How To Identify Your Personal Writing Limits (And Why It’s Important To Actually Respect Them)
A few weeks ago I stepped foot back into my favorite co-working space that I spent a lot of time at pre-baby.
It’s where I would go on the days that I had A LOT to get done because it made me feel like I was clocking into an office and the environment alone skyrocketed my focus.
(That’s on knowing your ideal writing environment – if you aren’t sure what yours is, CLICK HERE!)
I was thrilled to be back in this space on this particular day because my writing to-do list was thickkkk.
Right now, I only have dedicated childcare 1x/week, so I save the writing tasks that need my full attention for that day.
But as a blog writer, I know that you can’t always force the writing – even when it reallyyyy needs to get done.
On that day, I made the bold claim that I was going to write 4 client blog posts in a 5 hour time frame, and honestly I DO think that I can do that and even do it well. I’ve done it before!
But to be transparent, my postpartum brain is a little mushy. What used to take me 1 hour easily takes me 2 these days.
I get distracted and sidetracked more easily, sometimes it takes longer for my thoughts to start flowing, and I’ve found myself needing to spend more time in the editing phase of my writing process.
So after writing 2 of the 4 blog posts that day, I decided to close my computer and call it a day.
I recognized my writing limits and made the decision to respect them and re-visit the tasks later!
None of the work was late or overdue to my clients, so I felt good doing this.
The reality is that whatever type of writing you do in your business – whether it’s blog posts, emails, social captions, etc – and whether or not it’s for you, your clients, or both (like me), we ALL have writing limits.
Overtime I’ve found that when you aren’t aware of your writing limits and even worse when you don’t respect them, you can very easily start to sacrifice the quality of your work.
It’s for that reason, in this blog post, I’m diving into this idea of knowing your writing limits and actually respecting them, so you can always publish content that checks the quality box instead of being consumed with quantity!
The Power of Knowing Your Writing Limits And Actually Respecting Them As A Business Owner
When you become a business owner, you very quickly become CEO – chief everything officer. Which means you’re responsible for wayyyy more than just delivering the products or services that you sell.
Not only are you the sales team, you’re also the marketing team, accountant, bookkeeper, the list goes on.
With this often comes a LOT of content creation on various platforms. If you’re like me, you’re a tried and true blog and email girlie with Instagram thrown in the mix here and there.
But regardless of what platforms you create content for, there’s writing required in some capacity and if you’re not careful, it’s easy to burn the heck out.
The easiest way to avoid that? KNOW. YOUR. LIMITS.
This involves having some self-awareness and knowing your strengths and weaknesses, understanding when you're most productive, and recognizing when you’re overextending yourself.
While it’s tempting to show up on every platform that the online business world throws our way, that’s often not always feasible if you’re a one person team.
Instead, it’s wise to choose your primary platforms (I suggest 1-2), decide a consistency that works for YOU on each of those platforms, and then create content in a way that allows you to work smarter not harder.
That’s why I like to follow THIS content funnel!
For me, my primary platforms are blog and email. My consistency for both of those are once a week.
The key is that you’re choosing platforms and consistencies that make the most sense for your business AND your life.
What platforms do you enjoy the most? What type of content do you prefer to create? How often can you realistically show up on each of those?
If you like to yap, a podcast or YouTube channel might be more your style. Or if you simply love the instant connection that social media brings, Instagram might be your top choice.
It doesn't matter which platforms you choose or how often you decide to show up as long as you’re deciding each of these things based on your preferences and current reality.
Once you’ve decided your primary platforms, it’s then time to establish a sustainable writing routine that helps you treat content creation as more of a HABIT than a “to-do.”
I talk more about content creation being a habit in this newsletter!
This takes practice, but the idea here is that you’re discovering how you write and create best, so that you can then more easily identify your personal writing limits and confidently know when it’s time to STOP rather than forcing yourself to power through.
How to Know Your Personal Writing Limits
So, how exactly do you learn to know your personal writing limits?
Well, to be honest it takes time! It can be a lot of trial and error to figure this out, but once you do, it really does feel like you're unstoppable when it comes to writing and creating content.
This process involves some self-reflection and experimentation and there’s a few things you can do to help you understand your boundaries:
1. Track Your Writing Habits
One of the best ways to really start understanding your writing limits is first getting clarity on how long you spend on certain tasks.
When I was first starting Natty Writes and started offering blog writing services to business owners, I really needed to know exactly how long writing one blog post actually took me.
Sure, depending on the topic or length of the post, that time range can vary, but I needed to know a rough estimate so that I could plan my day accordingly.
ENTER: time tracking. ⏰
You can do this a variety of ways, but I really love using Toggl OR a Pomodoro timer.
Tracking your writing or creating time can help you identify patterns and eventually determine your optimal writing schedule!
2. Set Realistic Goals
I cannot tell you how many times I’ve made some pretty bold writing to-do lists just to end my day completely defeated because I didn’t even scratch the surface.
Now, 2 years into blog writing full time, I have a pretty good idea of what I can manage in a day.
But even still, there are days where I get a little toooo confident (like the day I mentioned above at the co-working space) and have to remind myself of what’s realistic.
When you’re creating content in any capacity – whether it’s for yourself OR for your clients – remember to break down your work into manageable tasks.
This will prevent you from feeling overwhelmed and allow you to gauge how much you can realistically accomplish in a given timeframe!
This is why I teach my Writer’s Room members to break down their writing into phases when it comes to their blogs specifically – research/planning, writing, and editing/finalization.
Sometimes you might be able to do all three of those in one sitting, but MOST of the time you’ll want to give yourself a break and allow for plenty of rest time between each writing phase.
3. Be Kind To Your Mind
In my opinion, the most important part of understanding your writing limits is paying attention to physical and mental cues that indicate you’ve hit your capacity.
For me personally, I’m very aware of when my brain is telling me I'm done. This is where the quality versus quantity conversation comes up.
Sure, you can always force yourself to keep writing for the sake of checking things off your to-do list, but at some point you will undoubtedly start sacrificing the quality of your work.
If you find yourself feeling drained, it’s a sign that you need to take a break and re-visit when you’re refreshed!
Sometimes that might mean closing your laptop for the day and coming back to it tomorrow or the next day. Other times it might be as simple as going for a quick walk or taking a lunch break.
The key is that you're able to identify when your brain is telling you “ENOUGH” and actively decide to do something about it!
Ultimately being able to identify your writing limits and actually respecting them will allow you to write and create in a more efficient way that you ALSO enjoy!
At the end of the day, it’s not about how MUCH you write or create – it’s about how it sounds and looks when it's published.
I truly believe that you’re doing yourself and your audience a huge favor when you choose to honor your writing limits and choose quality over quantity every single time!
New to my world? Nice to virtually meet ya. 👋 I’m Natalie, but everyone calls me Natty (you can too) – blog and email writer for creative business owners and service providers.
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