How to Find a Sense of Blogging Direction When Utterly Lost |

Ryan Biddulph January 21, 2025 blogging tips 🕑 6 minutes read

Kalkan Turkey

I have been lost more than once during my blogging career.

At times, things came together easily.

At other times, things seemed impossible.

Feeling lost seems crippling.

You have no idea where to turn next.

But blogging guides can show you the way.

First you need to stop instead of blogging in mindless circles; step #1 below.

Before we proceed, thank you Randy Clark for this blog post idea.

My Offline Sense of Direction

Dad instilled my strong offline sense of direction.

I almost never get lost during my travels.

I became obsessed with geography in part based on his cartographic influence.

Dude always had his:

Atlas
hand-written direction
willingness to ask *anyone* for directions; gas station attendants and toll collectors were two highly reliable sources

My family did road trips often. I went to hundreds of basketball games with my pops.

When I got my license I had a strong sense of where I was headed. Hand-written directions and Atlas in my car, I mapped out the journey mentally beforehand then usually arrived to my destination without an errant turn.

My blogging career did not follow suit.

Lost in the Blogging Wilderness

I had no idea how to blog as a newbie.

I felt completely lost.

After winging it for a bit I caved and followed advice from mentors; temporarily, at least.

My blogging career became a roller coaster; ups, downs and everything in between.

I have a strong sense of blogging direction now but I know I can get lost at any moment. Blogging feels easier for me but it never feels effortless.

Here is what I do – and what you can do – to find a sense of blogging direction when totally lost.

1: Stop

During my 14 years of circling the globe, I feared suffering from hypothermia twice after getting lost.

Freezing temps, bitterly cold rain and sundown combined with getting completely lost in the woods scared me.

After wandering in circles for about 30 minutes I did the most important thing: I stopped walking.

I stood in one spot to assess the situation.

This was THE turning point. I had to stop.

Stop doing blogging work if you feel lost. Put blogging on hold. Do not write another post. Stop networking. Cease pushing your business. Do not read another blog post for your due diligence.

Do nothing with your blog.

Set aside 30 to 60 minutes to pull back from blogging.

Think deeply about:

how blogging feels to you
your blogging statistics, from traffic to income to various metrics in between
your blogging strategy; whether someone guided you or you winged it

Before you admit to being lost you need to stop, collect your thoughts and be fully present.

Pump the blogging brakes.

2: Admit to Being Lost

Almost no blogger likes this part.

My offline sense of direction is excellent. But I had to openly admit to being lost in the 2 uncomfortable scenarios above. I felt embarrassed. “What an idiot!” I said to myself. Mild panic set in after. I was officially lost in potentially dangerous weather conditions in a rapidly darkening forest.

But at least I stopped and realized that I was lost. Hiking in circles likely meant a trip to the hospital or crematorium.

Bloggers; admit that you are lost right now.

Own that:

your blogging results appear to be….zero
you have no idea what you’re doing
blogging feels frustrating if not hopeless

Say it to yourself. Write it out with pen and pad.

Do whatever it takes to move in the right direction.

I experienced a few blogging drought-like stretches for very long periods of time before stopping and admitting that I was completely lost. I repeated past struggles. I feared owning my failures. Sticking my head in the blogging sand felt comfortable but led to incredible denial.

I eventually said to myself with deep conviction: “I am totally lost!”

Tears followed.

But I gradually felt relief because I became honest with myself and how I felt about my blog.

3: Ask an Experienced Blogger for Guidance

Wise hikers seek guides.

Human hiking guides, dependable apps, an old school map or more basic leads work well.

I forgot to take my phone and rain “broke” my phone for the two dramatic experiences mentioned prior. My guides became:

a stream
the park perimeter

Lost bloggers seek guidance from experienced full-time bloggers. Full-timers have been there and done that many times. Every pro gets lost from time to time. Each knows the way out.

Choose 1-2 full-time bloggers. Ask them for them. Let them point you in the right direction.

Most offer a correction to point out the errors creating your failure before guiding you with solutions.

The reason for the correction-solution approach; most people possess such a strong ego blind spot that the source of the failure gets projected outward (Google algorithm, social media narrative, email list size, etc) instead of taking full responsibility for making personal mistakes which lead to the failure.

No victims exist on planet earth.

We consciously or unconsciously choose:

thoughts
feelings
actions

to experience life how it seems to go for us.

Let a pro guide you with their/your correction and successful blogging advice.

Allow them to show you the right direction.

4: Accept their Correction

Successful blogger guidance is useless unless you accept their correction to remedy your mistakes.

Before becoming a permanent Ryan Popsicle, I allowed the stream and perimeter to intuitively “correct” me. The stream pointed out that I’d been walking upstream to the forest versus downstream to the parking lot. The perimeter revealed how I’d been walking in the same pattern within the park interior instead of heading directly to the perimeter.

I admitted my screw up and accepted both corrections.

As a blogging guide, frustrated bloggers ask me for help then sometimes ignore my correction. Failure bedevils these lost blogging souls because few openly accept the specific correction for their blogging struggles.

Wise bloggers fed up with failing gracefully – and gratefully – embrace corrections from experienced bloggers.

How can you move in the right direction if you keep thinking, feeling and doing what moves you in the wrong direction?

Stop using social media only to promote your products and services. Never pitch anyone blindly. Stop covering multiple niches. Never use free blogging platforms. Accept the corrections to these errors by putting each mistake in your blogging rear view mirror forever.

Say to yourself: “I was wrong. Thank you pro blogger for spotting and correcting my error. You did me a great service. I will stop making this mistake and put it behind me.”

Let those words sink in.

Become a malleable student.

5: Follow their Guidance to Find Your Way

Follow guidance from blogging mentors to find your way.

I returned to my car quickly in both scenarios by following the stream and perimeter. I stuck to each as if my life depended on it; because it did!

A wave of relief washed over me as I saw my car when darkness overtook the woods.

No other options existed in my mind. I knew the way and stuck to it like glue without considering any other thoughts. In a way, it felt like nothing else existed other than me, the stream and the perimeter, until I saw my car.

Follow guidance from pro bloggers closely. Move only in the right direction by doing specifically what pros guide you to do.

This is an *all in* type deal here.

Finding a sense of direction means staying on the right track mindfully or you will get lost again.

For example, if a full-time blogger guides you to create detailed, long form content, do only that. Publishing 2 long form posts then twenty 500 word posts is just like sprinting off of the path and getting lost in the tall grass.

Stick to their plan which is now your plan.

Follow their guidance because it leads to increased blogging success.

Feeling a sense of relief is a solid indicator that you chose to stay on the right blogging track.