I love reading success stories. Especially the ones where some well-known A-list blogger shares their latest campaign or product launch results.
… Too bad things aren’t as easy for the rest of us, right?
Well, that’s the general impression, but even though the A-list players may seem like they’ve been an overnight hit, the fact is that their paths are often far from a straight line, so to speak. It’s actually more like this:
The reality is that we all have to face our set of challenges, hardships and overall struggles before we can reap the benefits of our work. And temporarily losing our passion is just one of those challenges.
So how do you feel at the moment? Are you 100 percent happy with the results you’ve been getting, or maybe there’s something missing? Not on your blog, but rather in you, on the inside.
Maybe you are slowly losing your passion for blogging and it’s about time to get it back?
Let’s look into the six signs that it might indeed be the case, and then let’s go over some of the solutions:
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1. You don’t see the purpose
Handling your blogging tasks day in and day out can become quite mundane after a while. I mean, you’re just sitting there, doing one thing after another, and you start losing the grasp on the bigger picture.
You no longer remember your main goals, your visions, your plans for new and interesting blogging projects. You just want to get this next post out the door. You’re stuck among the mundane and you’re starting to lose your passion.
There are a couple of things you can do about this. First of all, write down your original goals again – the things you want to achieve, and how you want to achieve them. Next, put them in a visible place on your desk. In general, I advise against doing this in some tool or app. Having your goals on paper is a much more tangible thing.
This one tactic alone – having to look at your goals every day – will keep you from losing the grasp on the bigger picture.
2. You’re not being consistent
Having a rock-solid schedule is not an easy thing to keep up with on the long run. There’s just so much stuff going on that missing a deadline is only a matter of time.
That being said, if you just miss a deadline here and there, but manage to stay on schedule for the most part then this is not a particularly dangerous thing.
However, if being inconsistent has become your new standard then you’re possibly losing your passion for blogging.
How to find out if you have problems with consistency? Make it a habit to take note of every post that you manage to publish on schedule, and more importantly, every post that misses its deadline. You can do this in Google Calendar, for example.
After a while, this sort of record will give you a good overview on how consistent you are in your efforts.
If you’re finding that you’re having trouble keeping up, plan ahead. Start each post with scheduled tasks for research, headline writing, first draft writing, editing, tuning up and adding images, and finally publishing.
Breaking up one big task into smaller chunks has always been a great trick to get things done.
3. You’re failing to research new content
You’re just rushing through, trying to release this next post and not paying much attention to how well-researched it actually is.
While I do believe that there are some topics for every blogger that can be written entirely on the spot, that way of writing should never be the norm. If you consistently tend to skip the research phase for a new post, thinking that you just don’t have time for that, (a) go back to issue #1 on this list, and (b) realize that this might lead to you losing your passion for blogging, or at least part of it.
Here’s why. The main value of research is that it allows us to pick the exact topics that have the best chance of resonating with our audience. We can check what sort of content they respond to, what questions they have, what they struggle with, and so on. And then, we can suggest them our solutions. Without research, we’re just guessing.
What’s awesome about blogging in the 21st century is that we get a load of tools that make research much easier than before. Setting Google aside, we also have tools like:
- BuzzSumo, which will let you know about the most popular content on other sites in your niche.
- Quora, where you can go to find the exact(!) questions that people are asking in relation to your niche.
- Finally, why not use MyBlogU and collaborate with other experts in your niche to create great content together (by the way, you can also participate in other people’s content projects there).
4. You don’t look for other possibilities
Blogging will always have a special place in my heart because it is the thing that launched my online career. And while I may not be the most recognizable blogger out there, I did manage to build a brand in another area – freelance writing/blogging.
If it hadn’t been for my passion for blogging, my freelance career would have never happened. And there’s also the other side of the coin here. If it hadn’t been for my freelance career, I would have probably lost my passion for blogging many months ago.
What this means in short is that other opportunities happening around your main blog will have their impact on your passion. So go out there looking for them. Use your blog as a platform to connect with possible clients – people who can benefit from your skills and hire you for specific tasks. Create a “hire me” page on your blog and let them come to you.
Need ideas on what you can offer and how to convert prospective clients to … well, clients? See these resources by the guys over at Bidsketch. There are templates for people who want to offer web design services, writers, marketers, SEOs, software and web developers, app developers, PPC and advertising experts, social media experts, and more. Literally, whatever your web related skill might be, you can build a whole career around it.
5. The obvious – writer’s block
Ah yes, the good ol’ writer’s block. Every once in a while you might just feel like you’re not in the mood for writing, or that you can’t seem to put together any sentences that would make the slightest sense. Indeed, writer’s block is the most obvious sign that you might just be losing your passion for blogging.
Now, writer’s block happens to all of us from time to time, but individual instances are not very troublesome. The real problems start when you’re struggling with it for a longer period of time and it just can’t seem to go away.
If that happens, you might end up losing your whole interest and motivation to write and run your blog. You need to act fast to prevent this.
There are a lot of great pieces of advice on the web on fighting writer’s block, so I won’t get into much detail here. I’ll just share my personal no.1 tool that I’ve been using to keep myself from writer’s block for a couple of years now.
Bank of ideas – is the name of this tool. Basically, it’s just a simple file where you get to keep all your blog post ideas (along with short descriptions of each idea). Then, when the time comes, you can just look into the file and pick a topic that you feel the most comfortable writing about today. Don’t force it, just pick a topic that feels right.
6. You’re procrastinating … heavily
We’re naturally inclined to delay important projects and fill our time with unrelated tasks just to simulate some work (research confirms). That way, we can convince ourselves that we’re indeed working and doing something that matters … whether it’s true or not.
Over time, not focusing on the important – which in this case is getting your blogging work done – can cause you to lose your passion for blogging entirely.
Instead of doing what’s the core of blogging – working with blog posts – you’re focusing on other quick tasks that are only vaguely related. As a result, you forget what blogging is really about and you don’t even take active part in your blogging passion any longer.
So what to do here? Set a new habit to always take care of the most important task first. Don’t start your blogging day off with filler tasks. Go straight to the one crucial challenge of the day.
What’s next?
So what’s your current situation? Are you in the clear or are you perhaps fighting to regain your passion for blogging?
Do you have any other ideas on what can be done to help our blogging passion stand the test of time?
