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Learn how books, courses and bundles can help you meet your blogging goals without driving you crazy.
I always buy into blogging business courses and ebook bundles with a great deal of hope and enthusiasm, sure that this time I’m going to do the reading and the work and use the information to my advantage.
Almost every time, though, that enthusiasm gets tempered with feelings of nervousness and overwhelm.
How can I possibly learn all this stuff?
Who has time to implement everything?
I’m never going to be one of those super bloggers, am I?
But Here’s the Truth
These books and courses are great, and it’s wonderful to learn from people who’ve been where you are and can teach you what you need to know, whether that’s photography or time management or SEO or best practices for sponsored posts.
But they are often overwhelming for a simple reason: you can’t learn everything all at once.
When you feel like there’s a ton of information being thrown at you it’s normal to feel like you don’t know where to start.
But it’s the wrong reaction to just do nothing.
Then you’ve wasted money and the potential to improve your skills, which is essential for success in anything.
So how to get the most out of a paid course or bundle without losing your mind?
Exploration and Goal Setting
You need to know what you’re in it for.
What is the end result you are hoping to get after reading/watching and applying this information?
Are you looking to improve your skills, sell a certain amount of product, get more pins on Pinterest?
There must have been something about this particular product that caught your eye, so that’s a great place to start when you think about your goals.
If you aren’t sure, or you’re looking at a bundle that has a huge amount of options, look through the titles (or the table of contents) and see what most appeals to you.
If you already have a goal in mind, flag the resources or chapters/modules that could help you. If not, note what jumps out at you or gets you excited.
From that overview you’ll now have a list of things you really want to look at, and hopefully a more specific goal as well.
How to Meet Your Blogging Goals
- Prioritize the sections or topics that you most want to cover.
- Set a timetable for how you will go through the information. You want to give yourself some time to go through each resource, but not so much that you’ll slack on it. Maybe a couple of weeks per book/resource, or a few days per chapter/module, depending on the course and how actionable it is.
- Take notes and start a list of action items, then make time — yes, actually schedule it — to work on those things.
- Repeat this process with each book or resource on your list.
- Go back and see what you want to learn about next or what your next goal is.
You may never read everything in a bundle, or even in a course, but if you’re deliberate about going through and finding what you really want and need to learn about you’ll get your money’s worth and a lot of valuable education to meet your blogging goals, too.