Top 10 Stress Relief Secrets for Bloggers
As the host of The Blogger Genius Podcast, I’ve had the unique opportunity to delve into the intricacies of building an online business. It’s a journey filled with excitement and potential, but it’s not without its challenges.
One of the most significant hurdles I’ve faced—and one I know many of you can relate to—is managing stress and maintaining a healthy mindset. This is why I’m sharing my top 10 stress relief secrets for bloggers, which I hope you find helpful in your own life.
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The Reality of Online Business and Blogger Stress
In the digital world, stress levels are at an all-time high. We’re all constantly grappling with Google algorithm updates, the pressure of competing with AI-generated content, and the overall uncertainties of the digital landscape. It’s a lot to handle, and I’ve felt the weight of it myself. But through my experiences, I’ve developed these ten habits that have been my anchor in the stormy seas of online business and that’s why I recorded this solo episode.
Here are my 10 tips to relieve stress as an online entrepreneur and blogger…
Tip 1: Setting Boundaries for Work-Life Balance
The first habit I can’t emphasize enough is setting clear boundaries between work and personal time. Working from home blurs these lines, and without strict boundaries, burnout is inevitable. I’ve found that having specific work hours not only boosts my focus but also keeps my motivation levels high. It’s about quality, not quantity.
Tip 2: Prioritizing Tasks with the Eisenhower Box
Next up is prioritizing tasks. The Eisenhower Box has been a game-changer for me. It’s a simple yet effective method to differentiate between what’s urgent and what’s important. This approach has allowed me to concentrate on tasks that truly move the needle for my business, keeping the overwhelming to-do list at bay.
Tip 3: Embracing Simple Tech Tools for Productivity
In the realm of productivity, I’m all for using simple tech tools. The Pomodoro Technique, paired with straightforward tools like tomato-timer.com, has revolutionized my workflow. I also love Google Docs and Google Sheets even thought they’re ugly! It’s about finding tools that are easy to use, like MiloTreeCart, that get the job done so you will want to return to over and over again.
Tip 4: The Power of Connections
Another habit I hold dear is maintaining connections. Whether it’s with family, friends, or business peers, nurturing relationships is vital. It’s easy to feel isolated in this line of work, so building a network within your niche and leveraging the power of networking is crucial for support and growth.
Tip 5: The Importance of Continual Learning
I dedicate time each day to continual learning. Staying informed about online business trends and emerging technologies is non-negotiable. It’s how I empower myself to adapt and thrive in an ever-changing digital environment.
Tip 6: Mindfulness and Gratitude
Mindfulness practices, such as expressing gratitude is central to my stress management strategy. Reflecting on blessings are not just good for my soul; they’re essential for my mental clarity and well-being.
Before I go to bed. Each night, I make a list in my head of all the things I’m grateful for, and it puts everything in perspective for me. Taking this time to slow down and reflect, focusing on gratitude and how far I’ve come and all the blessings in my life does wonders for me, so I recommend you try that as well.
Tip 7: Get Moving
If you’re not regularly moving your body, I recommend you start. It doesn’t have to be intense, but what a difference it’s made in my own life, especially for me who spends a lot of hours sitting in front of my computer. It gives me energy, boosts my mood, and gets me out of my head. If you hate exercise, just try walking outside. It honestly does wonders.
Tip 7: Embracing Imperfection and Setting Realistic Goals
I’ve learned to embrace imperfection and set realistic goals. Aiming for “B minus” work and celebrating small victories helps maintain a healthy perspective on achievement. It’s about progress, not perfection. And those times when I can’t reach my goals I try really hard to give myself grace. I don’t always achieve it, but I have realized that punishing myself doesn’t help and that if I can be gentle, it’s amazing how much faster I can pick myself up and try again.
Tip 9: The Value of Feedback
Seeking feedback from trusted sources is invaluable. It offers fresh perspectives and insights that are crucial for refining business strategies and personal growth.
And as you know, I offer free 20 minute calls with bloggers and online entrepreneurs who want to start selling digital products. People tell me they get so much out of these calls because I’m unbiased. I have distance, I am fresh eyes.
So, you want people close to you who can see those opportunities. If you’re feeling stuck and you’re ready to explore digital products. Definitely book a 20 minute call with me.
Tip 10: Prioritizing Mental Well-Being
I try not to sweat the small stuff. It’s incredibly easy to get caught up in those minor setbacks. So what I have found is that when I fixate on these small details, I can’t focus on the important goals.
So I try to recognize what small in the grand scheme of things like these are the things that when I look back in a year, I won’t even remember. I also try to practice letting go.
I also keep my eye on the prize, which are the big goals. I think about what the tasks are that can have a real impact on my growth and my success, and I point my north star that way. Sometimes it’s just remembering that with a little bit of time, the pain will dull and it will pass. Keeping perspective is key to staying in the game, even when it feels tough.
Conclusion: Stress relief techniques for Bloggers
In closing, I urge my fellow entrepreneurs to prioritize mental well-being. These stress relief techniques for bloggers I’ve shared are more than just strategies; they’re a testament to the resilience and determination needed to navigate the entrepreneurial landscape. Remember to give yourself grace and seek support when needed. By sharing my journey, I hope to empower you to face the challenges of online business with confidence and a healthy mindset.
We’re in this together, and with the right habits and mindset, we can not only survive but thrive in the world of online entrepreneurship.
Other Related Blogger Genius Podcast episodes You’ll Enjoy:
- Are Limiting Beliefs and Imposer Syndrome Holding You Back with Maria Conde?
- How to Overcome Negative Self-Talk with Laura Fuentes
- Secret Truths About Selling – Part 1 (Why Is It So Uncomfortable?) with Jillian Leslie
MiloTreeCart, the Best Tool for Non-Techies to Sell Digital Products
I also want to introduce you to the MiloTreeCart, a tool designed for non-techies to sell digital products easily. It comes with features like fill-in-the-blank sales pages, check-out pages, a sales dashboard, upsells, and customer support. MiloTreeCart is currently available for a lifetime deal of $349 or three easy installments of $116.33.
Transcription: #329 – Bloggers: My Top 10 Stress Relief Secrets
Announcer (00:00:04) – Welcome to the Blogger Genius podcast, brought to you by MiloTree. Here’s your host, Jillian Leslie.
Jillian Leslie (00:00:11) – Welcome back to the show. Today I’m doing a solo episode where I’m talking about managing stress and how to maintain a healthy mindset building an online business, because as you know, I talk to a lot of you every week. I hear about your business, your goals.
We talk about digital products. But one thing I’ve noticed in the last month or so is that many of you are feeling more stressed. Maybe you got hit by a recent Google algorithm update and your traffic has suffered. Maybe you’re worried about how you’re going to compete with all this AI generated content. Maybe you’re trying to get your business off the ground, and you don’t even know which direction to go in right now. Maybe you’re worried about TikTok going away.
There are a lot of changes happening and it can feel unsettling. And that’s why I wanted to record this episode. I like to say that creating an online business feels a lot like riding one of those old wooden roller coasters without a seat belt.
It’s thrilling, but you’re always a bit worried you’re going to fly off the tracks. And here’s the deal that jittery feeling never really goes away. Or at least it hasn’t for me in all the years I’ve been doing this. But the good news the more time you spend in the game building your business, the less often you feel it. Once you’ve been through a few of those big dips and turns, you start to see that the ups and downs are just part of the ride and they don’t last forever.
So I wanted to share ten habits that have worked for me. I’m not saying I’ve got it all figured out, because of course I haven’t, but maybe you’ll find a thing or two in what I share that could help you to.
Tip 1
So the first thing I do to manage my own stress is I set clear boundaries between work time and personal time. This helps me seriously avoid burnout, and I’ve found this especially useful because as someone who works from home, it’s easy for everything to start to blur together for me, when I know I only have so many hours of work a day and I’m going to say stop at 6 p.m., it actually motivates me to get it done faster. And remember that saying work expands to the amount of time you give it. Well, that is definitely true for me, so having a set time to start and finish really helps me.
Tip 2
The second way that I manage stress is I prioritize my task. So I think in terms of the Eisenhower box, I don’t know if you’ve heard of this, but it’s a way to differentiate between what is urgent and what is important, because sometimes things that are urgent aren’t important. Sometimes things that are important aren’t urgent. This is just a two by two matrix. It helps me focus on what truly moves the needle because we have so much to do.
I think prioritizing is so important. I’ve got a lot on my plate. I’ve got our pop up app, I’ve got my luxury cart, I’ve got the podcast, I’ve got catch my party, and sometimes I can get overwhelmed just looking at my to do list. But going through and being able to prioritize has helped me so much. So I recommend you Google the Eisenhower box and you see what I’m talking about, and you see if this is helpful for you.
Tip 3
The third tip for helping me deal with stress is I use simple tech tools that actually help me. What do I mean by that? Well, I will say that a basic tool that I use is always better than a fancy tool that I don’t. For example, I use Google Docs and Google Sheets for everything. And you know what? They are ugly. I tried notion because it was cool and looked better, but what I realized was I was never going back to it.
I like to use the Pomodoro technique, especially when I can’t get myself motivated. So I don’t know if you if you know what the Pomodoro technique is, but it’s where you work for 25 minutes with a timer, and then you get a five minute break, and then you work again for 25 minutes. You get a five minute break, work again for 25 minutes, then you get a ten minute break, and I use the simplest tool out there and it is called tomato-timer.com. There are much fancier ones out there, but this does the job.
And I notice that I continue to go back to it. So my recommendation is find the tools that you use effortlessly. And then when you’re looking for a solution to something, just look for something easy. In fact, this is our whole philosophy behind MiloTreeCart.
It’s funny, I was talking to a woman who wanted to know more about MiloTreeCart, and I’m sharing all that it does. And she says to me, you know, I have all this tech. I could set this up, but my tech is so complicated that I never do it. So I’m going to buy MiloTreeCart so that I can just sell quickly. I can get an idea in the shower and then put it up and be selling. And I said, absolutely, that’s the whole purpose. And I was just in her dashboard a couple days ago, and I notice that she is doing exactly that. She is offering a whole host of different products, from $5 ebooks to thousand dollar coaching packages. And that’s the beauty, of course, of military carpet.
That’s also something that I am always looking for. What is the easiest, most intuitive way I can solve a problem using technology? And I’m not impressed when it offers so much, because I know how complicated that is. And all I want is this piece of technology to get the job done.
Tip 4
The fourth way I deal with stress is I make a conscious effort to stay connected to the people in my life. So this is to my family, to my IRL friends here in Austin who have no idea what I do, by the way, and to my online business friends. So each bucket is insanely important to me. My family goes without saying, they’re my everything.
And if you read my newsletter, you’ll notice that I go visit my mom in Charlotte every few months because I realize how precious that time together is. And my daughter is leaving for college in a year, and just thinking about that makes me weepy. And of course, David, my husband and partner, is my total rock. But in addition to that, I make sure to have at least one coffee with a mom friend per week.
I connect often, usually once a week, with my blogger business friends. In fact, I have a standing date once a month with an entrepreneur friend who I met online. just to check in and see how our businesses are doing and give each other feedback. So my recommendation hold your people close closer than you think because people really matter. So I’m definitely talking about your friends and family.
But I am also saying make connections in your niche to people who understand what you do. Because as solopreneurs, it can get kind of lonely. And having somebody that you can be honest with, that you can talk to, that you can bounce ideas off of, is so indispensable. One thing I recommend go to conferences to meet these people, but you can also just DM the people you admire on Instagram and see if you can make friends with them. Especially right now when we’re all feeling a little freaked out and scared. There’s never been a better time, so please don’t wait on this one. This can have such an enormous impact on your life.
Tip 5
The fifth way I deal with stress and mindset is I think of myself as a lifelong learner. I dedicate time each week, really each day, to learn whether that be about life, online business trends. What’s changing. I don’t shy away from the change. I don’t put my head in the sand. I want to know what the future could potentially look like. And I recommend you do the same. In fact, I get on calls with people and they don’t like it.
For example, when I start talking about AI and how that’s going to change our lives, that’s very uncomfortable. But I say go toward it. This is why I do my podcast, because I get to interview experts so I can learn from them too. And if you think about something like AI. Most people in the US might have heard about it, but I bet you I think I read a study that only about 20% of all people have actually tried it. So if you’re one of those people who use it daily, think about the advantage that gives you so dare to know.
But you can spend all of your time researching and learning and that can be a crutch. Be honest with yourself. I know sometimes I can get caught in Twitter and I don’t know, an hour goes by and I tell myself I’m learning. But in reality, I really just try to use it as a time to explore. For me, I try to keep it to a half an hour and to be honest, I just use it as a break, but also where I get to know and prepare myself for what is coming.
Tip 6
My sixth tip is to practice some sort of mindfulness, and it doesn’t have to be something long. You don’t have to go to a meditation retreat. Before I go to bed. Each night, I make a list in my head of all the things I’m grateful for, and it puts everything in perspective for me. I’ve also started using the sauna a couple times a week. I’ve been writing about it in my newsletter and I love it. I can’t tell you what a stress reliever it is, and I never take my phone into the sauna.
I’ve heard it’s very bad for your battery, but also I really try to sit in there and breathe. I reflect, I make my list of things I’m grateful for. As you may know, I am a natural, insecure overachiever and that’s worked for me in many ways in my life. But where it doesn’t work, it can feel like it’s never enough. What I’m doing is never enough. There’s always another goal to reach and I’m always falling short. So taking this time to slow down and reflect, focusing on gratitude and how far I’ve come and all the blessings in my life does wonders for me, so I recommend you try that as well.
Tip 7
My seventh tip is I move my body. I love yoga, I love walking outside. I sleep better when I exercise. It’s a natural mood booster for me. I end up eating better when I’m exercising and I miss it when I don’t do it. So if you’re not regularly moving your body, I recommend you start. It doesn’t have to be intense, but what a difference it’s made in my own life, especially for somebody like me who spends a lot of hours sitting in front of my computer.
Tip 8
My eighth tip is I do B minus work. If you’ve been listening to my podcast for a while, you know what that means. But for those of you who don’t, it means B minus is above average and doable. So this is all about setting realistic goals. I have post-its all over my desk that say B minus work every day, and I know if I do B minus work I will achieve my goals. This has really helped me stay in the game for as long as I’ve been an entrepreneur. I aim for achievable goals. I celebrate small wins. I try not to be a perfectionist because I believe perfection is death. And those times when I can’t reach my goals or I fall short instead of doing what I want to do, which is beat myself up, I’ve learned that that is not productive. So I try really hard to give myself grace. I don’t always achieve it, but I have realized that punishing myself doesn’t help and that if I can be gentle, it’s amazing how much faster I can pick myself up and try again.
Tip 9
My ninth tip is that I seek feedback from people I trust. I always say that I’m the person who will tell you as your girlfriend if you have spinach in your teeth, well, I want people who will tell me if I have spinach in my teeth. I look for people who can show me where I can improve, who can give me feedback on something that I can’t see. Those are the people I can feel safe with, and getting someone’s unbiased opinion is invaluable.
And as you know, I offer free 20 minute calls with. Bloggers and online entrepreneurs who want to start selling digital products. And I can’t tell you how many people go, oh my God, Jillian, you’re a genius because I can see so much about their businesses that they can’t see. And I always say, no, I’m not a genius. I’m just unbiased. I have distance, I am fresh eyes. For example, I got on a call with a woman who has two blogs. One she’s getting great traction on and one she’s not, and she wanted to be monetizing the one that wasn’t working.
Now, the one she’s getting traction on is a bereavement site, so she felt weird offering products and services for that one. Well, we talked about it. We talked about a membership, a support group that she could start and charge for and serve people. And all of a sudden she saw it in a whole new way. And it was like eye opening for her.
I talked to another woman who has something like 14,000 email subscribers on her list, and she wasn’t sure if that was a lot of people, and I let her know it was, and that there was real money in her list because her people really respond to her. So we started coming up with product ideas, and at the end of the call, she could see so many possibilities she couldn’t see before.
So you want people close to you who can see those opportunities or who could say, no, no, no, don’t go that way, go this way. So if you’re feeling stuck and you’re ready to explore, say, digital products, selling ebooks or memberships or coaching or workshops, really anything you could sell digitally? Definitely book a 20 minute call with me.
Take me up on this offer. Go to milotree.com. Scroll down on the page. You’ll see my calendar. Set up a time, and I bet you’ll discover new opportunities that you didn’t think were there.
Tip 10
For my 10th and final tip, I try not to sweat the small stuff. I don’t always succeed, but I really try because in that daily grind, it’s incredibly easy to get caught up in those minor setbacks, those little irritations like whether it’s a typo in your newsletter or a dip in your traffic or an Instagram reel. The tanks. So what I have found is that when I fixate on these small details, it totally drains me, bums me out, and I can’t focus on the important goals.
So I try to recognize what small in the grand scheme of things like these are the things that when I look back in a year, I won’t even remember. I also try to practice letting go. Once I recognize that this is something small, I try to let go of it. This is after I’ve cringed and felt embarrassed, but I really do put an effort in moving on.
I also keep my eye on the prize, which are the big goals. I think about what the tasks are that can have a real impact on my growth and my success, and I point my Northstar that way and I seek perspective. Sometimes talking things over can help me see that my problem isn’t as big as it feels. Sometimes. It’s just reminding myself that with a little bit of time, the pain will dull and I’ll get over it. And sometimes just shrinking myself down and thinking about how small I am in this gigantic universe does the trick. It’s a great way for me to find comfort.
So in closing, I want to reiterate that if this time feels especially stressful, you are not alone. We all face our challenges, but for the people I see succeed, they are the ones who don’t avoid stress completely but learn how to manage it. I hope these tips have been helpful. Find what resonates with you and try it. And above all, remember to give yourself grace. You’re doing incredible work and it’s okay to take a step back and breathe when you need it.
JillIf you found this episode helpful, please share it with somebody who might also benefit from it. If you want to get on a free call with me, go to Military.com and sign up. And I love learning other stress reducing strategies. So if you have something different that’s working for you, email me at jillian@milotree.com and let me know if you like the show. Don’t forget to subscribe and I will see you here again next week.
