Does this sound like you?

You have too many tasks on your plate.

Very little time to complete them.

And you feel utterly overwhelmed by it all.

How do I know this? Because I’ve been where you are right now: that’s how I felt when I just started this blog three years ago.

That is why today I’m sharing with you a behind-the-scenes look at how I organize my blog with CoSchedule — the only way to organize all of your marketing in one place. CoSchedule offers three products to help you get more done in less time: Blog Calendar, Marketing Calendar, and Marketing Suite.

The plan I’m using is called Marketing Calendar by CoSchedule. In this post, I’m going to talk about what is so special about it and why I recommend it if you started or planning to start your blog. Let’s dive in.

Plan and Write Blog Posts

One of the biggest challenges you face when starting your blog is planning and writing blog posts regularly.

The key to success lies in the proper coordination of your writing tasks with everything else on your plate.

That is what CoSchedule allows you to do by providing you with a saved calendar view and ability to create task templates.

I’ve been using CoSchedule for three years and tried different ways to plan and write blog posts. But eventually, I settled with two task templates: a blog post in one week and a blog post in two weeks.

I always plan ahead so, if today is Monday, June 1st, I will create a blog post project on Tuesday, June 9th, and apply a task template called “blog post in 1 week.”

Here’s how it looks on the calendar (click the image for a closer look):

Plan and Write Newsletters to Your Subscribers

Running your blog is not only about writing blog posts. It’s also about keeping in touch with your subscribers.

Even if your blog is very new and you have only one subscriber, it’s still vitally important to write an email to that one person.

The sooner you start doing it, the easier it will get as more and more people sign up for your newsletter.

And here’s where CoSchedule makes it super easy for you to plan and coordinate writing your blog posts with your email newsletter. You have a separate “Email” project that you can create right beside your “Blog post” project.

In my previous example, I planned my new blog post on Tuesday, June 9th. What I usually do is send a newsletter the next day after the post is published. So I will schedule my email on Wednesday, June 10th.

And the best part here is that I’ve designed my “Email task template” to coordinate similar tasks for both projects: writing, brainstorming headlines, editing, etc.

Here’s how it looks on the calendar (click the image for a closer look):

Manage Social Media Campaigns Across All Major Platforms

After you’ve written your blog post and newsletter, you also need to promote your content on your favorite social media channels.

And you guessed it right – CoSchedule allows you to create a social scheduling template for this too!

CoSchedule supports Facebook Pages, Facebook Groups, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Tumblr.

I’ve tried different templates but eventually settled on the one that promotes my blog post on all social media channels for an entire year. With CoSchedule, you can create different templates that will drip your social messages over a time period of your choosing.

Not only that, but you also get a power-up called ReQueue which is available on all plans at no additional cost.

ReQueue allows you to re-share all your existing social messages across all platforms in a natural, non-spammy way.

Here’s how Social Campaign looks on the calendar (click the image for a closer look)

Integrate All Tools In One Place

One of the best things about CoSchedule is how it allows you to integrate all your essential tools in one place.

I’ve already covered writing blog posts, newsletters, and automating all your social media sharing. But it doesn’t stop there.

CoSchedule directly integrates with WordPress, Google Docs, and Evernote. So you can create your project, gather all materials, edit in Google Docs, and then convert it into a ready-made post with one click. I love this feature and been using it a lot lately.

I’ve covered a lot, but not everything. CoSchedule has a lot of other features and integrations that will help you beat blogging overwhelm, save time, and focus on what’s really important to you.

To try all the features I described in this article, you need to sign up for the Marketing Calendar by CoSchedule . You have 14 days to try all the features for free. Start your trial today.

Maybe this has happened to you. You have a goal, a plan, and a list of all the things you need to do.

You feel determined as you begin checking off tasks from your list.

But then you get a text message from a friend, a work-related email, a Facebook notification, a new follower on Instagram.

One click leads to another, and before you know it, you lose track of time.

The next day you tell yourself, “Today will be different. I will be focused.” Yet, for some strange reason, the cycle continues, and you find yourself repeating the same mistakes over and over again.

This happened to me as well.

When I started this blog, I juggled ten or more tasks at the same time.

I jumped back and forth between replying to emails, searching for new information, thinking about promotion strategies and in the midst of it all had to find some time to write.

At the end of the day, I would end up with a dozen of half-finished tasks, not a single one of them done the right way.

That was until I refocused and applied the following tips.

#1. Ask Yourself a Question

The first step you can take is to get clear on top priorities of the day. Start by asking, “Why am I doing this?”

Consider what importance does this task have to your overall goals in life. Sometimes you have tasks on your list just because you put it there automatically, without giving it a second thought.

It’s just something you have to do.

This unconscious approach results in long, disorganized lists that never really get done.

So just a few seconds of inner reflection can give you the clarity and simplicity that you need.

What do you do next?

# 2. Identify Key Pieces of the Puzzle

Now apply the question to all items on your list.

How do they measure in relation to your current top priority in life? Do they play a key role?

Can these pieces fit together and help you move forward? You should be able to see clearly which do and which don’t.

Put irrelevant tasks aside. They’re not entirely useless, but can confuse and lead you astray at some point.

You should end up with 3-5 most important tasks for the day that you need to do.

Write them down and put them somewhere visible. So visible that your gaze easily finds them wherever you look.

Stick a sheet of paper on your wall, put a sticky note on your computer screen. It will serve as constant reminder of your top priorities for the day.

#3. Break It Down

Complexity can slow you down even when you have only 3 tasks on your list.

If you feel stuck, break each task into basic components so that you’re taking one small step at a time.

This simple change will ground you in the present moment, and you will stop thinking about the outcome. Each tiny leap forward will be light and natural.

You may also have smaller tasks that need attention in some way or another. In that case, batch them between your most important tasks and turn them into mini-breaks between the bigger tasks.

#4. Design Your Environment

How often do you get distracted by checking email, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram?

Pause for a moment and catch yourself switching between the tabs in your browser, clicking links, reading new posts, and getting involved in discussions.

So many exciting things are happening at the same time, and it’s so easy to get lost in the noise.

Am I saying that you have to give it all up?

No.

You know without a doubt what you need to do, but automatic habits make you click anyway.

Here is a simple solution: design your environment in a way that will reduce your distractions to a minimum. By doing this, you can catch yourself in the middle of being distracted, stop, and re-focus.

So put away your phone, close browser tabs and apps that you don’t use, clear your desk. Now you have some breathing room for productive work.

#5. Involve Others

Sometimes it can be hard to do it all on your own. Your willpower might fail you at any moment, and the threshold is minimal.

You can boost your motivation at any time by publicly announcing your intention to complete a task or achieve a goal.

Tell your partner or your friends what you set out to do.

Before you begin, put your social media to good use by making it public that you’re going to finish these 3 tasks today. Tweet it to your followers, post it on Facebook and Instagram.

You’ll be quite surprised how much motivation that will give you to stay on track.

#6. Stay With the Urge to Switch

Have you ever noticed an urge to switch tasks right in the middle of the process? It’s almost like some gravitational force is pulling you in the opposite direction.

Something else feels more critical and demands your attention. At that moment you are split into two halves: your body is performing the task, but the mind is elsewhere.

Instead of fighting it, acknowledge this feeling. Stay with it.

Become highly alert and continue with your current task. Don’t try to predict the outcome of your actions, let them flow unconditionally.

Forget about everything else and let the task become you.

#7. Pat Yourself on the Back

Just as it’s important to finish the task, it’s equally important to pat yourself on the back for the job well done.

But don’t feel rushed to the next thing. Pause to reflect and acknowledge what you’ve just done.

Let the feeling of accomplishment flow through your body. Let it sink in and energize you from within.

Breathe in, breathe out.

Start Single-Tasking Today

You spend your days controlled by your schedule. Unending tasks, projects, work meetings, personal arrangements, deadlines.

It’s time to stop being controlled by outer circumstances and take a conscious pause.

By stepping back and looking deep within you’ll realize what you need to do.

You will feel calm and in control. Every action you take will flow naturally from your inner state of presence and clear perspective.

Look at the tips above and start implementing them to get better at single-tasking today. To help, I created these worksheets that you can download via the button below.

Hi! I’m Gavril, and today I’m going to talk about why I started this mindfulness blog.

In early 2014 my back problems lead me to yoga, but it ended up helping me in a much better way. A deep calming effect experienced during Shavasana sparked my interest in meditation.

It wasn’t long before I started practicing it daily, and it pretty much snowballed from there.

By applying mindfulness in everyday life and observing my thoughts, I was able to see the root of my unhappiness and dissatisfaction with life. Specifically, that all of it was created by negative thought loops playing in my head.

Since then, I’ve been exploring what it means to live a more mindful and meaningful life, and I hope you will join me.

Important update: This was one of my first posts when I just created this website. Although it still reflects the general direction and vision for this blog, I have written a new, more relevant post. It’s called 3 Life-Changing Reasons Why You Should Meditate and reveals more profound insights into how meditation changed my life and how it can change yours.

Why Start a Mindfulness Blog?

I believe that no matter how complicated or stressful our life is, it’s always possible to find peace and clarity, right here and now.

Awareness developed by daily meditation practice can give us the strength to overcome even the hardest challenges in life.

This blog also gives me a chance to reach a lot of people around the world. It’s a perfect opportunity to share my experience and knowledge to help them get started on their own path.

Who Am I Writing for?

Many people could benefit from the information I post here, but I mainly write for those who are very new to mindfulness.

They are interested but don’t know where to start. Or they’ve tried meditation but have trouble with concentration and consistency. They feel like they need more guidance and someone who would point them in the right direction.

I can help them take their first step towards mindfulness: from understanding how it can change their life to learning the best techniques and practices.

How Can You Get More Involved With This Blog?

I want to make this a very interactive website where you not only read but actively participate in the discussion.

I highly encourage you to leave comments on the articles that you found interesting or helpful.

For example, let me know if you didn’t understand the point I was trying to make, and I’ll try to answer you as soon as possible.

Before I wrap this up, I invite you to subscribe and join my community to get exclusive content and stories only shared with my subscribers.