It reminded me of a rough patch that I went through in my blogging a couple of years ago when I really struggled with bloggers block and motivating myself to blog to the level that I knew I needed to to grow my business.
I tried numerous strategies to get myself back on track – but one of the things that helped me pull through it was drawing up a contract with myself.
Being your own boss is great in many ways but one of the downsides is that you don’t have any one to be accountable to or to pull you into line when you lose focus.
My blog contract with myself stated a few basic daily goals that I needed to achieve including posting frequency, networking with other bloggers, responding to email/comments and numerous other tasks (actually quite a few were in the list I posted here.
As part of my contract with myself I decided that if I didn’t live up to it that I would have to suffer some consequences and penalties – going without a couple of small things in life that I enjoyed (I think coffee was one) – and that if I did reach my targets that there would be incentives (I think a weekend away at the beach was one of them).
I also made a deal with myself at that time that if I could meet the basic requirements of blogging for at least 2 months that it might be time to give it all away and find a ‘real job’. After all – if you can’t motivate yourself to go to work each day and do some basic tasks you’re wasting your time and might as well find a job that gives you a little more motivation.
I signed the contract and stuck it somewhere that I would see it every day.
The result was actually quite powerful. I told others about my goals (which helped to stay accountable to them) and even though I was feeling a little dejected about my blogging I began to work myself out of the hole that I’d been in. There were a few days that I had to go without my coffee – but in time I was not only achieving the basic requirements but I was working towards my bonuses.
This might not work for everyone – but if you’re feeling in a big of a blogging hole – why not draw up a contract with yourself to help you get out of it?
Related Reading – 25 Tips for Battling Bloggers Block (a compilation of a mini series)
