This post was written by Hugo Martins. Hugo blogs about making his life better at Connected, he’ll hopefully help you too.
One thing I’ve realized during my short two months of blogging is that blogging is not easy.
Whether you are blogging for fun, to make a profit or to create a business, if you are serious about it, it is not easy.
It is thoroughly fun but not easy.
That’s the reason why most folks give up. They can’t handle it. They can’t handle the pressure and frustration that they may not be heard. The fear takes hold of them and commands them. They lose control. They abandon the boat.
I’ve been there and I can only expect to be there again in the near future, it is inevitable. But I want to share my message with you.
I want to share with you the great things blogging brought into my life even if it’s only been two months since I have started.
There are some real life benefits that you can get from blogging – I believe that’s all you can get off of it if you take it seriously. They are hard to get, and usually take a lot of time, I am not lying to you, but the rewards are immense.
With not a lot more than 600 visits each month and an average of about 15-25 visits every day I am not the best example of a successful blog, in fact, I don’t believe I can set an example for anything within the blogging category but I am happy.
I am trying – that’s more than most people can say they did.
But this is not about me. It is about what I can share with you and it’s about showing you how great blogging can be.
Let’s then explore what makes me continue blogging and provides me happiness.
Writing & Communication Skills
This is the obvious tip.
I am Portuguese, my native language is not English and I really never did well in that subject at school. Incredibly, I have been able to write posts from 500 to 1000 words on a consistent basis for the last two months, without any alarming amount of grammatical or spelling mistakes.
Also, the more I write the better I get at it. I can see it; I can feel it and I can read it.
I write more fluently and write faster.
I am not so good in communicating messages both on and offline either. I tend to not talk about things I take on as implicit and just keep the dialogue rolling whenever I feel like it – that kills a conversation faster than I would like because I am often misinterpreted or misunderstood.
Blogging helps you with that too.
Organization & Planification
I am a very unorganized guy.
I tend to start things without knowing where I am going. It is not intentional, that’s just the way I am. Blogging has been great in solving that problem. I usually start writing a post with my goals in mind and don’t roam around and write about different topics other than those I set myself to.
I have to organize myself to be consistent in my writing, there’s a need to know which post is going to be published first and what’s the publishing order of the posts in order to write more effectively and grow my blog.
Also, there’s a need to predict and plan things in long term scopes. I am not writing a blog to stop in a few months. I am writing something to keep for years – that makes me want to plan the things I am doing in order to better achieve my goals.
Persistence & Patience
This is probably the skill you most develop while blogging. Without it you won’t get anywhere. Blogging is hard.
If you can’t handle it and can’t rise from failure you are condemned.
The funniest part is that this is probably one of the most useful things in life too. You will fail. I guarantee you. If you don’t, you have not lived.
So, you will need both persistence and patience.
You get to use persistence when you understand that some posts are not so well received as others, when you realized that not posting for a long time kills your blog and when you are rejected by a blogger when trying to guest post.
This is also what helps you in the great adventure of writing remarkable and worthy content on a consistent basis and spending several hours writing the best you can.
If you can’t get past that, you won’t evolve. It’s evident.
Happiness
You feel happy because you are doing (or you should be doing) something you love. It comes naturally.
I don’t get tired or sick of blogging because I like it too much, because I choose to do what I like to do, whether or not other people like it.
Most of my friends don’t care if I blog, and I doubt that more than 5 of them know I blog or have yet read something I have written. So what?
Sometimes I can’t stop thinking about it and that creates a mental block that stops me from developing new content and projects, but overall that’s the point, the joy of it is just too much to miss it.
Feeling of Accomplishment
This is probably one of the biggest benefits of blogging.
Having something to show, especially if you are proud of what you are showing, is an opportunity almost everyone longs for.
If you’ve felt it, the feeling is indescribable.
Every time I create something new I feel great. Being able to look through my blog (even though it is still very, very small) and see almost 100 comments, several articles I am proud of and something that has the potential to be transformed into a very valuable warehouse of knowledge for both people around the world and me, it’s overwhelming to say the least.
Having the chance to help people and maybe, one never knows, change someone’s life is phenomenal.
The reality is that it’s up to you.
Would you rather work hard and do something or live longing for that feeling?
The Chance to Meet Like-Minded People
This is another really important and fun part of the process of blogging.
Connecting with like-minded people that you otherwise would never have had the chance to meet.
I’ve connected with more people that I find interesting and with the same interests as me during these 2 months than in the last year.
People that may not care deeply about you but are interested in what you have to say, and what you do – that’s something.
This is by far more important than stats. I couldn’t care less about them when I have several people that I can now connect with because of my blog, and that are interested in chatting with me.
I am writing this post only because of that opportunity blogging gave me. I would probably never have met Christian if it wasn’t for blogging.
The Learning
When blogging you often have to do research whether it is to write a post, to search for blogs ideas or to search for other blogs in your niche.
Apart from that you also end up reading a lot of content from other bloggers so your knowledge and understanding of several different things increases which for me, a person who loves to always know more,is amazing.
There’s an infinite well of wisdom and knowledge online.
The Opportunity to Reinvent One’s Self
One fact never to forget: the blog is YOURS.
You can do whatever you want with it.
No matter how many subscribers, visits or twitter followers you have. Whenever you want to change, you can do it.
It is up to you to rip of the consequences of those changes but that only concerns you and the goals you set yourself.
Personally, I have written posts between 500-1000 words, usually 2-3 posts per week. My average length is 700 words per post. Although I know most people don’t have enough time or will to read posts that big, sometimes I feel I could cover the topics I am talking about even better.
I recently devoured Glen Allsopp’s blog ViperChill and I, after reading his in-depth, amazingly written, full of resources and information posts, decided that, although the topics we blog about are on extreme polls one from another, I am going to try and write blog posts that cover even better the topics I want.
Thus the posts are probably going to get bigger and probably less people will make an effort to read them (just look at the size of this one, ridiculous) but so what?
I believe I will help more people that way.
If I conclude that I was wrong I’ll try something else or go back to what I was doing.
That’s the cool thing about blogging, it’s about being you. It’s not about you, it’s about being you.
What Now?
What are the real life benefits blogging has brought to your life?
If you don’t blog, what are you waiting for?
Try it, you won’t regret it!
