NOTE: Now I don’t offend anyone with this post, so let me start off by saying that I am not talking about physical appearance.
Over the last couple of weeks I have been juggling a lot of things which has seen a lack of posting on all of my blogs. A lot of it has to do with fact that my wife is due to give birth to our daughter in just over 2 weeks (view our pregnancy photoshoot) and the rebranding and re-focus of StandOutBlogger – and the launch of a new free ebook (preview new logo here – scroll to footer).
What I found was that I had become a fat and lazy blogger and when I added some addition “exercise” (other tasks) – I was too busy consuming to be producing.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not fat by any stretch of the imagination – seriously if you saw me side on you would probably not even notice me! ——–>>
What I am talking about is my diet as a blogger.
You see, a week ago if you had opened my RSS feed reader you would have found at least 300 blogs in there! (Now that is information overload). And what I found was that I was just consuming content on an insane level and it left me mentally lethargic – not to mention time poor.
Now I am not saying that there is anything wrong with readying blogs (why would be we creating them if they were not to be read) – but as always, ‘everything in moderation’. Because excess of a good thing can be bad for you.
Why Over-Consuming Blog Content Can Be Bad
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It Fosters A Consumer Mentality
I don’t think that overweight people ever decide that they want to be fat (unless they are this lady), it is was a series of choices that saw habits begin to form that resulted in them gaining weight. One of the common habits is consuming more food than they are burning.
This is the same with a lot of bloggers. They become so focused on ‘consuming‘ incredible amounts of information each day that their focus shifts from consuming for knowledge to consuming because it has become habit. And what they find is that consuming takes up so much of their time that their is no time (or will) to ‘produce‘ content with their new found knowledge.
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It Creates Information Paralysis
What happens when you gouge yourself with food? You just sit their unable to move, right? When we are consistently over eating content each day, we are left sitting their eye’s wide open and mind spinning with facts and ideas – you overload on information.
A lot of people subscribe to a heap of blogs for inspiration but the problem with this is that by the time they finish reading them all, they have so many ideas – and no idea where to start (so they don’t).
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Hinders Unique Thinking
Have you ever noticed that blog within a niche seem to follow trends. One person starts blogging about a topic and suddenly it is the favour of the month.
There is definitely a herd mentality in a lot of blogging circles, so my not step back and start thinking for yourself. Stop reading and start blogging!
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to tell you to do a complete information fast (but you can if you want). But what I have done is culled my RSS reader list from about 300 to 45 – and will probably get even smaller. I want to focus on creating not consuming. I want uniqueness to ooze from my blog and for people who visit to get a glimpse of me with each post and not a rehash of the latest fad that everyone is talking about.
Make sure you subscribe because I have a great post lined up where I share the blogs I would follow if I were limited to only reading 10 blogs (and the majority of them are not blogging focused!)
Tags: consumer mentality, fat blogger, information paralysis, lazy blogger, unique thinking
Great article Tom! And just like junk food, a lot of what’s on the internet is not always that great. Maybe we need to become connaisseurs of content.
All the best with your new little addition!
Thanks Kris. ‘Content Connoisseurs’ – I like the sound of that. That is one of the reasons that I cut the majority of blogs that are from the ‘blogging niche’ out of my reader. I wan to learn from those doing – not teaching.
And thankyou, I am sure she will be a bundle of joy!
Hey Tom!
Awesome post! I think you are soo right and a good outlook on it as well!! Check out my caringbridge (if you havent already)…. A different type of blog but you might find inspiration on a different level!
Awesome to hear about baby! Cant wait to hear details and see photos! :D
Kylee :)
I have put myself on a regulated blogger/SM fast for all the reasons you stated above. I began to feel like a rodent on a wheel. Good analogy about the food consumption Tom. Congrats and blessings on your baby.
I’m chopping mine down s well; an interesting post on it coming soon. ;)
Good luck with it all!
I think Churchill said it best if I want to read a book I will write one.We could say the same for Blogs reading Blog Feeds has become an Impossible Task and when you are just reading what people read on mashable or problogger then your creativity goes down to zero.
I think having a schedule for reading blogs and limiting the number of posts being read per day are two good points to keep in mind when we’re about to do some reading.
Thanks Kylee! Fiona recently read the whole Caring Bridge on a mothers account of her young daughters battle with cancer. Caring Bridge definitely provides a good outlet for people to share what they are feeling and get the support that they need!
We have a professional photo shoot ready for our baby girl, but have to wait 2 weeks after she is born – which will be exciting. There will definitely be a bit of a personal post when she is born.
I agree Colleen, that is exactly how I was feeling. Limiting your intake gives you much more time to focus on what you are doing.
Can’t wait to read it Dennis! Your blog still made the cut :D. I actually am stealing your blog network idea and working it into my redesign.
Good post with unique original non-recycled content. Rare species these days.
My biggest problem is listed above. I get lazy and become a blog consumer instead of creating content. I need a virtual kick in the ass.
First, congratulations on the upcoming baby; that will be fun.
Second, I think you might have captured something I’ve been wondering about lately. I follow more than 200 blogs, and it’s a good thing I can speed read. However, I’m also starting to feel really used, so to speak, because many of them aren’t giving me what I need, or what I thought I needed when I subscribed to them, and it’s just hard keeping up with that many.
So, I might be in need of a trim myself; it won’t be this one, however. lol
[...] night I was going through a large number once again, and came across this one titled Are You Becoming A Fat, Lazy Blogger written by Tom Sinfield of Standout Blogger. As I read the post, I saw myself in it, someone being [...]