My productivity during these patches would amount to little more than nothing, every to do only reminding me that what I really wanted was a nap. This, it turned out, was a grand time to bounce about a bit.

Open Tweetdeck and see what’s hit the inbox. Look at my reader, maybe drop comments. If I really want to party down, I can even go for a walk. 

The point is, you really want to use your minutes unless you want your minutes to use you. The best way to find your best rhythm is to play around with different schedules. You will know when the right one clicks because you will hear the whisper of certainty start to compliment your day. Don’t be a slave to something just because it’s what you are already doing. Conversely, know that just as our taste buds change, so do our habits. Don’t be afraid to try new things and adjust your schedule.

We are creatures of both habit and evolution, it’s okay to toss them together.

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You don’t have to take a trip around the world, or even a two week vacation, but sometimes getting away from the day in, day out incessant grind of running a blog is all you need to come back feeling refreshed. Let’s face it, blogging is a demanding mistress and there’s no quicker way to resent her than finding yourself pulled into the relentless vortex of an all day every day as long as the earth’s in orbit work schedule.

Not only will this cause you to resent something you should be loving, it can cause your entire view to grow murky. Working without pause has little benefit and doing so will invariably lead to the law of diminishing returns. 

About three weeks back, I hit a wall. Many of the things I was trying at the time weren’t working as well as I would have liked. Of course, this was entirely my fault as I was expecting for Father Time to grant me special favors. Though he was unwilling to look the other way for the other six and a half billion souls surviving the minutes on our planet, I thought he would somehow do so for me. 

Nope. it turns out I need to be patient just like everybody else.

The world of blogging, for a brief little bout, was just a bit too much. I needed to step away. I took a break from Writer Dad, my first retreat in seven months. I intended to be gone a week, but a busted modem kept me away for ten full days.

This ended up being a hallelujah and a half. When I returned to Writer Dad, I felt a peace I had not yet felt at any time this year. I returned ready and motivated, and I have had more fun at my home base than I have in a long long time. It wasn’t just about the fun, I also returned with a month’s worth of planned posts. 

Humans have a need for an occasional change of environment. Some of us blog because we are seeking a vent, some of us do it because we are searching for a way to make a living for ourselves online. Either way, if we never step away from the track, we are only running around in the same circles we were once wishing to avoid.

Take a long weekend, an extended holiday, or maybe even just a really long coffee break, but step away and grow a little while you’re gone.

Sean

Sean Platt is a fantastic father and gifted ghostwriter. He tweets here.

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