What I Learned About Life and Business by Taking a One-Week Hiatus from Blogging

A few weeks ago, I hit a wall. Actually, I hit a few walls.

As a father of a nine-month-old who likes to tease her parents by sleeping through the night two or three times in a row, only to revert back to playing “clap-clap” at 3 am, I hit a sleep deprivation wall.

After an eye-opening meeting to go over my taxes with my accountant, taking care of two sick kids, and trying to meet content writing deadlines – all during the same sleep-deprived week – I hit a stress wall.

From a blog writing standpoint, I bailed on two separate posts for my own blog within one week. After spending a couple hours working on each, I came to the conclusion that they were going nowhere.

I refused to publish and attach my name to content that I felt wasn’t worth someone’s time to read.

It was the best decision I could have made. Here’s what I learned.

The big picture is more important than the snapshot.

I could have scrambled at the last minute to come up with a new topic and write something engaging when I was clearly frustrated and could barely see straight.

Instead, I said, “Screw it. I need to regroup.”

After watching Sofia the First and reading stories with my girls, I spent a stress-free hour getting caught up with a few industry publications and kicking around blog ideas.

I ended up with a bunch of strong topics plugged into the editorial calendar, and the long-term outlook for my blog was much clearer and stronger than it had been a couple hours earlier.

It’s not worth it to publish crap just for the sake of “putting something out there.”

I started those two blog posts with what I thought were very good topics. As I got deeper into them, I asked myself, “How is this helping someone? What’s the point? Is there really anything of value here?”

The fact that I was even asking those questions was proof that the blogs were unworthy of publishing.

Publishing nothing is much better than wasting the time of readers – and hurting my reputation – by publishing crap in order to adhere to a schedule.

My business won’t go down the toilet if I go one week without publishing a new post.

I publish a blog post once per week. My blog is my biggest source of leads and my biggest revenue driver. By far.

If I published posts every day or a few days per week, a one-week hiatus might have been a bigger deal. But I missed one post, and my business didn’t crumble.

In fact, during that hiatus, I was contacted by two people who had read older blog posts, which are still going strong as lead generators. Go figure.

My readers’ lives won’t end if I miss one week.

As much as I would like to think readers of my blog sit by their computers, tablets or smartphones and salivate until I publish a new post, I know that’s not the case.

Actually, because I blog consistently, I’ve created the perception that I’m always publishing new stuff – even when I’m not – so they probably didn’t even realize I skipped a week.

Well, I guess you realize it now, so I hope you’ll forgive me after reading this.

Family time is the greatest cure for business and blogging frustration.

I’ve always told myself that I would never become a slave to my blog or my business. Does that mean I’m leaving money on the table? Probably.

Is the tradeoff worth it? Definitely.

When you have writer’s block, a client gets on your nerves, or you feel like you’re ready to explode, spend some time with your kids or your significant other. And for every night spent working late, spend a few extra hours with your family.

Works like a charm.

Skipping a blog post is acceptable once in a blue moon.

Even though it turned out to be a good decision, I hated that I didn’t publish anything that week. I was mad at myself.

That’s why it won’t be happening again anytime soon.

Yes, it’s okay to take a quick break. But it’s not okay to habitually put your blog on the backburner when the going gets tough.

If you want to continue to be trusted as an expert capable of delivering value, maintain top-of-mind awareness, and rank highly on search engines, you need to publish fresh, valuable, relevant content.

And you need to do it consistently.

What do you think? Did I make the right decisions or am I rationalizing?