Louis Gray asks if leading bloggers are getting “blog fatigue?”
It’s worse than that. I’m just really tired — I’ve spread myself too thin in too many different directions. A new kid on the way is staring me in the face, too. So is my email. Everytime I sit down to do an email two more come in. It’s really amazing. The other day I answered a ton of email on the plane (I’m far more productive on the plane, no Twitter is there to interrupt me) and when I reconnected about 1.5x as many as I answered came back! Hint: the answer to email overload is not to answer any email. Yikes.
Tim Ferriss’ book, the 4-hour Workweek, is getting me to look at my life differently. I already do some of what he suggests but the book really is a great way to evaluate what you’re doing. Even if the book is full of stuff you’ll never use, it does get you to sit down and look at life differently. The book is great, I’ve already recommended it to several people and it sure does challenge you to make sure you’re moving your life in a direction that’s good for you, not just for everyone else.
Anyway, might explain why I’m leaving shortly to go to San Francisco to attend the KFOG Kaboom concert and Fireworks show. I’m meeting Pandora’s CTO, Tom Conrad, at the Apple store at 3 p.m. then we’re headed over to the concert after that. Meet you at the front gate at 5 p.m. if you wanna do a photowalking kind of thing. Bring your tripod and a cable release if you want to take photos of the fireworks.
The other thing is that my link blog, my video show, and my Twitter account have taken up a lot of slack. Instead of linking to a ton of stuff here, I just link to it over on my link blog. And Twitter is more fun. More interactive. I get answers back immediately. There’s not the pressure to be erudite there (no trolls).
Some other things going on? My back has been hurting for a long time, and it’s getting harder to sit still to blog and I haven’t been exercising lately, I’ve been traveling too much, and I haven’t been paying enough attention to my friends. So, something in my life has gotta give, especially with a kid on the way.
UPDATE: Maryam has some friends over for lunch and they didn’t know any of the KFOG Kaboom musicians so off to YouTube we went. Here’s who we’ll be listening to: Kenny Wayne Shepherd; Ozomatli; and Guster.
“On the other hand there isn’t ANY blogger who is reading the numbers of feeds I am.”
Really? So, according to the latest data, there are approximately 60-70 MILLION blogs in the world. Which would mean there’s close to 60-70 MILLION bloggers. Say, about 20-30% don’t ever post. That leaves us with around 40-50MM bloggers. So, just so I understand: you are saying out of the 40-50MM bloggers in the world, no one reads more feeds than you do? Really? No one? Really? And you know this for a fact? How?
You ever think your narcissism my be contributing to your fatigue? Maybe if you stop thinking you are more important than you really are, it might relieve some of your self-induced pressure.
“On the other hand there isn’t ANY blogger who is reading the numbers of feeds I am.”
Really? So, according to the latest data, there are approximately 60-70 MILLION blogs in the world. Which would mean there’s close to 60-70 MILLION bloggers. Say, about 20-30% don’t ever post. That leaves us with around 40-50MM bloggers. So, just so I understand: you are saying out of the 40-50MM bloggers in the world, no one reads more feeds than you do? Really? No one? Really? And you know this for a fact? How?
You ever think your narcissism my be contributing to your fatigue? Maybe if you stop thinking you are more important than you really are, it might relieve some of your self-induced pressure.
They don’t know who Kenny Wayne Shepard is? Yeesh.
They don’t know who Kenny Wayne Shepard is? Yeesh.
LayZ: I should have qualified it. No one reads more feeds on Google Reader than I do. How do I know that? The Google Reader team told me so. So did Matt Cutts.
I read every post. I don’t just look at keywords. If you read my link blog and compared that to what I actually read you’d see just how impossible that would be to do just by looking at headlines or just by reading for keywords. Every post is hand picked for a reason.
LayZ: I should have qualified it. No one reads more feeds on Google Reader than I do. How do I know that? The Google Reader team told me so. So did Matt Cutts.
I read every post. I don’t just look at keywords. If you read my link blog and compared that to what I actually read you’d see just how impossible that would be to do just by looking at headlines or just by reading for keywords. Every post is hand picked for a reason.
Based on your fairly regular complaints on the subject I’d say what you are getting is e-mail fatigue.
As already mentioned , it doesn’t take that long to do a few posts a day on what interests you. What takes so long is all the other stuff you have to do to come up with what those two or three posts are going to be.
Solution: You are a Vice President for gosh sake. I’ve been a Vice President a couple of times too and know that doesn’t always mean you get actual support staff to go with that title, however, given the business you are in, and the rather direct relationship between this blog and your company (formal or not) I’d say they could spring for someone to help you at least filter your e-mail into things that need rapid attention and things that could wait for a while (or maybe forever). Part of that might also be to have a separate e-mail address for certain things, notes from family members, bills, etc., that you wouldn’t want to share with a third party, but, I’m guess you have already taken care of that, if not you should (as part of keeping private life in front of other things if nothing else).
Based on your fairly regular complaints on the subject I’d say what you are getting is e-mail fatigue.
As already mentioned , it doesn’t take that long to do a few posts a day on what interests you. What takes so long is all the other stuff you have to do to come up with what those two or three posts are going to be.
Solution: You are a Vice President for gosh sake. I’ve been a Vice President a couple of times too and know that doesn’t always mean you get actual support staff to go with that title, however, given the business you are in, and the rather direct relationship between this blog and your company (formal or not) I’d say they could spring for someone to help you at least filter your e-mail into things that need rapid attention and things that could wait for a while (or maybe forever). Part of that might also be to have a separate e-mail address for certain things, notes from family members, bills, etc., that you wouldn’t want to share with a third party, but, I’m guess you have already taken care of that, if not you should (as part of keeping private life in front of other things if nothing else).
“ And doing a good blog post takes a while to do. ”
This is what I don’t understand. Why does it take you a while to do one of your posts? You opine about something you already have in your head, which may or may not have a couple of links involved. You aren’t trying to come up with “funny” material or a webcomic (ahem…) so I don’t see the difficulty threshold.
I’m saying your blog isn’t great, because I wouldn’t be reading it if it wasn’t, but what’s great about it is the breadth of material and your own personal opinion (and the occasional insanity).
Again, maybe I’m missing something. (If it’s not too much trouble) why don’t you tell us what goes into a typical day of blog posts for you. A little, “this is how I do it” post. That would be interesting and we all could get a sense of what you’re talking about.
Oh, and I don’t see what audience size has to do with whether or not you get tired of blogging. I mean, yeah, my audience is like 20 people, but a post is a post. I put the same amount of work into each thing I do whether I get 20 hits or 25 hits, ya know.
“ And doing a good blog post takes a while to do. ”
This is what I don’t understand. Why does it take you a while to do one of your posts? You opine about something you already have in your head, which may or may not have a couple of links involved. You aren’t trying to come up with “funny” material or a webcomic (ahem…) so I don’t see the difficulty threshold.
I’m saying your blog isn’t great, because I wouldn’t be reading it if it wasn’t, but what’s great about it is the breadth of material and your own personal opinion (and the occasional insanity).
Again, maybe I’m missing something. (If it’s not too much trouble) why don’t you tell us what goes into a typical day of blog posts for you. A little, “this is how I do it” post. That would be interesting and we all could get a sense of what you’re talking about.
Oh, and I don’t see what audience size has to do with whether or not you get tired of blogging. I mean, yeah, my audience is like 20 people, but a post is a post. I put the same amount of work into each thing I do whether I get 20 hits or 25 hits, ya know.
Crap, I made a typo. It’s supposed to say “I’m NOT saying your blog isn’t great….” Sorry.
Crap, I made a typo. It’s supposed to say “I’m NOT saying your blog isn’t great….” Sorry.
Robert, hate to add to your reading but this may help explain some of your fatigue…
http://www.forbes.com/free_forbes/2007/0507/176.html
CA used to have a “no internal email” day a week – they found it forced employees to walk around and talk to each other more…may be you and other bloggers should adopt a blog-free, Twitter free block of time a week…heck, readers could use that time off too…
Robert, hate to add to your reading but this may help explain some of your fatigue…
http://www.forbes.com/free_forbes/2007/0507/176.html
CA used to have a “no internal email” day a week – they found it forced employees to walk around and talk to each other more…may be you and other bloggers should adopt a blog-free, Twitter free block of time a week…heck, readers could use that time off too…
I try to unplug for at least one weekend day a month. No twitter, no blogs, no email, nothing.
I had to turn Twitter texts off on my cellphone because they were getting way too distracting.
I try to unplug for at least one weekend day a month. No twitter, no blogs, no email, nothing.
I had to turn Twitter texts off on my cellphone because they were getting way too distracting.
May be you blog a lot, but that’s why I like your blog. I visit you blog several times a day because I know every time I’ll find something new. Keep up the good work, but give yourself a break from time to time. What I mean by that: DON’T EVEN ALLOW YOURSELF TO LOOK AT A COMPUTER during that time to rest.
May be you blog a lot, but that’s why I like your blog. I visit you blog several times a day because I know every time I’ll find something new. Keep up the good work, but give yourself a break from time to time. What I mean by that: DON’T EVEN ALLOW YOURSELF TO LOOK AT A COMPUTER during that time to rest.
[...] Scoble has a post which mirrors my own feelings the last week or two: Louis Gray asks if leading bloggers are getting “blog fatigue?” [...]
Your video show is great…
Your video show is great…
Well why not quit “twittering”. Or spend less time online. or quit blogging.
Nobody is FORCING you to do this stuff, so getting stressed about it is pretty easy to solve.
Well why not quit “twittering”. Or spend less time online. or quit blogging.
Nobody is FORCING you to do this stuff, so getting stressed about it is pretty easy to solve.
No one reads more feeds on Google Reader than I do. How do I know that? The Google Reader team told me so. So did Matt Cutts.
Proceed directly to the Restaurant at the End of the Blogosphere for your cookie.
In all honesty, not sure what the point of this post was, as your running commentary in the comments area suggests that you already have All the Answers, and apparently wanted to yank it out (see JCWs initial comment) and swing it around a bit. Yee ha. 633 feeds. You go.
Assuming I am graced with the parented Scoble barrage, no, I don’t read 633 feeds, and I have zero intention of doing so. And no, I don’t agree that cramming as many feeds down your gullet is akin to “conversing” any more than it is to “listening”. And I’m only here on this post because I took the bait over at Kent Newsome’s site. Shame on me, I know.
No one reads more feeds on Google Reader than I do. How do I know that? The Google Reader team told me so. So did Matt Cutts.
Proceed directly to the Restaurant at the End of the Blogosphere for your cookie.
In all honesty, not sure what the point of this post was, as your running commentary in the comments area suggests that you already have All the Answers, and apparently wanted to yank it out (see JCWs initial comment) and swing it around a bit. Yee ha. 633 feeds. You go.
Assuming I am graced with the parented Scoble barrage, no, I don’t read 633 feeds, and I have zero intention of doing so. And no, I don’t agree that cramming as many feeds down your gullet is akin to “conversing” any more than it is to “listening”. And I’m only here on this post because I took the bait over at Kent Newsome’s site. Shame on me, I know.
Hello Robert,
Since your this post, I have observed your blogging got more interesting. The subject matter is again filled with the fun. Your rank is not an issue but instead of between 5-9 it is between 2-5. Well, we all need someone to tell us what is going on.
Many are saying that you do not have read this many blog and do not have to stay in front of computer. With all due respect, I feel that you are doing all this so we are not doing it. As you are reading all this blogs, I do not read them.
I was subscribed to hundreds of blogs. When I see that blog in your shared items I unsubscribe to them thinking, now you will tell me what is good there. I got my life back. Thanks to you.
You are blogging and reading all the feed of internet, we do not have to read them all. You save great amount of time for others.
Thanks,
Pinal
Hello Robert,
Since your this post, I have observed your blogging got more interesting. The subject matter is again filled with the fun. Your rank is not an issue but instead of between 5-9 it is between 2-5. Well, we all need someone to tell us what is going on.
Many are saying that you do not have read this many blog and do not have to stay in front of computer. With all due respect, I feel that you are doing all this so we are not doing it. As you are reading all this blogs, I do not read them.
I was subscribed to hundreds of blogs. When I see that blog in your shared items I unsubscribe to them thinking, now you will tell me what is good there. I got my life back. Thanks to you.
You are blogging and reading all the feed of internet, we do not have to read them all. You save great amount of time for others.
Thanks,
Pinal
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