Did You Burn the Blogging Ships Yet? |

September 19, 2026 blogging tips 🕑 5 minutes read

The author racing not burning ships in Phuket Thailand. I did one lap daily at Nai Harn Beach to keep fit. The Andaman Sea is lovely outside of the low season.

I recall reading a personal development book as a young kid.

The author recounted how a group of warriors once burned their ships.

Why would someone do that?

The warriors removed any possible source of retreat.

Either win…..or die.

Thank goodness bloggers do not need to be as drastic.

But I cannot let you off of the blogging hook.

Do you need to burn blogging ships? Do you half-ass strategies because retreat seems easy? Do you blog within your comfort zone? Does blogging from comfort drive heavy organic traffic for you?

Perhaps you succeed by having a back up plan of a back up plan of a back up plan in place.

But most don’t.

Burning the Blogging Ships

Removing sources of possible retreat instantly means being 100% ALL FREAKING IN on a core blogging strategy.

I’ll give ya an example.

distribute new posts aggressively across a wide range of targeted channels
promote old content freely
update old content freely

I am 100% ALL FREAKING In with each strategy.

How did I reach that level of commitment?

I burned my blogging ships. I stopped working other strategies. I dropped other strategies like a hot blogging potato.

Hell yeah this feels difficult to do at first. Everyone wants a back up plan in place for when shit goes south. Some want a back up plan of a back up plan.

A problem arises though.

The more sources of retreat you maintain the easier it becomes to half-ass your main strategy. Everyone who doesn’t commit 100% to a few tactics has at least three or four back ups in case one fails.

Do you consider this the winning blogging mindset? Do you expect to go professional based on trying to avoid failure?

I ask these questions for you to be honest with yourself. I had to go through the same process before I went balls to the wall with my current strategy. Publishing blog posts consistently is not easy to do if you have many other options. I don’t have other options. I commit to being prolific. I cannot explain how much easier it gets to be prolific as the world judges it when you take away other distractions, also known as other options.

I do distribute blog posts between dozens of channels. But I only commit to working a few of those channels thoroughly from an engagement perspective.

Think it through guys.

Can anyone publish 40 pieces of content to 20 sites a day?

Perhaps they can but I cannot nor can most human beings who have a life outside of blogging.

Stop burning out. Stop trying to work 20 sites aggressively. Burn the bridges on those suckers. Work a few sites diligently. Succeed by becoming a specialist not an overwhelmed generalist.

Google Example

Go all in on Google. Give most time to optimizing content for the search engine giant.

Engage in genuine blog commenting here and there if it feels right.

But prioritize Google as your prime marketing channel.

What happens if you do not burn the ships and go all in on Google traffic?

Guest blogging tempts you. Social media marketing sounds attractive too because why would you turn your back on 5 billion human beings?

You know what happens next.

You do a shitty job with driving Google traffic, social media traffic and guest blogging traffic because you didn’t commit 100% to one or two strategies for months.

Burn those guest blogging bridges.

Let go of anything diminishing your commitment.

Try not to make it an “all or nothing” deal outright. Enter into the spirit of this concept without being desperate. Burning the bridges is deciding to move forward with one strategy. Confidence and not desperation fuels this decision. Stop looking backwards. Look forward with a prime blogging strategy.

Be all in by cutting away anything preventing you from being all in.

How This Looked for Me

Bloggers called me The King of Guest Blogging at one time.

Bloggers called me The King of Blog Commenting at one time.

But no blogger called me the king of both at the same time.

I gave most energy to guest blogging for months for some to perceive me as a guest blogging leader.

I stopped guest blogging at that point.

I gave most energy to genuine blog commenting for months. Some perceived me to be a blog commenting leader.

I stopped genuine blog commenting at that point.

Currently I go all in writing and publishing a long form blog post consistently. I let go of guest blogging and genuine blog commenting by and large to commit.

I let go what interfered with my commitment to being a prolific blogger to become a prolific blogger.

Let go to grow.

Succeeding involves release.

Burn the ships.

Commit.