Search “blogger working” in Google Image and you will see thousands of smiling bloggers working on their laptop while drinking coffee in a trendy coffee shop.
And while these things can definitely be part of a blogger’s day, they are only the visible part of the iceberg.
Blogging isn’t just about drinking coffee, traveling to beautiful destinations and relaxing on the beach, it’s also about answering emails, fixing technical glitches and all sorts of invisible tasks.
Which may lead you to wonder: what do bloggers do?
After running a six-figures language-learning blog for 6 years, this is a question I get asked a lot from people considering blogging as a potential career option.
So today, let’s discover a day in my life, the life of a full-time blogger.
How my typical day as a blogger looks
7 - 8 am: My morning routine
My day starts at 7 am when I wake up. This may sound early considering I could wake up at any time but I love waking up early because it helps me get a lot done in the morning, which is when I’m the most productive
The first thing I do is drink a glass of water and read a stoic meditation from the book Daily Stoic.
The water helps me slowly wake up while reading about Stoicism helps me prepare for the day and put things into perspective.
I then eat a breakfast made up of poached eggs, a banana and sometimes a yoghurt with nuts and honey.
The goal is simple: keep myself full till lunch time so I don’t get distracted by images of a yummy burger while writing an article.
After breakfast, I prepare a cup of white, green or oolong tea and meditate for a few minutes with the Calm app.
Meditating helps me be noticeably calmer and less reactive to the events of the day. It also serves as the official start of my day as a blogger.
8:30: The workday begins
I generally start working between 8:30 and 9 am.
The first thing I do when I open my computer is open my work journal, look at my goals for the week and write down:-
- My 3 main blogging goals for the day.
- A few minor goals that I would like to accomplish if I have time.
I then write down what I am about to do, start my pomodoro timer and dedicate the next 25 minutes to the task I wrote down.
The Pomodoro Technique is a time-management tecnique that breaks down the day in sessions of 25 minutes followed by a short break between every pomodoro and a longer break every 4 pomodoros.
Pomodoro (tomato) technique is a study method that helps avoiding procrastination using a kitchen timer
Writing down the task beforehand and using the pomodoro technique helps me avoid distractions because writing down the task feels like an official promise to myself.
In the absence of a boss, my work journal and the timer serve as reminders of what I am supposed to do.
The first task of my blogging day is always the same: checking statistics.
I open my Google Analytics dashboard and quickly look at revenue, traffic and subscribers numbers.
The Google Analytics dashboard I check every morning.
On most days, everything looks good so I open Ahrefs and see if I got any new backlinks.
I then open my mailbox and make sure there are no messages that require urgent attention (website down, customer payment problem, document for the tax authorities…)
If everything is in order, I start working on my main goal of the day.
9 am: The most productive time of my day as a blogger
The time from 9 to 11 am is when I have the most energy so I usually use this time to accomplishing my main goal of the day.
Knowing that I have already accomplished my main goal by 11 am motivates me because I know I could theoretically take the day off and still have done the essential.
My main goal of the day is usually a task that requires lots of focus such as writing, creating a French lesson for my blog French Together or doing some copywriting.
This is in a moment when I’ avoid all distractions and easily get in a state of flow. I put my phone in another room, disable notifications on my computer, use a noise-canceling headphone and listen to Brain FM.
11 am: I start to feel more distracted
By 11 am, I start to feel restless. I usually stand up, stretch and take a 15-minute break.
After the break, I open my work journal and write down a low-intensity task I want to accomplish such as answering emails, replying to journorequests or fixing broken links.
I write down the task I want to accomplish before starting my pomodoro timer so I don’t get distracted.
12 - 1 pm: Disconnect time
Being French, I have always enjoyed long lunch breaks and frequently take one hour and a half to relax and eat.
My lunch is usually a salad made up of seasonal vegetables with a source of protein (chicken, feta, boiled egg, tofu.)
I love it because it’s super quick to make and gives me lots of energy (I have a tendency to feel sleepy if I eat too much carbs.)
Often, I will watch a TV series such as Brooklyn 99 or read a book.
More rarely, I will go out and eat with my wife of a friend. Sometimes, I will even go for a walk around the neighborhood.
1 - 3 pm: A productive afternoon in the life of a blogger
By 1 pm, I usually can’t wait to go back to work.
This may sound funny but I genuinely enjoy most of my work and get super excited at the idea of doing keyword research, writing a blog post or coming up with a new blog post title.
While not as productive as the morning, the early afternoon is still one of the most productive times of the day for me so I tend to dedicate it to writing articles, doing some email outreach or writing emails.
3 pm: The end of the blogging day approaches
At 3 pm, my mind usually starts wandering off.
The progressive lack of energy used to bother me and I spent several years trying to fight it. Now that I’m a full-time blogger, I embrace it and accept that I can’t be productive all day.
In fact, I now cherish these moments and take the lack of focus and energy I feel in the afternoon as a sign that I should do lower-intensity work such as answering emails, bookkeeping, fixing broken links or answering journorequests.
4 pm: The end of my work day as a blogger
My workday ends at 4 pm but it’s not time to fully disconnect yet.
I usually do one lesson of Glossika Russian (a language course) while washing dishes and making sure the flat doesn’t look too messy.
I then do what I call my marketing mastery session, a fancy way of saying I dedicate 30 minutes to learning about copywriting, marketing or SEO.
Sometimes, this means watching a video from Zero to Launch (a blogging course) or Marketing Inc (a SEO course.)
Other times, it means watching a Copyhackers tutorial and writing a sales email to improve my copywriting skills.
When I’m exhausted, it means reading a marketing book or listening to a podcast such as the Three Month Vacation Podcast.
Once I’m done with the marketing mastery session, I usually log in to 5000BC, a community of small business owners, update my taking action post with my latest progress and reply to a few threads.
Talking to other business owners keeps me motivated and helps me better understand the problems other bloggers face which in turn helps me write better articles on Grow With Less.
Once I’m done answering a few threads, it’s time to say goodbye to blogging and relax.
An imperfect day in the life of a full-time blogger
I can’t talk about my typical day as a blogger without mentioning the imperfect days.
Working from home sometimes feels like the equivalent of being a kid in a sweet shop.
Oh a new Wordpress plugin.
Wait, Notting Hill carnival is today. What am I doing at home?
It’s sunny, maybe I should go to Hyde Park.
My inability to get anything done on some days used to drive me insane but I now embrace these unfocused days and see them for what they are: opportunities to relax and a reminder of how lucky I am to have a job that allows me to randomly take days off when I want to.
A week in the life of a blogger
Most of my days follow the same structure and I try to keep the same routine because it makes me more productive but there are variations depending on my goals of the week.
Unlike many full-time bloggers, I don’t have a calendar with everything planned by the hour.
Instead, I simply follow a few general rules that keep me motivated and prevent procrastination.
I publish a new French Together article every Monday and also write a Grow With Less article on that day. This means that I spend every Monday morning writing and every Monday afternoon preparing blog posts for publishing. I then spend every late Monday afternoon promoting the blog post I just published.
Every Tuesday, I edit the Grow With Less article I wrote on the previous day, check for mistakes and make sure the article is as good as it can be. In the afternoon, I usually do some SEO work such as resource page link building or broken link building.
Wednesday is publishing day for Grow With Less. I publish an article in the morning and then spend the rest of the day promoting it.
On Thursdays, I decide on the topic of the next Grow With Less article. I then spend the rest of the day creating new products or doing some link building.
Friday is reflection day. I usually spend Friday morning doing light tasks such as backing up my blogs and emails lists. I also write down my journal and answer a few questions:
- What were some highlights last week?
- What do I want to do next week to improve my life?
- What am I afraid of right now?
- What do I wish I would have done differently?
How it used to look before I became a full-time blogger
The day in the life of a blogger I just described is how most of my days look now but it wasn’t always like that.
In fact, my blogging routine looked very different back when blogging wasn’t my full-time occupation.
For example, I used to:-
- Be less focused. I didn’t decide in advance what I would do and didn’t use the pomorodoro technique to track time.
- Try to be everywhere and chronically suffer from “shiny object” syndrome.
- Let my emotions and external events dictate my schedule. Less sales today? Let’s change a few words on my sales page. Less visitors? Let’s give up everything and change my website’s structure for SEO.
Basically, I used to be way less focused and more reactive to everyday events. Now that I’m a full-time blogger, I know that changes take time and that constantly changing directions accomplishes nothing. I’m much more strategic about my time.
Is this what a day in the life of all full-time bloggers is like?
A day in the life of a full-time fashion blogger looks quite different from day in my life.
All bloggers have their own routine and schedule and a day in the life of a fashion blogger, lifestyle blogger or travel blogger could look pretty different.
Lots of full-time fashion bloggers work with brands and travel, take pictures for Instagram and go out a lot more than me as part of their work.
While I suspect that they do many things I do (writing article, SEO, research…), their day and week probably look quite different.
The goal of this article was to show you a day in the life of a blogger but it’s important to keep in mind that not all bloggers are the same.
In fact, if you are a blogger, I would love to know how your days look. Simply post a comment below and let me know!
