It's The Attack Of The Blogs

It’s The Attack Of The Blogs

April 7th, 2008 | by Scott

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That’s what the New York Times seems to think according to this piece.

While it’s sad and tragic that we have lost several prominent and some fairly unknown members of the blogging community, given the fragility of life coupled with the vast size of this community it has to be expected over time. I just don’t know if there’s any direct connection that can be fairly made between these passings and the blogging lifestyle.

I am betting that there is some argument to be made that the NYT may be playing a little “the sky is falling” with this piece, and there’s that whole thing about source objectivity and perspective given the number of bloggers scooping traditional journalists over and over… but I’ll leave all of that to the rest of the blogosphere to hash out.

I did become concerned for the safety of bloggers after reading this piece, specifically the three associates I have who blog with me across the network of blogs that I own. Covering everything from exploring the Supernatural to Politics, Sports and Technology news and opinions the four of us keep pretty busy, so I called each of them to check on their health. It turns out they’re all healthy and happy.

I’ve talked about this before, but I thought now was a good time to mention it again. You absolutely must make free/play time for yourself when running your own business or working from home. This is the single most crucial demand I place on my blogging associates, which I’d like to believe plays some part in their current states of happy health.

It’s too easy to get caught up in the 24/7 cycle and trying to push yourself beyond reasonable limits, and the truth is you’re probably doing yourself and your business more harm than good from it.

If you push yourself too hard the quality of what you’re doing and putting out is going to suffer. That’s just how us humans are made, our minds and bodies begin to shut down whether we want them to or not at a certain point.

And when your output quality drops it will affect your business (or blog). Customers or readers will notice it.

It’s hard to find a comfortable balance between life and work in a real world job, but it can be even more difficult when you work for yourself or work from home because the two almost seem to blend together at times. Try not to let them.

Most people begin working for themselves or working from home so that they can spend more time with their family or doing other things they enjoy… then forget all that and become consumed with the working. At this point I don’t think you’ve gained anything, you’ve just traded your tie and cubicle for pajamas and the spare bedroom that you converted into a home office.

Remember the reasons why you wanted to do what you’re doing, and take the time to indulge in those every day.

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