Blogging Can Damage Your Health

I have been thinking about this a lot recently. I haven't blogged for a few days and I have to admit I have relished the time off. The problem with blogging and everything that revolves around it is it can become addictive.

I looked at a forum yesterday and people were complaining that they were working 10 or 12 hours a day without results. Well, this is a long process and if you are looking to make money out of a blog, you have to be in it for the long term. It's a business and like any other business it takes time to establish.

Having said that how do you recognise that you are getting the balance wrong?

There is something addictive about blogging and I am sure it gets worse when money starts to come in.
So how would you recognise that something is seriously adrift?

Do you recognise yourself in any of these ?

* You constantly check your emails, in fact your "door" is always open

* You look at your stats more than once a day just to see how your blog/ article is doing

* You write that 1 "last post" (and tweak others)

* You find yourself following up what appears to be an interesting email, and before you know it you are 4 websites away, following link after link and an hour has passed.

* You find yourself reading that email and again before you can blink, you are on a sales letter with your credit card poised.

* You are feeling bombarded with information and you feel you are losing focus. You are not achieving what you thought you might achieve that hour, day or week.

There will come a point when you need to start thinking about creating healthy boundaries in order to keep your health, relationships and a life.

Creating a healthy work life balance (without going too far the other way) should perhaps be something you take time out and consider at any time in your blogging life whether it be at the start or even (and perhaps particularly) if you have been at it a while.

What can you do?

* Take time out in the day set aside for family/friends

* Take a holiday. I feel much better for having had a few days off

* Take some exercise, even if it is just a walk around the block

* Set some time limits on how long you will spend on a day and what time you will go to bed

* Get some hobbies

* Set times when you will read your emails, perhaps twice or 3 times a day and switch it off in between.

* Plan your day and your week. I find it useful to write down what I want to achieve this day/week. It is sometimes over ambitious but I am finding it easier now not to overstretch and end up achieving very little. A plan will help you focus and it feels great to tick off things once done

* For a day or so map out exactly what you do, and how long you spend on it. If you simply get a piece of paper and write down what time you start something and when you finish it (or start something else) you will see where you are spending your time and possibly wasting it. Doing something like this can help you focus more, stop you wasting time and ultimately give you some of your time back to do other things like seeing friends/ taking exercise.

What do you do to achieve that work life balance? Do you do anything at all? If so what?