As of recently I’ve decided to take this blogging thing very seriously. After watching all of my peers have success, I sometimes wonder what might have been had I actually sat down and just blogged!

I don’t know if this is your first time on the ViaMaverick Blog but if it is, welcome. If it’s not your first time and you are a blogger, then maybe you know what I’m talking about.

When you make the conscious decision to take your blogging seriously, there still tends to be those tiny distractions that make a huge impact on your productivity. You have your Facebook, Twitter and YouTube tabs open in your web browser. Photoshop and Skype are probably open somewhere on your desktop and chances are you have your smart phone right next to you.

You’re letting your blog die and you don’t even know it.

We start to expect certain results out of our efforts but we aren’t really giving ourselves the best chance to succeed. When it’s time to sit down and write, we browse through every social media tab first to see if anyone is trying to get in contact with us. We’re selling ourselves short and it’s time to put a stop to it by developing distraction free writing habits.

Distraction Free Writing Made Simple

The beauty of developing distraction free writing habits is that you don’t have to spend any money. While there are definitely a ton of quality productivity software’s out there, they aren’t completely necessary. It really boils down to the habits you’ve developed and what really works for you.

I recently discovered a little trick that has made a huge difference in my blogging habits and overall productivity. This little “miracle button” looks like this and can be found on your visual editor tool bar:

Once you click on the distraction free writing button your screen will go into distraction free writing mode. (click image to enlarge)

From this point forward you’ll be able to give your undivided attention to your blogging. If you’re the type of blogger who likes to edit as you go, I highly recommend trying a type it all up and edit later approach. You’ll notice that you can really get all of your thoughts typed out in one sitting. Then when you’re ready to create your final draft, you can go back and insert your images, font weights, and hyperlinks if needed. Be sure to close out your other tabs as well so you can focus solely on your writing.

Additional Tweaks for Productive Writing

Want an even better distraction free writing experience? Then go full screen!

Firefox: view > enter full screen mode

Google Chrome: view > enter presentation mode

Note: shortcut for both Firefox and Chrome is command+shift+f (ctrl) for Windows users.

This will make your browser full screen and hide all distractions so you can focus on your blogging.

Small Changes Make a Huge Difference

At the end of the day the only thing separating you from creating a successful blog like the “A list” bloggers you follow is high quality content at a consistent pace. So wipe the digital dust off of your blog, hit that distraction free writing button, and start blogging! Your blogs life depends on it!

- Chris

Img Credit: ronocdh on Flickr