It all started with an innocent tongue in cheek remark by Rory. I know he didn’t mean anything by it although he did know I had been struggling with staying on track in my quest for real self-discipline. Then it was accentuated by Mark when he made this comment:

Maybe it was just a trick. To ruin your productivity!

He was of course referring to his thought about having only one decent sized goal everyday. But then the paranoia started to set in.

Was I starting to get sidetracked?

I mean really… what does it take to successfully run a blog? I now have a regular routine of checking out the important blogs. Or at least those that I deem important. Thanks to this little firefox hint, I can now have all these blogs loaded in my browser window at one time.

And then there is the actual reading of blogs. There is just sooo much great content out there. As a newbie blogger I want to know how to avoid all the mistakes that others have made. I want to find my feet in blogging and then how do I get the word out about my blog? Which will then require that I keep in mind what my readers want.

Of course once I start reading the blogs it’s only proper etiquette to comment once in a while. You know, make a contribution to the blogging community. But then I have to check back, refresh my browser window because I know the host of said blog will politely reply or at least acknowledge my comment. We might even start a conversation. I can also get involved in charitable and philanthropic causes.

Do I really need to check my feedburner stats seven times a day to see if one more person has subscribed or visited my blog?

Does technorati change their ratings throughout the day? They don’t seem to and I’ve checked them six times today.

I think I forgot something. Oh that’s right I need to write a quality post that someone might be interested in. Done!!

After all of that I have managed to complete exactly one (that’s right, one) item on my todo list for the day. It wasn’t the most important item or the highest priority.

Here’s the problem, once I enter the blogosphere something happens. I get disoriented and undisciplined. I lose my focus.

But boy did I have fun today! And I’m getting to know some really great people. That’s got to count for something.

How do blogging and blogs affect your ability to get things done? Tell me in the comments.