Blogger’s Block: Cause & Remedy
Sooner or later almost every bloggers go through this stage. And the feelings derived from it can be very frustrating. I have felt like quitting so many times. And this is a stage that happens to almost in every profession. Imagine the life of a doctor, who for the first time failed to complete an operation and the patience died in his operation theater. And the effect it can cause it to the mind. A blogger’s work may not be as complicated as a surgeon; however both can suffer from the same emotional stage.
I have gone through a very similar stage, or perhaps I’m still going through it. Once I published a blog, I felt very good about it, I have been rewarded $20 for that blog, I bragged about it to my friends, but after that my next 20 blogs couldn’t get $20 all together. I felt bad, I was sad and depressed, I kept thinking what went wrong.
I have gone through a very similar stage, or perhaps I’m still going through it. Once I published a blog, I felt very good about it, I have been rewarded $20 for that blog, I bragged about it to my friends, but after that my next 20 blogs couldn’t get $20 all together. I felt bad, I was sad and depressed, I kept thinking what went wrong.
“Perhaps blogging is not my thing.”
“Perhaps Steemit is not the correct platform for me.”
“This is happening because I joined too late.”
“I should have joined Steemit when it was first launched.”
“I can’t take it anymore; I better throw in the towel and find something else to do with my time.”
Have you ever gone through such a stage? Have you ever thought doing creative work is not your cup of tea? Well, I certainly have gone through such a stage. “They are so expert at their creativity, those people have been writing so years, the video they make looks so professional, they are such an expert crypto analyst, they are trading for so long and they know everything, they are so familiar with it, they have bought Bitcoin when it was $10 and that’s why they are now billionaires.” I keep having such mental battle every single day.
It is indeed my dream, and perhaps the dream of many others to go on a trip around the world, without even having the need to think of finance and get everything sponsored from the blog earnings. But that dream is so far away, and instead of trying to achieve that dream, I keep having the opposite thought and get fearful.
It is indeed my dream, and perhaps the dream of many others to go on a trip around the world, without even having the need to think of finance and get everything sponsored from the blog earnings. But that dream is so far away, and instead of trying to achieve that dream, I keep having the opposite thought and get fearful.
Fear is enemy number.1:
A fighter with fear and doubt has already lost the battle before the start of the fight. A long time ago, I had a crush on someone, even now I keep lingering on to that feeling I experienced so many years ago, but I was never able to tell her my feelings, I was never able to ask her out, and why was that? It was my fear, the fear of rejection. I assume with most guys, they fail to chase the girl of their dream because of this fear, the fear of rejection. Wait, wait.. why am I talking about that now, and beside I’m not any dating coach. But I’m trying to use this as an example. I have so many topics to write about inside my mind, but my fear kept me back, the fear of rejection from my audiences, you my dear friend. The fear of you rejecting me, the fear of the fact that my blog would get 10 views, 3 upvotes, no comments and a total reward of $0.10 (from my self-vote)
Do you have such fear? Do you think your inner fear is holding you back from creating contents and publishing them? The first way to cure your fear is to face them. Remember the example I gave earlier about the doctor; every doctor knows it well before they become a doctor that even though their job is to save lives, there will come a time when they won’t be able to save every single person, and they will have many patients whom they won’t be able to save. They have to accept it and move forward, and this won’t be just the only time, in the future they will also find some people dying in the operation theater, and they shouldn’t feel depressed over that, and this is because they couldn’t save someone’s life this time, but perhaps they will be successfully able to heal the next person, or even the time when they couldn’t save someone in the past, they could definitely learn from the past.
Do you have such fear? Do you think your inner fear is holding you back from creating contents and publishing them? The first way to cure your fear is to face them. Remember the example I gave earlier about the doctor; every doctor knows it well before they become a doctor that even though their job is to save lives, there will come a time when they won’t be able to save every single person, and they will have many patients whom they won’t be able to save. They have to accept it and move forward, and this won’t be just the only time, in the future they will also find some people dying in the operation theater, and they shouldn’t feel depressed over that, and this is because they couldn’t save someone’s life this time, but perhaps they will be successfully able to heal the next person, or even the time when they couldn’t save someone in the past, they could definitely learn from the past.
Learning from the past:
I often try to learn by starting to ask myself what went wrong, what was the reason for this failure? Perhaps the topic wasn’t the correct choice, or perhaps the timing was wrong. The topic and the time must be accurate. The election is already over, we have a new President running the office and firing people one by one and appointing his trusted pawns at present, so would there be any point now talking about the presidential debate that happened years back? My best friend once asked me what would I do if I ever meet my crush someday all of a sudden, and my response was what do you mean by that, she is already married and has two kids, they are a happy family now, and it was a lesson for me that time and it taught me a lot and that’s why I was able to date with someone else after that.
I’m feeling a bit thirsty right now, but I’m on my bed with my blanket cover my lap and feet with my laptop on my lap, I feel lazy to get up and walk to the kitchen, well I’m not that much thirsty so maybe it can wait, and when that time come when I must absolutely get up and get that water or else I might start feel suffocated and perhaps my inner soul might start feeling choked, it’s the need my friend. Have you ever felt lazy to open your editor window and start your work? I have felt that so many times, a thought was in my mind yesterday, and I knew I should use it on my work, but I was feeling so lazy at that time, I told myself, it can wait for now, I don’t want to get up now and start my laptop, I will do it tomorrow, so I postponed it for the next day, and guess what.. now I can’t remember what was the concept I had yesterday. Sounds funny but it’s true, I remember a concept called “Zone” from the sports world, this is when a sportsmen’s mind is free from all kinds of other worries and totally focused on his game, they say players would often go in to the zone and come out, and the opposite can also be true, a star player could often show dissatisfied results on some game.
I’m feeling a bit thirsty right now, but I’m on my bed with my blanket cover my lap and feet with my laptop on my lap, I feel lazy to get up and walk to the kitchen, well I’m not that much thirsty so maybe it can wait, and when that time come when I must absolutely get up and get that water or else I might start feel suffocated and perhaps my inner soul might start feeling choked, it’s the need my friend. Have you ever felt lazy to open your editor window and start your work? I have felt that so many times, a thought was in my mind yesterday, and I knew I should use it on my work, but I was feeling so lazy at that time, I told myself, it can wait for now, I don’t want to get up now and start my laptop, I will do it tomorrow, so I postponed it for the next day, and guess what.. now I can’t remember what was the concept I had yesterday. Sounds funny but it’s true, I remember a concept called “Zone” from the sports world, this is when a sportsmen’s mind is free from all kinds of other worries and totally focused on his game, they say players would often go in to the zone and come out, and the opposite can also be true, a star player could often show dissatisfied results on some game.
Anyone remember 2014 Fifa World Cup – Brazil vs. Germany? I felt like Germany was not playing with the national team of Brazil in the world cup semi-final match, but it was more like Germany was playing a practice match with a high school football team. But it can happen, it can happen with anybody, if can happen to the best of the bests. Consistency is the key here. I have thought of giving up blogging so many times, but I have never given up. What about you?
At this point I just took a short break, how long do you take to complete a task? Do you take breaks and how often? Breaks are necessary; it could be for our physiological need or psychological need. Having the time to have proper food, water, and sleep are absolute, but I have already developed a bad habit from college days, in those days I would stay up till dawn to complete my work on assignments, and since then I would always prefer the night time for writing and would sleep late till noon, and this have started having impacts on my skills, I’m thinking of changing this lifestyle as soon as I can, what about you? Do you prefer the night time when it’s all silent around you or do you prefer the day time? I think night or day doesn’t matter when it comes to this type of things, what matters is an environment where things won’t distract my concentration, but my lifestyle have started having some negative influences in my life, I find myself being more alone, I think I’m having less time to enjoy with my family and friends. And a good healthy body and mind can be more efficiency is what I think now.
What about the learning process? How do you learn? While reading a lot of materials can be very helpful, and that’s why I try to read as much I can, I spend more time in reading, perhaps double than what I spend in my creations. But other means of learning is also highly required, and this is one of the reasons I often feel down, while I read a lot, I’m skipping other learning methods and observing the people around me. I have spend a lot of time reading all the tutorials and watching videos which are related to Steemit, but this much I can say is there is no exact science to this learning process. One can come up with hundreds of thousands of tutorials, but is there any guide like “follow these 12 steps and become a millionaire within the next 12 months.” Blogging started as a form of personal journal or online diary, these are not a formal research paper, they are not a text-book chapters, it’s just our feelings and knowledge which we have gathered over our life-time and is sharing with others. And that’s why we shouldn’t worry about perfection. There is no such thing as perfection in this world, perhaps the Kohinoor diamond is a different issue, but other than that, we are humans living in a world called earth, and that’s the biggest reason for things not to be perfect, so it’s something I shouldn’t worry about, otherwise I would be an Angel living in a place called Heaven, with everything so perfect, and yet I worry about perfection, and it’s a stage where I can’t reach. Even the greatest blogger of all time have made typos, even the best programmer had to do debugging. But my need to create a perfect blog has actually de-motivated me on many occasions. First step for facing this situation is to accept this reality, and the second step is to improve by doing, through trial and error.
At this point I just took a short break, how long do you take to complete a task? Do you take breaks and how often? Breaks are necessary; it could be for our physiological need or psychological need. Having the time to have proper food, water, and sleep are absolute, but I have already developed a bad habit from college days, in those days I would stay up till dawn to complete my work on assignments, and since then I would always prefer the night time for writing and would sleep late till noon, and this have started having impacts on my skills, I’m thinking of changing this lifestyle as soon as I can, what about you? Do you prefer the night time when it’s all silent around you or do you prefer the day time? I think night or day doesn’t matter when it comes to this type of things, what matters is an environment where things won’t distract my concentration, but my lifestyle have started having some negative influences in my life, I find myself being more alone, I think I’m having less time to enjoy with my family and friends. And a good healthy body and mind can be more efficiency is what I think now.
What about the learning process? How do you learn? While reading a lot of materials can be very helpful, and that’s why I try to read as much I can, I spend more time in reading, perhaps double than what I spend in my creations. But other means of learning is also highly required, and this is one of the reasons I often feel down, while I read a lot, I’m skipping other learning methods and observing the people around me. I have spend a lot of time reading all the tutorials and watching videos which are related to Steemit, but this much I can say is there is no exact science to this learning process. One can come up with hundreds of thousands of tutorials, but is there any guide like “follow these 12 steps and become a millionaire within the next 12 months.” Blogging started as a form of personal journal or online diary, these are not a formal research paper, they are not a text-book chapters, it’s just our feelings and knowledge which we have gathered over our life-time and is sharing with others. And that’s why we shouldn’t worry about perfection. There is no such thing as perfection in this world, perhaps the Kohinoor diamond is a different issue, but other than that, we are humans living in a world called earth, and that’s the biggest reason for things not to be perfect, so it’s something I shouldn’t worry about, otherwise I would be an Angel living in a place called Heaven, with everything so perfect, and yet I worry about perfection, and it’s a stage where I can’t reach. Even the greatest blogger of all time have made typos, even the best programmer had to do debugging. But my need to create a perfect blog has actually de-motivated me on many occasions. First step for facing this situation is to accept this reality, and the second step is to improve by doing, through trial and error.
Apart from that I would sometimes make plans about taking a break, perhaps for a day or two. The 5-Days Weekdays and 2-Days Weekend should also apply to freelance bloggers also. I would sometimes go for a walk and talk to the children of my neighborhood and once in a while join them for some sports. Sometimes it’s so embarrassing losing the match to little kids, but it’s always fun. Sometimes I just gaze in the sky and think, think about myself, think about my aims and goals, and think how I can improve myself. I have been thinking for a while to resign from my job and becoming a full-time Steemian, I see there are many, but as of now how things are, I think now it’s not the perfect time for me, I still lack in skills to take such a risky step. But the idea is so fascinating.
Sometimes I think, and concentrate a lot while preparing for a post, and on other occasions I would just take my phone and write whatever that comes to mind.
With all said and done, do you know what keeps me motivated? It’s when I see how everyone is giving their best efforts, be it a veteran blogger, or a newbie who have just entered the industry. Barriers to entry are low, anybody can become a blogger. In fact I would say there is no barrier at all as long as the person can read or write, but the real challenge is to become a real blogger, a writer, and an author.
I think what I have shared in this post can help many people directly or indirectly, but it will definitely help me, especially in being more open to myself and with the public. And before I end this, I would appreciate if you follow me and encourage me more by replying below in the comment box, and needless to say by giving me your precious upvote.
Sometimes I think, and concentrate a lot while preparing for a post, and on other occasions I would just take my phone and write whatever that comes to mind.
With all said and done, do you know what keeps me motivated? It’s when I see how everyone is giving their best efforts, be it a veteran blogger, or a newbie who have just entered the industry. Barriers to entry are low, anybody can become a blogger. In fact I would say there is no barrier at all as long as the person can read or write, but the real challenge is to become a real blogger, a writer, and an author.
I think what I have shared in this post can help many people directly or indirectly, but it will definitely help me, especially in being more open to myself and with the public. And before I end this, I would appreciate if you follow me and encourage me more by replying below in the comment box, and needless to say by giving me your precious upvote.
All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath.
Hahaha... That's an apt response.
I have said it thousand times: I am a wroting addict!
I write because I love to.
But steemit, with a very great business idea, lacks some facilities to help the minnows. I have blogged since 2003 and ny posts on blogger has avg 20000 views, but here, same quality content, gets 20 or less.
The lifetime of a content here is too little;
The content by a minnow gets no attention;
What makes me stay here and not opting out is only my addiction! And the fact this is the ONLY blockchain based blogging platform.
Steemit needs a second effort to do better
well said.. with lots of stuffs being automated through bots.. it's already an ATM for the whales..
Frustration :) but I'm not! Take a look at my last post, you made me write it
putting effort on a post is not the only important thing in Steemit.. Corporations would spend more than double in advertisements and promotions than what would require to produce the actual product.. the same theory works on Steemit.. These days it's very hard to find a post that earned $100 without the need for any voting bots.. once you manage to build a bunch of good and active followers then you wouldn't need hours preparing a post.. Steemit is more about tricks and strategies is what I have learned so far.. the so called "quality post" concept is long dead..
I agree with the whole thing you said
tricks, strategy, mutual networking... and the DEAD concept...
But if I want to point the biggest problem of this platform, it would be short time to live for contents.
Good and poor content are left like dead fish in Steemit ocean
You can't even search through your own or others blog for something!
You are making me write another post about this :)))
I am also in frustration because I have joined Steemit too late that's why there is no body who will support us but I think we should stay tuned for our family and future because we should never discard ideas or Looss hope thanks @skreza for this informative & guidance post keep it up
I think the point is to let creative bursts flow from your mind, as they come. All we can do in between, is nurture that process in the downtime. We can't force creativity.
I think we've all gone through the same stage and we were sad, by the way, good post
This post, with over $50.00 in bidbot payouts, has received votes from the following:
upme payout in the amount of $51 USD.
buildawhale payout in the amount of $28 USD.
postpromoter payout in the amount of $24 USD.
smartsteem payout in the amount of $18 USD.
minnowbooster payout in the amount of $13 USD.
rocky1 payout in the amount of $10 USD.
appreciator payout in the amount of $10 USD.
For a total calculated bidbot upvote value in the amount of $153 USD.
This information is being presented in the interest of transparency on our platform @skreza and is by no means a judgement of your work.
This is a really great wonderful touching write up post. Bravo.
I would say fear like you said fear. A man who fear has already start failing. So i would say fear and also fustration like you said. People eadily loosing hope
very good content
lol, we've all been there: http://www.webthesmartway.com
:)
I like your point learning from your past ...