There’s some twisted irony in the fact that at the time of writing this post, my stress levels are at a record high and I have a negligible amount of time remaining to bash out the final few thousand words of my dissertation… HELP.

Anyway, I digress. One of the questions I’m most frequently asked when people find out that I am a full time student as well as a blogger, is ‘how do you manage your time?‘. I usually give a relatively vague answer about knowing when to prioritise one over the other, but as I’m at the very peak of my busiest ever time at university (specifically, the end of my final year) I thought it appropriate to give my time management techniques, both conscious and subconscious, a little more thought. In doing so I hope to both help myself in this final stretch, and help others who are perhaps struggling to manage blogging (or another hobby or flexible job) alongside university, college or school. 

Tip #1 – know when to prioritise one over the other

Although I said this was my usual vague answer, I do think that it is really the crux of the issue. Over summer, as I’m lucky enough to count my blog as the equivalent of a part time job and so don’t have to work another one, I blogged at least 5 days per week with no trouble at all, during term time I reduce this to every other day (or there abouts), and at the moment with deadlines and exams approaching I am blogging more like once every three days, or twice per week. Naturally I am noticing a decrease in traffic on those consecutive days where I am not posting, but I also know that this is not the end of the world, and if anything it motivates me more to build back up to more regular posting when I’m not so busy.

Tip #2 – don’t take on more than you can manage

This one is particularly important if your blog (or whatever other project) allows or requires you to work with other people, be that brands, PR companies or customers (let’s call them ‘clients’ here). Whilst blogging as a job allows for a great degree of flexibility as you are not subject to actual concrete deadlines by your readers, if you are working with a client to a deadline it is extremely important that you don’t break this deadline. That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t take on work when you’re in a period where you need to prioritise university more, but it does mean that you need to think realistically about what you’re going to be able to achieve without letting school suffer. If you are doing paid work this will likely have a deadline attached to it; make sure you let your client know what your situation is, and if you think that the proposed deadline is unachievable there is no harm in asking for an extension. If this isn’t possible, there is also no harm in not taking on the job, unless you’re desperately reliant on the money then it usually is not worth the stress. If the work is unpaid, make it abundantly clear that you will not be able to work within a deadline (or perhaps, at your discretion, propose a lengthy deadline, but don’t feel like you are under any obligation). TLDR:  take time to explain to your client exactly what they can expect of you, and of course maintain personability and professionally whilst doing so, and only take on something with a deadline that you’re sure you’ll be able to make. 

Tip #3 – get clever with your content creation

My blog is predominantly focused on my outfits, and gone are the days where I feel I can get away with a bedroom or living room series of snaps, so I am constantly thinking about when and where I can photograph what I’m wearing. This is an especially pressing issue during the winter when daylight is scarce, or around exam or deadline time when you’re holed up in the library (or if you’re like me, at home in your PJs), but I actually find myself thinking like this 100% of the time. Some people prefer to tackle this by taking photos of 4 or 5 outfits over the space of a couple of hours in one day. The way I manage it is by always carrying around my camera – not entirely practical depending on the size of your camera, but my Canon 700D with a 50mm  lens is comparatively quite compact and I have no problem fitting it into a medium sized bag. Alternatively, you might think about investing in a more compact camera, or even just shooting on your smartphone. If I have my camera on me then, providing I’m with a friend, shooting an outfit only takes up 10 or 15 minutes of my day. I also think that this is a much more organic way of translating what I’m actually wearing on a day-to-day basis onto my blog. 

This tip also extends to lifestyle posts: the question ‘can I blog this?’ is always on my mind. Granted, I don’t blog everything in my life that I could, but taking 5 minutes to take some photos of your meal out, your favourite café, in a new bar you’ve visited, or even a few snaps in the library for a post about your studying tips, is a very time efficient way of getting the basics for your content under your belt.

Tip #4 – don’t compare your blog to a full time blogger’s blog


Finally I think it’s important to avoid comparing yourself and your work to others generally, but sometimes it is helpful to gauge where you are at in comparison to your peers. This becomes less helpful, however, when you start comparing your blog to a full time blogger’s blog. Blogging is very time consuming, and naturally those who are fortunate enough to call it a career have a lot more time to put into it. Whenever I’m getting a bit stressed about the quality and frequency of my posts, I just remember that many of my friends and others who I admire simply have a lot more hours in the day to dedicate to blogging than I do.

In conclusion, balancing blogging and university is about just that: balance. Sometimes I give university work a little more weight, sometimes I prioritise blogging, and of course don’t forget to add having an actual social life into that mix too. I hope that these tips are helpful or at least in some way cathartic if you’re in the same position as me; don’t stress too much, it’s not that hard and you’re doing great!

Ok, one last ‘resolutions’ post then we can all get on with our lives for another 12 months. As we enter the second full week of 2015, 2014 seems practically prehistoric and I’m keen to collect my plans, ideas and motivations for hannahlouisef in one place.

1. Take better photosI’m really, really keen to improve my photography this year. Because my content is predominantly my own outfit photos, I don’t get to take them and so I just don’t get much practice behind the camera as I would like. I bought myself a Canon 700D a few months ago and am definitely getting to grips with it now, but I’m nowhere near confident as I want to be and need a lot of time to play around before I feel even a little satisfied with photos I take. Once I start feeling happier with my own photos, I think I’ll feel happier creating more varied content, which is another goal for 2015! 
2. Document more of my life
   I think this one goes hand in hand with wanting to take better photographs, and is particularly applicable to travel. Despite travelling quite a lot in 2014, I blogged none of it aside from taking advantage of some different locations to shoot outfits in. I think it’s important to take some time off from blogging every now and again and I don’t want to feel pressure to create and record at all times (especially when on holiday), but in hindsight it would have been nice to write a little more about my trips, and I find it much easier to do this when I can illustrate with lovely photographs. If you read my other life resolutions post, you’ll know that I intend to travel more in 2015 – I hope that I can talk about and document this on my blog in the coming 12 months.
   I also want to talk more about music, as I discussed here, as it really is quite a defining part of my character and is what I spend much of my free time preoccupied with, but I just don’t think this comes across in any way except for the odd Instagram post from a show. I don’t think my blog is the right place for music journalist style album or live reviews and there are already a plethora of great music magazines and blogs, but I’m busy brainstorming ways to incorporate my own musical preferences into my fashion and lifestyle posts – if you have any ideas, please do let me know in a comment!
3. YouTube?
   This is the most unambiguous of my 2015 blogging goals, in that I will either succeed or fail definitively. If I am going to actually make videos, it’s going to be now or never. I’m still extremely dubious and nervous about this, and have been putting it off throughout 2014 because even the thought of myself on camera makes me cringe. However, as I get more into YouTube as a viewer, I’m feeling more inspired by some of my favourite bloggers who started YouTube in the past year (like Olivia, Amy, and Arabella), and I really want to be able to create videos that I’m not painfully embarrassed by. Watch this space, and please send your words of encouragement (and any specific video requests) if you would actually like to see me on YouTube.

I don’t want to set numerical goals based on stats, I just want to become a better creator; vary my content whilst refining my skills, and try to encapsulate and represent myself in a more well-rounded manner. Do you share any of these blogging resolutions? Have a wonderful year everyone!