SPWD

We all read about bloggers such as Darren Rowse who are highly successful in earning a good living from blogging. We sit and think, get an idea, sit some more, think some more…. Most people desire success in life, whether it is work, family, recreation or some other area such as blogging. The truth of the matter is a larger percentage of “us” fail to attain that success.

I am the poster-child for failure in many areas of life - yet I keep waking up, keep plugging away and keep trying, just as so many of us do. Blogging is just one small failure in my book of life, but I am starting to identify why I fail as a blogger….maybe you share some of these traits, maybe you don’t. Either way, the path to success is full of potholes, set backs and much effort, and in there will be failures - it’s how we handle those failures that determines our future success.

Why I Fail At Blogging - The following list examines what I have identified so far as the reasons I fail at blogging, why after nearly 2 years this blog has less readership, less posts and less reach than blogs that are much newer and what I hope to do about this.

• 1. Commitment
  I completely lack commitment to blogging. While I want to blog, I just never “make” time to blog. Note I did not say “find” time. I never make time. Whether it is taking 20 minutes a day, either first thing in the morning, or before I go to sleep at night, I never make the time to write. Even if I were to write a partial post in that 20 minutes, research a post idea, test a code snippet, it would improve post frequency, which is one of the keys to successful blogging. No one wants to read a blog that is only updated once every 2-3 months, which has often been the case with this blog.
• 2. Vision
  What is the vision for a blog. I have convoluted the vision many times, going to blog about nothing but web development topics. Then I throw in off-topic posts. Maybe I will focus on just PHP, or just CSS, or just creating standards compliant xhtml/html/css sites. Maybe I will focus on MySQL. I put all these topics in my category list, and yet I don’t blog about many of them, because I do not have a clearly defined vision of what I am trying to accomplish on this blog. Maybe if I had a vision, I could figure out the time to devote to number one up there.
• 3. Cynicism
  I read about other’s success. I look at it through a soda bottle, distorted and distrusted. If in fact it is true, it is only they who could accomplish it, not me. I setup for failure before even trying, being pessimistic, and for some odd reason I enjoy this. I, in the back of my mind, wish to fail? What? Yes, and others are out there that do the same. Why? Imagine, if you were someone such as Darren Rowse, who is highly successful. With that success comes accountability. He and Chris Garrett published a book on blogging - which many times indicates that one is a success or expert in what they were published about.

  When viewed in that context, there is accountability that can come along with that. I myself don’t want accountability, or the responsibility that what I write is not going to be raked over the coals and shredded and I may have to justify my position, idea, expertise etc. Do you ever feel that way? Maybe, maybe not. But being cynical of the blogosphere can be good, yet in my case, it is one of my own worst enemies as I am my own worst cynic to myself.

• 4. Lack of Self
  We are taught to rely on ourselves more than others….at least some of us are. In that, one of my biggest struggles is feeling, or better yet, knowing I can accomplish something. Lack of self worth, prior life incidents, too much love, not enough, whatever the cliche you want to attach here is. The bottom line is, we have to know ourselves, know our strengths and weaknesses and not let the weaknesses rule our lives. I can look at myself and I say the following: moron, idiot, stupid, ugly….a complete lack of self. Are we conditioned to feel a certain way about ourselves? Do we do it on our own? One thing about successful people, they portray success, even amidst failure. That self composure of taking a beating, and still looking up. That self composure of being who they are, where they are, how they are is priceless. Who are you? Who am I? I am sheepish, shy, and downright hard on myself - creating a lack of self, which creates a mindset of failure, before I even start a task. Failure is good, it teaches us lessons, it shows us a weakness that we can strengthen and it can guide us to a better purpose or direction. But creating failure before effort is a great way to ensure success will never happen.
• 5. Fear
  Fear of what? I fear success merely for the fact that success brings with it a change, and I fear change even though I have very few constants in life. What do you fear? Something different maybe? The saying goes that the only thing to fear, is fear itself. Seems an infinite loop to me, at least in my life…. Are you afraid of connecting, of putting your foot out there to let it get trampled on? I am sure the likes of Darren and Chris could tell a hundred stories of getting trampled on, whether by someone who is in a position to trample, or someone who is merely jealous, rude or otherwise a crick in societal norm…if there is such a thing of societal norm. Did they take it to heart, quit blogging, quit trying or walk away? If they had, would they be where they are now? I let this fear guide my steps, my actions and my words far too often. What if someone doesn’t like what I write. What if someone knows a better way to do that PHP snippet I just posted…get over it, eh? Yes, well, we all need to take steps in areas, and this area is just another one of mine. Maybe I just need a lesson in “It’s Okay To Be Wrong” or something.

Well, a short list, but the top 5 reasons I have not put in the effort required to actually build this blog, or any of the several other blogs I have attempted to write on. The biggest for me is merely setting the time to do it, and stop “thinking” about it, stop “wishing” about it and to stop “dreaming” about it. Dreams don’t come true to those who only dream, and never “do”. That is one key in common with nearly ever successful person I have ever met or known, they not only dream, they DO.