Blogging has been a fun, fascinating and sometimes manic journey for me.
I blogged from an energy of chaos for a bit. Blogging seemed like a wild ride to me because my focus sprayed far and wide, like a toddler trying to shoot an uzi.
I:
- changed niches
- changed topics
- created new blogs on free platforms
- changed strategies
- changed tactics
many times during my early blogging years. My mind raced ahead in a mad dash. Not being focused led to struggle, failure and I even considered quitting blogging for a little bit. My lack of focus served as the chief cause of my struggle because I scattered my energy left, right, up and down, all over the place. Since where your attention and energy goes, grows, I did a horrible job sticking with one thing to allow it to grow.
Perhaps you feel me. Maybe your blogging journey feels similar. I bet you scattered your blogging attention and energy a little bit over the years. None of you are the Dalai Lama; alas, I am not, either. Scattered-brained bloggers who mindlessly trudge ahead in moments change ideas, schools of thought and blogging strategies with the wind, sometimes.
My experience is common to most if not all bloggers. Bloggers begin blogging on one niche. But fear arises in your mind. Does another niche seem more profitable? You fear losing out on money. So you niche hop. All work you did on your first blog gets tossed into the cyber trash. Now you need to start a new blogging niche from scratch. But now you want to be a podcaster, because podcasting seems to be the *in* thing.
After 5 months of podcasting, you become bored. Success never arrived. You decide to change focus. Video blogging sounds fun. Toss out podcasting. Start vlogging from scratch. Failure follows. Why does failing surprise you? You give little time, energy and focus to one blog, quit, then give little time and energy to the next blog, and fail, again and again. Simply, you never maintain focus on working one blog for a long enough time to become a professional blogger.
Focus serves as a key to successful blogging. Focus seems to be the secret to success in virtually all endeavors. Give most of your attention and energy to one thing, one cause, one purpose. Do it well. Everything flows from your attention and energy because where your attention and energy goes, grows.
I recall reading a legend about a child who practiced writing the same number on a chalkboard. Day after day, the kid wrote the same, single number. Other kids who wrote a higher volume of numbers laughed at the kid and mocked him, believing he was stupid. After practicing writing this single number for years, he walked up to the chalkboard one day, began writing the number and the chalkboard broke. Everyone in the classroom sat in awe, in stunned silence.
This is the power of focus. Do one thing generously, patiently and from a relaxed vibe daily for 5, 10 or 50 years, and you become so good at it that staggeringly successful results find you.
Bruce Lee spoke of not fearing the man who practiced 10,000 different kicks but who practiced the same kick 10,000 times. He knew that where your attention and energy goes, grows. This is why you need to focus on working one blog in the same niche generously, patiently and persistently for years to become a professional blogger. Simply, there is no other way. Dividing your attention and energy between multiple blogs saps skills, clarity and knowledge needed to succeed wildly with a single blog. The world love specialists but the world does not love generalists too much.
I discovered that facing, feeling and releasing fears trying to pull my focus away from my core intent to blog about blogging tips was the simplest – although highly uncomfortable – way to maintain focus for thousands of hours over years of my life. Simply facing, feeling and releasing these fears kept me focused on creating posts and building friendships as I helped people with practical blogging tips.
Do you need help remaining focused when it feels uncomfortable to do so? Watch this video I recorded in Thailand a while back:
5 Tips for Making Highly Uncomfortable Decisions
Perhaps this life of focus does not seem sexy or spectacular but you cannot argue with the results of starting a blog and remaining focused on a single niche, with basic strategies, for years of your life. Look no farther than the featured image for this post; I snapped it in exotic, mysterious Oman, as I’ve circled the globe as a pro blogger for 10 years. Stay on topic, remain focused and see the journey through. Successful blogging is doing simple things from a focused energy for years.
eBook
Do you need help with overcoming blogging obstacles?
Buy my eBook:
10 Powerful Strategies for Knifing through Blogging Obstacles
If you haven’t joined Allrounder Blogging Community yet, do join ASAP and follow us on Twitter and Facebook to get exclusive content on a regular basis.
Ryan Biddulph
A Blogging Geek from Paradise.
Ryan Biddulph inspires bloggers with his 100 plus eBooks, courses, audiobooks and blog at Blogging From Paradise.
Pingback: Why Do You Routinely Get Distracted from Blogging Work? - BlogCD