This guest post is by Tricia Lawrence of Realbrilliant.com.
Oh, it’s a love/hate relationship with New Year’s Resolutions, isn’t it? If you’re feeling a bit dismayed at your lack of resolution to blog better in 2011, you’re not alone. But I’m here to help.
How can you get that resolution back on track?
1. Revisit your plan
What did you decide to do this year? Blog more often, guest post more often, add sponsors, or get involved in the comments? You can pick yourself back up again. It’s only February, and there’s a lot of 2011 left.
So, where did you lose heart? What made you trip? Was your goal too much? Did you set too high of a standard? Did the new season of American Idol suck you back in? (Steve Tyler is like a train wreck; you just can’t look away! His jowls. Randy’s shoes! Yeah, I got sucked in.)
2. Reconfigure the plan
So, how can you get back to it? Do you need some more soul-searching? Do you need to research? Write a few emails that you’ve been avoiding? Ask the hard questions and push past the block. You can do it!
3. Schedule yourself into the future
How do you intend to accomplish this plan for your blog? Set up a schedule. If you have to write your blog posts at Starbucks to feel like you’ve made it, then do it. The carrot and stick method works. Bait yourself and get a reward.
4. Find your resources
Whether you’re using Darren’s book or blogging ebooks to build a better blog in 2011, dig them out from wherever you’ve stashed them, and use them. Set limits on how much you’re going to do each day, but do something each day. Don’t we all just work better when we stick with it? Little by little, we’ll eat that elephant.
5. Keep track of your progress
Believe me, you keep at this blogging thing in 2011, and by 2012, you’ll want to look back and see how far you’ve come. Keep a blog journal and note how many things you attempted, what did work, and what didn’t. This is not a competition. This is a learning process.
Twelve months is a long time. Even if you’ve dropped the ball and really got off track in the past weeks, that doesn’t mean you can’t get back to the top of the pile in the next five weeks. Give yourself a break, sip the latte, and go to it!
Tricia Lawrence is an author, teacher, and speaker, helping the publishing industry, specifically authors, position their blogs and books to sell. Tricia’s book, The Social Network(s): A Field Guide for Writers will be out on Kindle in March and she’ll appear at several tech and writing conferences in 2011. Sign up for Tricia’s biweekly eZine, Please Write Like You Talk at http://www.realbrilliant.com/blog. Tricia is on Twitter @realbrilliant.
