Nia M Wardani | A Logbook of Life Discoveries

Why and How Make Time for Blogging - Busy Teacher Style

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Time management for blogging
Photo by Jessica Lewis on Unsplash

Starting a blog is easy, but maintaining it is another big problem. Especially for a busy teacher like me, maybe you too, who has goes-forever to-do-lists, squeezing blogging in between my schedules looks almost impossible. Despite all the difficulties in maintaining a blog, I am going to show you why busy teacher should blog (especially me) and how to manage the time for blogging.

Blogging Challenge Failed. You see, only in several days. 

If you are following my blog, then you will see that consistency is a very hard part of blogging that I am still unable to manage. Several days of daily posts, then no post in several weeks. Failed blog challenges. Numerous stories I promised to readers to post, docking in draft for months. This is a habit I want, definitely, to stop.

Yes, of course to squeeze blogging in between my schedule, which is already fully packed with works from school, my online book shop nhbookstore.com, in addition to house chores, sounds too much. Why don't I just give up and focus on one job? Why should I insist on continuing this blog?

I decided to take up a program called Blogspedia Coaching for Newbie, hoping to learn more to enhance my blogging skill, thus getting rid of my habit of inconsistency. And the first meeting yesterday struck me like lightning. The coach, I called Mbak Marita, said that when we are inconsistent in posting our blog, there might be a problem with our BIG WHY in blogging. That's why we don't come back to our 'home'(read: blog) because we don't have a reason to come home. A blogger, then, needs to find her/his own 'big why' first. One of the first tasks of the coaching program is to write an essay about our personal 'big why' of blogging.

I have posted several 'why' posts in my blog, but surprisingly it never crossed my mind that I firstly need to write my 'why' of blogging. I read through several articles, making lists of possibilities of why that can make me want to come 'home' at the end of the day, and crossed out several of them. And here is want I found:

The Big Why of Blogging

Blog as a 'me space'

In this modern world, where professionalism is commonly paired with expertise and specialization, people tend to forget that humans are actually complex beings. Each of us has multiple roles in life: as a wife/husband to our spouse, as a parent to our child, as a friend, as a colleague to our coworkers, as a teacher to our students, as a neighbor, etc. 

I went through this after-university-life-crisis where suddenly I was faced with multiple roles. I was living in all-in-dormitory away from my parents during high school and university, so that I got used to focusing only on studying. I didn't even join any organization because I was on terms with my scholarship. I don't interact much with people socially. That's how I formed my identity: a student, that's it. Having a single role was easy for me. I didn't need to spend extra energy for socializing.

Things got difficult once I went back home and entered the workforce. With multiple roles I could not manage, I began to lose identity. Who am I?

There was a popular female newscaster in our country being asked by a person during an interview,"which one will you choose? family or career?" Her answer was mind blowing for me at that time, "why should women be forced to choose when they can do multiple roles at a time?" This is it! We are actually capable of managing different roles at a time. It might be hard at first, but what I need to do is just to learn how to do it!

Getting the inspiration is as easy as clicking a switch of a lamp, but practicing it requires millions of joules of emotional energy, especially because I am an introvert. Socializing drains the energy of an introvert. Introverts do have the ability to socially interact. However, as it is explained in a book entitled "Quiet" by Susan Cain, they required a specific calm space to recharge their energy. Some choose reading in a corner, some choose walking by themselves around a park, some choose to wander in the forest or do gardening. 

I personally found that blogging is my space. Blogs give me freedom to explore my inner self. I can write freely in any topics that I want to talk about, with the least restriction. I can go back and forth between my older posts to reflect. I write reminders to myself when I feel sad or envious of others or when I learn life stories from someone else. I can jump between my roles, making connections between each one, learning from them as a whole life lesson.

Blog is my 'me space' as a whole. Where people can see me, and I can see myself, not just as a specific role, not only as a coworker, not only as a business partner, not only as a hangout friend, but as a human.

Blog as my 'spokesman' of unspoken words

There are times when I have difficulties talking to someone. I remember one day a student, having difficulties facing him, taken home by his parents before I could say,"don't worry," and we never had a chance to meet after that. 

There are times when I need to say something to a friend, but I know he wouldn't let me finish explaining before interrupting.

On another day, I heard a story about my late grandfather from my grandmother. You know if grandmother never told this story, the history of my family will end there. I am the oldest among my siblings, but none of them has heard or met my grandfather.

I want my thoughts to be read, my experience to be felt, but my courage of speaking is limited. I know one day my mouth will be too weak to speak, my hands will be too trembling to type, and my mind will be lost. But my blog will be forever my spokesman.

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Blogging is my need, but how would I manage the time to do it?

Blogging is a need, like I need to eat three times a day. But together with all other activities, managing it is a big question. Here are a couple of tricks that I am currently thinking to try managing the time.

Making sure the time slot is available

I started using Google Calendar to plan all of my activities this year. All school work, online stores work, and house works. To make sure that the time slot is available, I put also blogging in the schedules. Writing long posts can take time, but if my outlines are ready, writing pieces of it everyday will do the work. In the end, I will review the overall draft and make sure that each sentence flows smoothly. Like this essay, I am writing this in between my lessons. It gives me the plus point that it can distract me from the boredom of school work. Several sentences every chance, sum to more than 800 words in a single post.

Joining blogging event and community that push me to write

Making time for writing is not enough for me to write consistently. When I started using Google Calendar, I put a specific schedule for blogging 1 hour a day. It didn't work eventually. I kept procrastinating and at the end of the day I went to bed before even having a draft. 

Around a month ago, I joined a Focus Group Discussion about being consistent in worship. I suddenly remembered that during high school, I was the most punctual person about all activities at school. But it changed after I went to university. The fact is that our motivation is also affected by people around us. In high school, when I knew that everybody would come to do prayer at that exact time, I became punctual. But after high school, I arranged all schedules and dis all activities myself, I started to procrastinate in everything. So, I think I need to find people that would force me to be punctual. 

For this reason, I joined this blog coaching program. I hope the deadlines give me a constant strong push to move forward.


That's what I can explain about why I should blog and how I try to be consistent with it by managing my time and pushing myself. I have a lot to learn about blogging. My big why might change after some time. My strategies to blog consistently might develop. I don't know what I might become as a blogger. But I hope I become a better one. See you in the next posts.


Nia M Wardani
Hi! Call me Nia. I discovers interesting things in life and I love to share them with all people around the world.

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19 comments

  1. Pingin nangis mbak bacanya... Bahasa Inggris semuaa... Canggih sekali. hihihi. Salam kenal ya mbaa

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    1. Waduh, jangan nangis, Mbak. Salam kenal juga.. 😀

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  2. aku yes aja lah ya.. semangat mbak.. litle-litle i can speak inggris ko.😅

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    1. Practice makes habit, Mbak. You can write in English, too. 😀

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  3. Writing really can be an alternative for us who can't really say what's going on in our mind. Good writing btw mbak

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    1. Absolutely, Mbak Mulya. Thank you for reading. 😀

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  4. Salam kenal mbak Nia, apa daya emak tak sanggup berbahasa ingris heheh

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    1. Salam kenal, Mbak. Ayo, belajar dikit-dikit, Mbak. Nggak susah kok. 😁

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  5. Salam kenal Mbak Nia 💛 Diriku teman sekelasnya dirimu di Blogspedia hihi. The Big Why-ku juga berkali-kali berubah mbak, terutama dengan bertambahnya usia wkwkwk. Kemarin ikut blogging challenge apa mbak? Ku juga pengen ikutan challenge2 yang memaksa buat rutin ulis di blog 😁

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    1. Salam kenal juga, Mbak. Kemarin challenge-challenge-an sama adik. Dia punya blog juga, tapi pakai wix. Tapi gagal di hari ke-4. Padahal targetnya 49 hari. 😅
      Kalau sekarang ikut yang Blogspedia sudah challenging banget. Hehe..

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  6. Keren banget deh mba....nulis pake bahasa indonesia aja aku masih ngos-ngosan. Ini in english loh....Mau sering2 main kesini ah sambil belajar english 💕

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  7. I really like the way you write mbaa:). Your english is very good and advanced level, I feel like reading a native writer of English, kereen

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    1. Thank you, Mbak. You're welcome to come here often :)

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  8. You are sooo talkative here 😂

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    1. I am, Vi. Especially after being a teacher, talking 6 hours straight. If you were my students, you won't believe how quiet I was as a student. 😅

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  10. Very big thank miss Nia... It's reminds me of my forgotten blog...

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  11. Mba, keren banget tulisannya. Pake bahasa inggris dan tulisannya ngalir banget

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