7 Simple GTD Rules For Bloggers

We all know what GTD can do for top managers or busy businessmen, this is what David Allen is doing all day long, training big guys to get things done. But GTD is not necessary a business-only process. It can be used with great results in other activities, such as blogging. If you are not familiar with the GTD concepts, you can start by reading articles in the GTD category of this blog. Feel free to also look at the series about GTD tips. Now let’s see how 7 simple GTD rules for bloggers can improve your effectiveness.

1. Write With A Mind Like Water

Try to keep your subjects inbox at zero, all the time. That means you should organize your subjects, your ideas, your thoughts and blog development plans as often as you can, until your thoughts are no longer tied to them. Separate your blogging sessions into several patterns: collecting data, processing it, and writing. Collect your ideas about future posts, process them, and never start to write unless your mind is freed from the noise of “generating new posts”.

2. Renegotiate Your Writing Commitments

Renegotiate your writing pace each month, if possible, if not at least at three months. As a blogger you establish a monthly or weekly goal for the number of posts you want to write. But you’ll soon find out that you are either writing too fast, exhausting yourself, either too slow, and your readers are not coming back. Renegotiating your commitments should become a regular habit.

3. Do The 2 Minutes Tule On The Comments

You are reviewing comments on a regular base and try to keep close with your readers. Great, but when you do that, try to apply the 2 minutes rule, meaning you don’t spend more than 2 minutes on a comment. In GTD, if you think an action should take more than 2 minutes, you are either postponing it, either moving it to a Someday / Maybe tray. Do the same with your readers comments, or you’ll be soon writing more comments than blog content.

4. Use The Drafts Folder For Someday / Maybe Items

The drafts folder is a great functionality of every blogging tool, including the one I use here, namely WordPress. Use it constantly as a placeholder for all your Sometime / Maybe items. Even if it’s just a thought, or a small piece of an idea, put it there, and let it stay until you decide that you’ll do it sometime, or you won’t . The constant habit of keeping a healthy drafts folder was a great way for me to become more productive, and sometimes even more inspired.

5. Never Have The Same Subject Again

Unless you really love that subject… In GTD, they say “Never have the same thought again, unless you love that thought“. Diversity is the queen of content. If you are repeating yourself too often the audience will drift away. People are looking for nice subjects and good writing, but if you write the same thing in 100 quasi-identical ways, they will eventually realize that and leave your blog.

6. Do Only What Is Doable

As a blogger you will spend a lot of time surfing the net and promoting your blog through social networking websites. It’s very easy to get caught in new mini-projects like reading somebody’s tags on del.icio.us, or making a new lens on squidoo. That will suck your time away. Identify any doable item in your activities and do only that. You can easily postpone dreaming and play after your work session was finished.

7. Stick To It

Well, that’s not directly GTD but it’s pretty useful. And pretty simple also. Once you managed to keep a fairly normal discipline on that, keep doing it. Over and over again, even if the results are not showing right away. It will surely pay off in the near future, Discipline is not a state, or a quality you have, it’s a process that you enjoy all of your life. Don’t get out the wagon too soon, or you’ll lose all the fun in the trip.




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