Finding your work, life, blog balance

If you are familiar with project management theory, you know the "project management triangle". The triangle (see the diagram at the right) theory states that on the there are three forces in the outcome of a project and that they are dependent upon one another.

Those forces are Quality, Cost and Time. The theory states that you can have any combination of two of the forces in your favor, but the third will suffer. For example, you can have a project that is high quality with fast delivery, but you will pay higher costs for it. Similarly, you can have a project that delivers quickly at a low cost, but the quality will suffer.

I found this to be a great analogy for blogging (and others spending their free time in the social media space) as I work to pick up my level of posting here. So here is what life looks like when it is in balance. Note that work, personal life and the blog are in harmony. This is the ideal state to get to, but is extremely challenging to achieve. If you don't blog, this could represent your online activity on social networks or on Twitter, etc.

I try to maintain the time I dedicate to my family, so the next two diagrams only have two variables that change, blog and work. For me, those two forces compete for attention and are difficult to balance.

When work starts pushing, the blog has to give a little. Late nights, travel and work volume all play a role in how balance is maintained. I usually blog early in the morning or between 10pm and 1am. When you're working long hours, however you don't feel like staying up later than you have to.

Conversely, when the blog takes priority, work has to push a little. Obviously I am not shirking anything at work to blog, but some days the time is easier to find than others.

This post came from my proactive goal setting to get back here and to blog more often and re-engage as much as possible. I can't tell you how much I value your readership and absolutely feel stressed when I know I should write a post, but I can't keep my eyes open any longer. I have not moved to Twitter (as others claim to have done to explain their decreasing blog volume) this blog still gives me the most value and I hope you feel the same way.

More posts coming soon. Thanks for reading!

Technorati Tags:
Matt Dickman, social media, Techno//Marketer, blogging, balance

Comments

[Amber Naslund]

Hi Matt - boy, are we fractured or what? It's so hard to find time for everything we value. I've given myself permission to put out a solid few posts every week instead of laboring to post daily (like I used to, somehow). My blog is a great community that I dearly love, so I try to give it the same due I would returning a phone call from a friend. Might be a bit of a time suck, but it makes *me* feel better to do it, and I know I'm providing something to someone else that they (hopefully!) value.

Looking forward to more posts, however often they may come. :)

[S. Neil Vineberg]

Matt,

Thoughtful post for sure. It's not just how much time we give to our tasks, it's how we use each moment and the clarity we feel.

More clarity means faster access to creative and faster execution which gives us more time for the other stuff. How do we develop clarity?

I have found that by meditating in the morning for 5 minutes and exploring silence, my mind settles, thoughts become more organized, ideas come through more clearly, and time itself expands so I get more done in any given moment.

So there are perhaps things people can do - meditation, running, exercise - that take time but also create/expand time.

[Becky Carroll]

Matt, I am in a similar boat to Amber. I no longer blog daily but strive to blog 2-3 times/week. I just put out a reader survey to see how they feel about frequency!

If I know I'll have a busy week, I use guest posting or I post ahead. Seems to help.

Hang in there, Matt; your blog Rocks! :)

[Lisa Hoffmann]

I feel like I'm always blogging - in my head. No matter where I am or what I'm doing blog post ideas pop into my head and start swirling around and taking shape. The challenge is getting the posts down in pixels.

Prioritizing and scheduling time for each task is the secret to getting anything done. If you haven't blogged in a while, then blogging creeps ever higher on the list. Now, if only I could practice what I preach more often...

Love the triangle concept - helps me visualize the balance.

[Claire]

Matt - I have to say lately I have been missing you on twitter and your blog, but I completely feel your pain (and I don't even blog about important things like you)! I think it is all about priorities, but there are only so many hours in a day - can you really put your blog before eating or familial interaction? And then if you can only spare 10 minutes, would a post even be worth it? Conundrums Matt, conundrums.

[Brendan Cooper]

"I can't tell you how much I value your readership and absolutely feel stressed when I know I should write a post"

You took the words out of my head. It's precisely how I've been feeling recently and I need to get back onto it. Thanks for the spur!

[Matt Dickman]

Amber -- I have definitely moved from the one-a-day model to a couple of times a week. It's a real challenge.

Neil -- I've recently started running again and am trying out Yoga this weekend. I definitely feel like it's about finding clarity. You're a blogger's guru Neil.

Becky -- I think 2-3 a week is a great, manageable goal. Posting ahead is a great option that I don't use to the fullest. Thanks!

Lisa -- I am the same way. I have about 75-80 thought starters ready, it's just getting the workflow down to get them finished.

[Matt Dickman]

Claire -- It's is certainly a conundrum to realign priorities on the fly like this. I love reading your blog Claire, keep it up!

Brendan -- Thanks for that! I'm putting a plan into place to get this done, we'll have to check in with each other to keep it up.

[Ed Lee]

thanks for eloquently articulating what everyone i speak to these days is feeling.

personally, i can see a direct correlation between blogging, work and exercise. if any one of these three is getting more attention than the others, i know that the other two are suffering.

Ed

[Matt Dickman]

Ed -- They're absolutely tied together. I've let working out fall through the cracks too often and am picking up on it now, but I work out with the wife so that the personal time doesn't drop even more.

[Adam Singer]

This was an extremely elegant explanation - I feel exactly the same way.

Thanks Matt

[Amanda]

Matt: very relevant. I am upstairs blogging as we speak and my partner is downstairs cooking breaky. He can hear my little fingers typing away and he's chatting to me about, um, something. Then he stops.

"Ah I forgot," he says."You're blogging." He mumbles on. "It's a pretty normal reaction to want to talk you know, but people keep telling you to shut up. Now I'm talking to myself...," etc etc.

Guess my triangle's not working too well huh?