Do you have any idea how many hours I waste looking for the perfect blog template or plugins to help me make my stuff easier to find or share? Well, I don’t either. But I know it’s more than I think it ought to be – especially when I could just write great content.
Take this weekend, for example. I know that I spent a few hours looking for a new template (I found a couple that I like – Manifest and The Erudite – but I’m not making a change just yet).
And how much time was invested in looking at templates? Several hours.
It’s a Matter of Priority
Now, I think having a good, readable template is a good thing. And I’m all about plugins that help me make my blog more usable. In fact I think beauty is a matter of both form and function. But it’s a matter of priority. You see, having a killer template and screaming-hot plugins is not nearly as important as writing great blog posts.
It’s the cart before the horse. If I write stuff that nobody wants to find, read, or share, what’s the point in making sure that I have the infrastructure for people to do what they don’t want to do? But if, on the other hand, I invest my time in making sure that I write killer blog posts that are relevant to your lives, you’ll find a way to read it and share it.
Did you catch that? If I write killer posts that are relevant, you’ll find a way to read and share it. If I make that simpler, all the better. But I have to get the first part first – writing killer posts that are relevant.
What Could I Accomplish?
I’d taken just two hours this weekend to write instead of search, I could have written three new posts – maybe even four. That would have been at least two more posts for you to read this week.
Come to think of it, I shudder to think what could be accomplished if I recaptured only two hours a week – every week for a year. That would be over 100 hours a year. That’s over two additional work-weeks of time.
It’s Not Just Blog Posts
I do this all the time and I bet you do too. It seems like I spend more time obsessing about the “easy” part of finding or creating systems and tools than I do worrying about the hard work. The work of connecting with people and taking care of their needs – what Seth Godin would call creating my art.
It kind of makes me wonder what I could accomplish if I really did focus on what’s important. Probably a lot.
Photo credit: Akbar Simonse
