Procrastinating to Write That Huge Article? Break It Down In Small Parts
Last week I got an idea for an article that I am sure will become popular. It basically contains 100 ways to achieve something (can’t talk too much about it right now, but I’ll let you guys know when it gets published).
The problem is that I couldn’t get motivated to start writing it. I would open the WordPress post editor, write the title, and then keep staring at the blank screen.
I tried to start writing the post for three days in a row, but every time I gave up after 15 minutes or so. “Man, it is going to be a pain to write these 100 points…”. “I got more important things to do right now, so I’ll get back to this later….”. These were the excuses I was telling myself.
Then this Monday I changed my approach. Instead of trying to write the article in one sitting, I decided to break it down in small parts. That is, I committed to write 10 points every day, so the article will be ready in 10 days.
Guess what? It worked like a charm. Writing 10 points takes 20 minutes or so, and I can squeeze that during any part of my work day. Additionally I also get more motivated as I go along, because I can see the article coming up nicely.
In fact this approach is working so well that I think I’ll make it a permanent thing. That is, every day I’ll take 20 or 30 minutes away to write a small part of a killer article (on top of my normal writing duties). That way every 10 days or so I’ll have one new killer article to publish on one of my sites.
What about you, are you procrastinating to write that huge article you had planned? Break it down in small parts and you’ll get it done sooner than you think.
Related Posts
Sign-up To The Newsletter And Get A Free eBook
- Sign-up to the Daily Blog Tips newsletter and you will be able to download the "Make Money Blogging" eBook for free (worth $47).
- You will also receive tips to improve your blog, strategies to make money and useful resources from around the web.
30 Responses to “Procrastinating to Write That Huge Article? Break It Down In Small Parts”
Sponsors
Popular Articles
- 28 Ways to Make Money with Your Website
- 43 Web Design Mistakes You Should Avoid
- 4 Steps to Increase Your Blog Traffic
- How to Find Advertisers for Your Website
- Top 25 SEO Blogs
- 101 Blog Tips I learned in 2006
- 30 Traffic Generation Tips
- 6 Ways to Speed Up Your Site
- 9 Hacks to Show Readers Your Best Stuff
- 50 Simple Ways to Gain RSS Subscribers
- The Best Website Taglines
- What Is Success?
- How to setup a 301 Redirect
- The 7 Characteristics of Good Domains
- 7 Ways to Promote your Site
- Top 25 Celebrity Blogs
- What Is A Blog?
- Blog Setup: 40 Practical Tips
- 10 Tips To Write Your Most Popular Post
- The Blog Post Checklist
- Interview: 12 Top Online Entrepreneurs
- What Is Bounce Rate?
- 20 SEO Terms You Should Know
- How To Choose A Blog Name
- 10 Tips to Sell Your Website on Flippa
- Top 25 Web Design Blogs
Great tip Daniel.
I never thought about this. And when I think about it now, it does make sense. It will make writing a big/long article a LOT easier to manage!
Thanks for the great tip!
Kindest,
Nabeel
Hey Daniel,
I’m a huge fan of breaking up a task into smaller ones. This allows me to be focus and not get overwhelm.
Can’t wait to see what you were working on.
Chat with you later…
Josh
i didn’t know it was a very reliving to break down a huge article until when i read this post I am now relive more than ever
That’s a good idea. Also it will blogging easier. I guess that you’re planning to write one article within 10 days, right? Is it okay to split huge articles and publish them as a series? I guess when publishing an article in series it will be easier for a reader to read, understand and adopt.
Haha, it’s sort of ironic, given the article topic. Had the article already existed, you could have used it to inspire you to write it.
Definitely a good idea though.
Hi Daniel
I have been thinking of doing something similar but wondered if one long post was better than ten short ones.
What’s the current thinking?
Short posts… long posts.
Daniel, it’s a good method but most of the time, if it’s not a very long post, lets say 10 or 15 tips, I’d suggest to get it done at one go. I mean get the writing done at once. Research should of course be done earlier.
For example, I recently wrote this windows 7 shortcut post – http://www.guidingtech.com/4535/windows-7-keyboard-shortcut/ (which went viral too ). Now, I initially tried to follow the above technique, but then, I found what happened was that I had a hard time getting into flow again and recollecting all those ideas, the post structure setup I had in mind etc.
When one’s writing such a post, he is bound to get a lot of ideas related to the content he is writing, and the filtering process also goes on while he is creating the content. At least, that’s what I have seen happening with me. And I have found that if I break the flow, it sometimes becomes difficult to get it back again, thereby consuming more time in the creation of the article.
It OK to do that, but you’ll also need the big articles once in a while, as they tend to attract more links and traffic.
You can do both things.
If you need to choose either one or the other, though, I would go with the long post, as it will bring more traffic over the long run.
Thanks Daniel
Appreciate you taking the time to reply.
This is a great method to tackle any large project, and killer articles can certainly can fit the bill. I look forward to seeing what you’ve come up with!
Is publishing one article every ten days going to be enough to build subscribers though? Great idea btw.
I think this work better than larger articles because it helps with reader engagements and keeps people coming back to read the full story
The large articles do always take more time, as I find them much more intensive when it comes to SEO keywords and editing the word count down. That being said, the longer articles are usually filled with better content and yield better traffic.
yes, rightly said. The best approach to writing long articles is to divide it into sub topics or sub headings as you might call it. Complete each subheading within a limited time frame and then move on to the next one. You could also stop in between after completing one sub heading to take a break or whatever. This might help you rediscover the energy to write them.
Less fluff too.
What I do when I found my self with a killer article that is very long is trying to split it into parts.
I prefer 5 articles than 1 huge article that is too long that no one is going to read.
This is something that I do. I will start writing an article in the morning and will keep coming back to it and find I manage to get it finished a lot easier this way.
It will also be a good idea but not enough. Really depends on your article. If it’s only one long article, then you have to make sure that it’s full of content and you are targeting the right keyword and a strong title.
This is a really useful approach that I use in many parts of my business. I always break down all of my to-do list tasks into smaller tasks so it feels like I’m making more progress – it’s a great motivator!
Remember the old saying, “Inch by inch, anythings a cinch!”
True even with blogging!
Honestly, sometimes all what it takes is good will and discipline. And time ofc.
Hi I came up with this type of problem and finally dropped it
because it’s a very huge article.It’s a very nice idea to break it into small parts.
This is a good idea. Countless times I have had been told to right a big list! This might be what I need to do to get over my fears! I could never sit down and type a 100 point list, but maybe now I can!
I always like to finish up something in one shot. I just like it that way I guess :p
Wow. I enjoyed tis post. Why? Because I am aforgetful procrastinator who has allthe ideas but forgets to write or type them down. I am glad you posted this I will definately come back and take the suggestion.
I always find that difficult documents, particularly long ones, are best tackled a little at a time. I usually end with enough body in them to start to feel what the finished item will look like and that’s when my motivation arrives and I steam through to completion.
So I completely agree, slowly, slowly catchy monkey sometimes.
This is a good idea. Countless times I have had been told to right a big list! This might be what I need to do to get over my fears! I could never sit down and type a 100 point list, but maybe now I can!
That’s great Daniel, I’ll be reading in full content.
But it takes too long to finish i mean Published.
How about simply asking your readers
to come up with ideas…?
An other advantage is that your readers also have to actually read all the other comments in your post, to be able to check if the idea isn’t already mentioned in any of the other comments.
So you get a high involvement from your readers and you don’t have to make such a big effort to come up with 100 ideas!
All the Best,
To your Happy – Blogging – Inspiration,
HP