A Guest Post by Steve Martile from Freedom Education.
It’s normal to have a bad day, right? Well sure. But what if you have a bad week or a bad month?
I’ve been blogging for just over a year. And if there is one thing that I’ve learned is that you’ve got to be consistent. You’ve got to be consistently putting in an effort to build your blog. It won’t build itself.
So what about those bad days?
I’ve had them and they’re no good. You want to bounce back quickly. Get out of that rut. The quicker the better. So you can get back to blogging, life and other things.
And it all begins with the proper mindset. Here are 3 Mind Power Techniques to Become a Better Blogger:
Mind Power Technique #1: Overcome Writers Block With A Physical Change
When you’re writing and you get stuck, do this. Get up, walk around and sit in a different spot. See your screen from a different point of view. Sit in a different location and gain a new perspective.
Sound to hokey?
You see one thing that’s true for anyone is that a change in your mindset will change your physiology – your body posture, facial expressions, etc. When you think new thoughts, the chemicals in your brain change. But what many people don’t know is that the opposite is also true. A change in your physiology will also change the chemistry in your mind.
This the same reason why some writers will use exercise as a way to gain new insights and spark their creativity. A change in there physical state creates a change in their internal state. Body movement is an effective brain stimulator.
So get your body moving. Get up and go for a walk, get some exercise or just change locations to trigger that inner change – the place where you get all of those great ideas.
Mind Power Technique #2: Track Your Progress
I think over the past 3 months, 70% of the blog carnivals I submit to have either quit or stopped publishing. Which tells me one thing, that more than 7 out of 10 people will quit blogging within 3 months of starting. Don’t let that be you.
Keep your momentum going by using this mind power technique #2: track your progress.
Let me explain.
Recently, I spoke to a sales representative from iperceptions – a survey company that provides statistics and data for websites. What they do is survey people who navigate your website or blog. As part of their surveying process they tested different methods and found something really interesting.
What they did was add a status bar at the bottom of each survey page. That way users could see their progress as they went through the survey. When they did this, the survey completion rates increased by an astounding 67%!
Basically, this is what happened. When users new how well they were doing, they kept going. But if they didn’t have any signs of progress, they quit the survey altogether.
How can you use this technique with your blog?
Start tracking the traffic of your blog by creating a blog traffic diary. I learned this technique from Yaro Starak @ Entrepreneurs-Journey.com.
A blog diary is basically a way to track the unique visitors and pageviews for your blog. I thought it would be a good idea to track my Newsletter subscribers as well. Here’s a snap shot of my traffic and newsletter subscribers each month from November 08 to May 09.
What I found from following this process is that I instinctively became more proactive. I started to think ahead about how I could improve my traffic. If I saw that my unique visitors were down one month, then I would brainstorm ways to improve my performance: either by creating better content or putting more effort into my marketing.
I’ve been pretty active with my blog diary. I still keep it up to date because it’s such a great tool. I’ve pretty much shared what has worked for me and what has not worked over the past year. You can see my blog traffic diary here.
Mind Power Technique #3: Use Comparison To Give Yourself A Boost
Here’s a mistake I made from the very beginning. When I was surfing and commenting on other blogs I would compare myself to those A-List Bloggers:
ProBlogger, StevePavlina, Zenhabits and a few others.
This seemed harmless in the beginning. It started with subtle comments to myself like:
- “Oh, he has more RSS subscribers than me,”
- “She has third party ads on her site and I don’t,”
- “He writes way better than I do!”
Then after a while this self-talk started to grow like weeds in my mind. As time went by I found more and more weeds taking up the space in my head. Which put me in a real bad mood, to the point where I didn’t feel like doing anything anymore – not even blogging.
The important thing here is to catch this internal dialogue quickly. You never want to compare yourself to someone who is better than you (unless you’re looking for ways to improve).
If you’re going to compare, then compare yourself to someone who is worse than you. You can always find someone who is down a notch from your current position.
As you start to compare yourself to someone who is worse off, you’ll start to realize how good things are. You’ll start to feel better about yourself and your position. You’ll start to feel more confident. And when you feel more confident, you’ll start to take action.
If you’re going to compare, compare yourself against someone who is worse than you. At least that way you can bounce back quickly and get back to what you do best.
Steve is a Mind Power Coach and the creator of Freedom Education – Mind Power for Your Personal Growth. He is also the author of the ebook, The Genius Within YOU. You can download his ebook here.
Nice thoughts!!!!!
I was also thinking, the words you said, for last three days, as I realised that I have a low level to see me as a Proessional Blogger.
I will try your techniques, in better way!
Thanxxxxx!
Thanks for the advise.
i do agree that without persistence its really hard to succeed as a blogger, sometimes the results arrive a bit late even if you have done everything right
The idea of changing scenery is a big one. I read an interesting blog post on Psychotactic Zingers about how you can fend off writer’s block. In a short taxi ride you can respark your creative juices just because you gave yourself a new context to think in. Moving through space, I think, creates fluidity in the thought process. . .
When you are a writer it is important to not only keep your material fresh but also yourself. Try writing in different areas of the office or your house. Keep things different.
When you are a writer it is important to not only keep your material fresh but also yourself. Try writing in different areas of the office or your house. Keep things different. in order to keep things fresh.
Great information, I myself had that time when I almost quit. Wasn’t able to get any traffic, no clicks for my PPC sites. You just a little time and patience and everything will fall into place.
I completely agree with # 1. State change is crucial especially when you are sitting in front of a computer for long periods of time. I know this weekend I was working hard on my blog and there were times that I was slowly drifting. When I caught myself I immediately got up did some push ups or jumping jacks to get the blood flowing again.
Also make sure you take proper breaks for yourself. Even though working on a computer can be a lot of fun (at least for me it is) you still need to take an occasional 10-15 minute break every two hours or so.
Wow…the Mind Power Technique #3 is what I’ve been doing lately. It really works quite well. The reason it works so well is the thousands of crappy blogs that I can easily compare myself to. It actually gives me confidence.
Paul
You know what? YOu can monitor your traffic from analytics too without doing the tedious task of jotting it down in a diary.
Mind setting is important in blogging. Why? Because every task has its own obstruction. Just list the obstructions in blogging and you’ll get 1001 facts and reasons.
Agree with all the points~!
Steve,
Don’t you think it will stop your progress if you gonna start compare yourself against someone who is worse than you?
Nice post dude, I like it very much!
Great ideas here – persistence pays, so does a system like your diary. Also I tell myself that every blog post does not have to be groundbreaking (learned this from Yaro). I have been blogging now for 5 years.
One thing I Iearnt early on (which resonates with your comments) is how to tap into my Chakra energy to improve my writing:
http://ezinearticles.com/?id=86423
Great post.
I agree with the first point of changing your view. I do this on a regular basis. I find new ideas by changing my view as well as doing things such as driving or taking a shower.
As far as the second point, I do this on a daily basis. If you don’t keep track of where you have been, you won’t know where you are going. Keeping some kind of log or reports will help you to see if you are working on the right track.
Interesting post and comments. I enjoyed the read.
Excellent article and i also have expressed my view on this subject at http://www.abhijitkar.com/life/dilemma-of-a-blogger-what-to-write.html and hope you guys like it.
It’s based on 8 months of hard working to establish a blog with a PR 3/10 now, and Alexa rating of around 2,00,000 as on date.
Thanks for great post.
You are absolutely on the spot on this article.
Take control of your mind using simple techniques. Works for me every time i want to put some TNT in my computer.Being sick of all the work.
Every dog has it`s day.
if bloggers take into consideration the usability ( how the users will feel about their blog and how he will use it ) the conversion rate will increase
It sound like great practical but powerful advice that would be beneficial to anyone.
Thank you for these useful information.
We would like to see a post about mistakes done by problogger in the initials stages of the blogging.
So that we can learn and not repeat the same mistakes.
I am a new blogger – started my own blog end of June -www.priaingrum.com (but blogged for Inventor Spot last year). It is good to know that many people quit within a few months. Knowing this provides me with reassurance when I feel discouraged, looking at my 2-cent earnings and asking myself what I was thinking…
It is also good to know that other bloggers have bad days…
@ Aminul,
“However, I’m confused about comparing myself to successful bloggers. I think it helps me improve,” and it should as long as you’re modeling their success. I personally think modeling is a great way to improve your situation. As long as you’re modeling and looking for ways to improve your current situation.
All I’m saying is to not get caught in the “trap” of comparing yourself to other high profile bloggers. It seems to be a limited way of thinking that undermines what you – my friend – are capable of doing – and nobody wants to see that, especially me :)
@ Matthew Day,
Hi Matthew – your most welcome and if it works for you then no need to fix it, right?
@ Edge,
See comment above @ Aminul.
@ Paul,
Totally agree. No offence to anyone but there are a ton of crappy, forgotten, just dusty old blogs out there to compare yourself against. It’s not much trouble to find them.
@ film izle
“Don’t you think it will stop your progress if you gonna start compare yourself against someone who is worse than you?”
Nope. Especially if I started to think of all the ways that my blog is better; like I said above, it’s not my default way of thinking, but if I do get stuck with thoughts of comparison, I always compare to somebody worse off.
@ Kaspersky key,
“We would like to see a post about mistakes done by problogger in the initials stages of the blogging.
So that we can learn and not repeat the same mistakes.”
What a great idea. I’d to see the same thing. I’m just not sure if this is something that Darren has already covered in his archived blog posts??
Great post! I myself get really motivated knowing that my stats increased!
one of the best tips about promoting your blog.
i belive that most of the readers feels the same
thanx for sharing your knowledege with me
ya with my blog i do this alot i make sure of it too!
I never get a writter block i always read alot and find information like on Goarticles and Ezine. Also i read books and stuff and keep updated. In business you should be able to talk for years and never run out of things to say.
Second off i track my progress with stat counter it is free and shows me how i am doing
I compare myself to my readers but i always try to compare my self to the top dogs why because i want to make sure i dont try and get complaciant. and Ego is good dont let some one tell you its not sure it has a few problems but more good comes from it. Remember with ever action comes a few reactions but the ends justifies the means.
http://dailycashsaver.blogspot.com/
Really, this is a great post. Past 3 days I was having a rough time. My blogging experice was so bad. After I came through your post today, it made me relax. Now, I am confident that I am going to better. I started a blog in wordpress 3 months ago. I am looking forward for a self-hosted blog. I find your site to be useful resource for that process. Regards.
thanks Steve…your tip #1 really helped me a lot while blogging, but i need more info about blog traffic diary. Kindly help me.
Comparison study always boosts the confidence levels. So I use this to a greater extent.
I agree with this thread, whilst i am sitting here with my laptop thinking i should be doing some home improvement
Great info.
Thanks for sharing!
yeah I will compare myself to shoemoney, because he’s worse off then me :).
Hey man, excellent post. Very very well done! Your so right about everything that you said in your post. I think that alot of people should take what you said to heart, Including myself!
~Andre J Pickens
http://www.ghb.ajpickens.com
Thanks for sharing the tips. I think staying positive about a personal blog’s progress must be harder than a professional one and Great post! I myself get really motivated knowing that my stats increased!
mybisnis at
http://www.b1sn1sku.blogspot.com
I have a fourth suggestion: remind yourself of everything that has been great about your week!
Yanik Silver made a blog post with a special form just for keep up with how awesome you are every week:
http://www.internetlifestyle.com/blog/?p=576
nothing like positive self-reinforcement.
I had a bad week last week…thanks. this blog helps.
http://www.jobsadda.com
Excellent tips. I never though of keeping a online journal on how my blog progresses.
Trust yourself, think about future, and be optimize!
Nice list of mind power techniques! i will always remember this when im starting a new article.Thanks for sharing!
sir as you tell consistent bloging make good thing but i have been costently blog but still i don t get any good traffic on my blog and also my alaxa rank continuously get down
Nice one, Steve; I dug it! Darren sure has some switched on cats in his orbit. Best regards, P. :)
Mind : -That which is responsible for one’s thoughts and feelings; the seat of the faculty of reason is the most powerful thing of the Galaxy. If you have a great amount of mind power, no one can stop you in getting what you want…
Have a good night sleep and proper exercise in the morning helps prepare my mind and body, it makes me feel really comfortable too. Thanks for sharing the techniques, they’re very useful.
I’d add exercise to the list! Sweating my frustration or creativity-blocks out helps me focus minutes afterward. I set up a simple pull-up bar in the doorway of my blogging office. I just hang on it like a kid at a playground or dull pull-ups or other movements until whatever’s bothering me goes away. Usually just takes a few minutes. Here’s what it looks like.
Pete | The Tango Notebook
I especially like tip #1. I find that when I am hit with a bad case of writer’s block it really helps to take a walk in the woods near my house. I almost always come back with 5 or 6 great ideas for blog posts!
Hi Darren,
Thank you for sharing such a wonderfull article because the tips given by you will be helpfull for every blogger and I will definately follow it and also pass it on to my friends….
Starting a blog traffic diary is an excellent idea. It’s easy to put it in practice. I can clearly see how this can keep a blogger motivated. Thanks for sharing this actionable, useful tip!
Quite efficient techniques
Hi Darren,
I’m impressed by technique 2 since I use it for several issues, not only blogging. As soon as I start tracking progess there is the internal wish to have a positive progress whhich enables energies to get it real – my experience!
Hi Steve Martile,
Let me say a bunch of thanks for the post. Sir I have a question ( am not sure whether the comments are following up )
Though am trying to make at least a post a day only 2-3 times a week i am able to finish publishing. My problem is I will start with a subject and write two or three sentences about that, then I’ll start thinking and unfortunately its leading to confusion and multiplication. Most of the times it ends on a different subject and the post on that day would not be happening.
:) any replies will be greatly appreciated (helpful too)
Thanks.