Blog Exercises: What If You Knew You Could Not Fail

I helped a writer set up her first blog today, encouraging her to share her stories as part of the process moving towards becoming a published author.

We talked about how a site will help her, not just with marketing, promotion, and community building, but also by rethinking how she writes, what she writes, and how she presents her ideas and stories. If you wish to improve your writing, there are few things you can do beyond learning to blog that will push your writing skills out of their comfort zone.

After we’d gone over some basics and I’d give her some assignments to prepare for the next time we meet, she said, “Now what?”

“What what? You’re done.”

“I’m not done. I’m scared about what will happen next.”

“What do you mean by ‘next?'”

“I don’t want anyone to see it.”

“Until you have content on it, that’s a good idea.”

“I don’t want anyone to comment.”

“If no one sees it, there will be no one to comment. Don’t worry about that for a month or so.”

“What if an agent finds it?”

“If an agent finds your site and wants to represent you, cross that bridge then. Not now.”

“What if a publisher finds it?”

“Again, cross that bridge later.”

“What if someone reads it?”

“Let’s hope they enjoy it. They probably will. You write wonderfully.”

“What if it fails? What if I freak out?”

“Relax. Why anticipate failure before you start?”

“That’s just how I am.”

It was at this point I realized that her concerns were more than simple fears about the complexity and responsibilities of running a website. Her fear of what happens next and what-ifs is deep seated, part of her modus operandi, which brings me to your next blog exercise.

What would you do if you knew you could not fail? That is today’s blog exercise.

It is easy to find excuses to not do, accomplish, or take the next step forward in your journey. Sometimes we put so much energy into finding excuses not to, we never do.

Today, it’s time to do. Period.

Blog about it, or just write it down in your journal. Process it out. If you knew there was no way to fail, no road blocks, nothing to get in your way, what would it look like.

There are so many things that get in our way to make us stop blogging or at least procrastinate and slow down our blogging to the point of anxiety when you approach your computer.

Life, family, work, blogger’s block, health,time…these are typical excuses that get in our way. Others are fears associated with blogging such as fear of comments, comment spam, readers, someone finding and linking to one of our posts…I could go on for months listing all the ways blogging can generate fear in someone but why bother. We know that any excuse is a good excuse, so what would your site look like if all the excuses were gone?

1. Begin by identifying the fears and excuses you use to hinder your blogging efforts.
2. Once identified, rate them as to the level of fear and anxiety you have over each one. Some will be higher than others.
3. List all the ways you get past your fears, targeting each one at a time. Some will be easy as acknowledging them is most of the battle.
4. Identify your what-ifs. These are fears but they are often disguised as practical what if questions.
5. Answer each of your what-ifs. Be realistic. If you get found by another blogger and they write about you, this does not mean that a television crew is on their way to your place to start on a documentary about you.
6. Identify your “what next” issues. Like the what ifs, these are the moments you anticipate happening when in reality, like the television show, may take months or years to come to fruition.
7. Answer each of these realistically. These may come to pass but what is the likelihood and when?
8. Go through your master plan for your site and incorporate the lessons learned from this exercise. Create a prevention plan.
9. Re-examine your goals. How do these fears and what-ifs get in the way? Maybe your goals are too vague, undefined, and open to excuses. Tighten them up and make them concrete – literally.

The world is yours, and so is your blog. What would your site look like if you stopped wasting energy on all the fears and blogged as if there was no way to fail?

I’m really looking forward to your answers on this one!

Remember to include a hat tip link back to this post to create a trackback, or leave a properly formed link in the comments so participants can check out your blog exercise task.

You can find more Blog Exercises on Lorelle on WordPress. This is a year-long challenge to help you flex your blogging muscles.

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Copyright Lorelle VanFossen.