When it comes to blogging, there are endless decisions to be made. How you approach these decisions can be the difference between the success and failure of your blog (of course these words “success” and “failure” will have different definitions to different people).

One thing I have come to realize is that many bloggers simply rely on truthiness when making decisions. For those readers unfamiliar with Stephen Colbert and The Colbert Report, “truthiness” is a satirical term defined as “the quality by which one purports to know something emotionally or instinctively, without regard to evidence or intellectual examination.”

Of course some people have a natural instinct for blogging and it therefore makes perfect sense to follow their gut - Leo Babauta and Seth Godin instantly come to mind as examples. But if your blog is drifting in the doldrums, or even if it has achieved a moderate level of success, what would happen if you relied less on truthiness, and more on the truth?

To help you better understand what I mean, the following are some ways that you can stop relying on start relying on solid evidence and facts with your blogging:

Adsense. If you have read Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point , you will be well aware that small things can make a big difference. This is especially true when it comes to having Google Adsense on your blog. Small, seemingly insignificant changes - eg placing an ad block on the left rather than the right, choosing a particular color, choosing a particular size, etc - can mean the difference between you making a few cents a day and making some serious dollars. So don’t just rely on your gut when making these decisions. Test, tweak and finely tune your Adsense settings and see what happens. You may be pleasantly surprised.

Content. In this recent article on ProBlogger , Wendy Piersall from Sparkplugging wrote that one of her tipping points was: “the day I changed my editorial decisions from what I wanted to say and based them instead on what readers wanted to read as determined by analytics and reader feedback.” Such an approach will not be for everyone, but if you have dreams of your blog becoming wildly popular it may be in your interest to pay better attention to what your readers want via the methods Wendy suggests: analytics and feedback.

Keywords. Are you picking keywords for your articles simply because they just feel right? You may be surprised at the search popularity of some words vs. others. Here are a few tools that may help you better incorporate keywords into your articles:

• Keyword suggestion tool
• SEO tools
• Google Adwords keyword tool

Feedback. Good constructive feedback can be hard to come by. One suggestion I have relates to subscribers. With Feedburner it is possible to receive an email whenever people unsubscribe. It is then, of course, possible to email them and ask them that all important question: why? Who knows? You may pick up some insight into your blog that you would have otherwise remained clueless to….

Do you have any success stories where you tossed aside truthiness, and instead focused on testing, evidence and feedback to improve your blog? Please share them in the comments below.

Book Giveaway Winners

Thank you to everyone who replied our question last Friday: “ how you do motivate yourself?” As a few of you pointed out, the prospect of winning a good book is obviously a very good motivator.

We received some fantastic answers, so if you are looking for some motivation related tips and advice be sure to read the responses to the post, How Do You Motivate Yourself?

The following readers will receive a copy of Good in a Room: How to Sell Yourself (and Your Ideas) and Win Over Any Audience : Dave from Entreprenurses Community Interest Company , Traveler from Traveler’s Tales , Frank Sconzo, Josh, Benjamin M. Strozykowski from Stroz.net , MLP, Kent from The Financial Philosopher , Salar Madadi from A Man Reborn , Ann from One Bag Nation and Julian.

If your name appears here, I will be in contact over the weekend to get your mailing address. If it doesn’t, stay tuned as we have another book giveaway coming up in the near future.

Originally posted at PickTheBrain a weblog dedicated to self improvement and motivation .

“ Don’t count every hour in the day, make every hour in the day count. ”
~ Anonymous

Life is made up of nothing more than a series of moments. If you can find some way to pull 15 extra minutes out of a hat, you’d better at least use them wisely. Where will you find these moments, and when you find them, how will you use them?

Just 15 extra minutes a day will convert into a powerful 91 hours a year. That’s a massive chunk of time that you can use to acquire new skills and get things done. The benefit is seen when we create a daily habit and commit those 15 minutes to something worthwhile. You can wake up 15 minutes earlier, steal 15 minutes from lunch, after work, or right before bed — the choice is yours.

Once you’ve figured out which sleeve those 15 minutes are hiding under, you’re ready to pick your target. You can mix-and-match from the list below, or choose a specific item to focus on over weeks, months, or even a year. The key is your commitment to cultivate a habit, from which your life will improve.

20 Useful Things You Can Accomplish In 15 Minutes

1. Stretch. If you stretch for 15 minutes every day you will become very flexible. It will be easier for you to move around, exercise, and it will facilitate the flow of blood throughout your body. This extra flow will improve your overall health and improve your mental focus.

2. Read. Pick a time when you can read, without interruptions, for a solid 15 minutes each day. You’ll find that you’re able to get through certain books in a week or two, and you’re increasing your knowledge and mental capacity with minimal effort. You may discover a new passion, or master a subject over the course of a year through this small time commitment.

3. Run. Do a series of short sprints with intervals between running and resting. This is the best way to build up speed and increase your body’s capacity to utilize oxygen. At the same time you will be powering up your body with higher energy levels throughout the rest of your day.

4. Calisthenics. This form of exercising involves sit-ups, push-ups, trunk twists, squats, chin-ups, etc., which basically means using your own body weight as resistance. It’s very effective to build muscle tone and get your exercise on, and it hardly requires any equipment (other than perhaps a chin-up bar).

5. Sleep. I just told you to find 15 minutes, and now I’m recommending that you sleep them away? This one is more useful during the middle of the day. If you have a set schedule, and you can conveniently fit a 15 minute nap, you can catch a second wind that will leave you feeling energized for the second half of your day.

6. Cook. This might not be enough time to make an extensive meal, but it is sufficient enough to put something together. Make yourself a sandwich, or get some leftovers together, so that you don’t have to eat out for lunch. You’ll save a lot of money using this method.

7. Write. Depending on your writing skill, you may be able to take a nice chunk out of writing a 50,000 word novel (it’s less than you think), over the span of a couple of years, if you use your 15 minutes a day wisely. If it takes you longer, so be it, but eventually you will have the finished product in your hand. This won’t happen unless you sit down and write.

8. Talk (aka Listen). You can use your newly found time to build solid relationships with several people, or an even closer one with one special person. You can both look forward to these 15 minutes, whether in person or over the phone, and share your goals, dreams, and accomplishments with each other. If 15 minutes is too little time for you to talk then just listen to them for 15 minutes and they’ll love you for it.

9. Draw. While 15 minutes a day, over the course of a year, may not be enough time to build a professional collection, it’s still mighty useful. You can use these 15 minutes to create several nice drawings, but more importantly it will sharpen your skill and give you a creative outlet.