Bath England
Pros stress how hard blogging work is a requirement for going pro.
Is this true?
Pros do appear to work hard. Some blog like clockwork. Others put in 15 hour days.
But a guy like me warns bloggers not to work hard.
What gives?
I perceive the phrase “blogging hard work” to carry a negative connotation based on:
- forcing things
- pushing things
- a general sense of mindlessness
Every blogger needs to work to:
- develop skills
- establish credibility
- boost exposure
- earn income
but wildly blasting through your blogging day is a huge mistake.
Hard work aligns well with grunt work, or employment based on using brute force. Garbageman who toss around overstuffed bins work hard to get the job done.
Blogging successfully requires discernment.
Consider blogging to be a mental game not a toilsome endeavor based on brutish behavior.
Think before you work.
Blog mindfully.
Be consistent.
Keep these ideas in mind.
Yes
Perceiving hard work to be sustained effort makes it part of a successful blogging career.
Blogging work is necessary.
Work leads to experience. Experienced bloggers thrive.
I am where I am because I worked at blogging for a minute. As I type these words at 4 AM – insomnia – I consider the years of work I put into blogging.
I know what I know because I blogged for a long time. Struggling offered me priceless lessons. Succeeding lent me invaluable lessons too.
I got to work 17 years ago.
Here I am today.
Every blogger needs to work.
But how one works is important.
No
I mindfully craft this post.
I patiently set up an outline.
I deliberately fleshed out each main point.
Why?
I never intend to force things.
Working hard is forcing things. Force negates.
Pushing works not. Straining negates effort. Striving appeases the underdog ego but hurts your bottom line.
In a best case scenario, hard blogging work brings stressed success. But usually it leads to quitting.
Working hard carries a mindlessness with it. Bloggers copy and paste links to 1000 random spots daily. Some write and publish 10 thin blog posts daily. Others blindly pitch 100 strangers their freelance writing services daily.
Hard work seems ideal for water buffaloes. Blogging demands far greater discernment.
No one succeeds by wildly forcing things. Mindless blogging cancels out success momentum.
Consider the work aspect of successful blogging to be intelligent play.
Intelligent Play
Intelligent bloggers follow a proven system.
Create detailed, targeted content. Build connections with readers.
Playing feels fun, removing tension from the blogging process.
Hard work exits stage left the moment play enters the fray.
Never buy into the seriousness of blogging. Taking this gig seriously is a formula for long term burnout. Adding heavy tension to work kills creativity. Everything feels heavy in a serious blogging environment. Who wants that?
Work is necessary but making it playful adds enjoyment to the process.
I commit fully to blogging but that doesn’t mean taking it seriously. Being committed from a relaxed mindset is different than forcing things from a strained mindset.
Consistency
Being a consistent blogger beats working hard in fits and starts.
Blog for the long haul. Develop a vision. Treat blogging like a leisurely marathon not a wild sprint.
Versus working hard for a few years before burning out, be consistent for five years to go pro.
See yourself going full-time. Imagine that lifestyle. Let this vision fuel your consistency.
Psychological Detachment
I left the best for last.
Working hard attaches you psychologically to statistics. Why does any blogger work hard but to meet some specific end goal?
Setting goals is okay yet attaching heavily to goals makes it all go to custard. “Getting mode” takes over the process; severe troubles follow.
Hard working bloggers push themselves to get as much money as possible as quickly as possible. Every one either cuts corners or burns out under the impossible burden of ridiculous expectations.
Blogging mainly to get traffic and money fast creates a mentally sick hard work consciousness. Psychologically detaching from traffic and money cultivates the perfect frame of mind for building a successful online business.
Processes care for outcomes.
Detailed, targeted content drives organic traffic and blogging income. Publishing content consistently lays a strong foundation for your online business.
Who follows their posting schedule diligently?
Bloggers not heavily invested in any outcome give themselves to the creative process.
Giving promotes getting.
Publishing truly helpful content generates organic traffic and blogging income.
Nobody has figured out how to give and get simultaneously; each has its season.
Psychologically detached bloggers give with no strings attached. Being consistently generous sets up a prospering blogging business.
Conclusion
Does the blogging work need to be hard?
Not really.
If you consider hard work to be a sustained effort than it is part of the success equation.
I feel like most bloggers frame hard blogging work to be striving frenetically for some specific blogging goal.
Relax.
Enjoy blogging.
Follow a smart strategy.
Inject play into your blogging work day.
Work never needs to be hard to yield traffic and income.