It’s already Day 7 of publishing a blog post every day. I can’t believe it’s gone so fast. It’s been fun.
So much so, I’m planning to start two more challenges.
Do come back and check out what these new challenges are in two days!
If you’re starting a new challenge yourself or have tried it in the past, I’d love to hear from you. I find others’ stories super motivating.
♣ UPDATE: my 100 Day Challenge is complete now. You can find more details below, before, during, and after the challenge in order.
- Why I Started My 100-Day Challenge
- Popular Blog Posts Roundup (Halfway Through My 100 Day Challenge)
- 10 Lessons I’ve Learned from the 100-Day Challenge
Back to today’s topic, it’s only appropriate to publish a blog post about 7 lessons I’ve learned after publishing for 7 days, right? .
So in no particular order, let’s start with the first lesson.
7 Lessons from Publishing a Blog Post for 7 Days
1. The Beginning is the Trouble!
Making a decision was tough.
I went back and forth between “Should I stick to 30 days?” and “Go for 100 days?” several times.
I realised I would need serious self-discipline to complete the challenge.
Of course, I knew this.
But after publishing the first post, I started feeling the enormity of it. Along with it, self-doubt started creeping in.
Am I capable of winning this battle every day for more than three months?
I don’t know why, but Day 3 was really hard.
After gaining a new perspective and changing my mindset on Day 5, I started feeling upbeat.
You can check them out below:
- Keeping One Promise: The 100-Day Shipping Challenge
- Remove One Word and Change the Story You Tell Yourself
- Privilege, Joy, the Power of Perspective, and Being Remarkable
2. The Subconscious Mind is Real
I read about how the subconscious mind works, but I haven’t experienced it firsthand until now.
Since I started this challenge, I’ve thought about what to write the next day before going to bed.
The mere thought became an assignment for my subconscious mind.
I got the answer the next day, every day!
The entire experience makes me mindful about what I feed my subconscious mind before going to bed.
If you aren’t familiar with the power of your subconscious mind, this is a must-read book.
It’s so good and so cheap not to.
3. Showing Up for the Sake of Showing Up is Bliss
Keeping a promise I made to myself is so empowering.
The power is in knowing that you’re not doing it to show off to anyone but to keep the promise with yourself.
Decide to show up each day, do the work because you love doing it, and not seek approval from anyone.
It’s pure bliss.
Yep, the challenge has enabled me to experience a new level of self-empowerment.
4. Creating doesn’t Mean You have to be Artistic
I used to think creating meant producing a lovely work of art. You know, the stuff you see in galleries or museums?
No wonder it was impossible to see myself as creative.
But what’s the point of learning anything if you won’t transfer the knowledge into something of your own?
That’s what I learned.
Creating doesn’t need to be something artistic.
I’m chasing human connection through shared values, not a sleek design of some sort to buy or sell.
5. It’s Okay to Write for Yourself.
I’m sure you read what many bloggers say:
Write what others want to read, not what you want to write.
I agree.
The problem is, when you start out, even if you know what others might want to read, you likely struggle to deliver your messages.
That’s precisely what stopped me from shipping.
I wanted to wait until I was totally competent and comfortable with my writing.
Now I know it was the wrong approach because we can’t master the craft without practice, hence my publishing a blog post every day challenge.
For most people (especially me!), we won’t become good at writing until we produce lots and lots of bad ones.
The best approach as a beginner is to write what you feel comfortable with within your niche and mix it with what you know your readers want to read.
So you keep the balance between what’s for you and what’s for your readers.
And remember, it’s better to write, even if it’s just for yourself, than not to write at all.
If you haven’t started your blog yet, read my very easy step-by-step guide here.
It goes without saying that if you’re a competent writer or are hiring one for your blog, focus on what your readers want to read and how you can help them.
6. Demographic vs. Psychographic
I also had a hard time choosing my potential readers before.
For example, when some bloggers say their primary audience is between 25 and 35 years old, I get frustrated.
I couldn’t define my demographics like others do and thought I was just bad at this blogging thing.
I thought long and hard about this.
Then I realised I wasn’t looking for a certain age group, gender, or location-specific audience.
My life doesn’t represent what a typical person of my age, gender, or location would be living.
Almost everyone in my circle is married or/and has a kid or two, for example.
I’m inspired by shared values.
People in their 60s living in the USA might share the same values as I do.
So does someone in her 20s living in India.
It isn’t about demographics. It’s about psychographics.
If you feel pressured to have a certain demographic, like many bloggers’ advice suggests, but you don’t think that particular approach is right for you, that’s absolutely fine.
7. A Sense of Achievement
Publishing a blog post every day gives me a sense of achievement each day.
It’s my small win to celebrate.
We shall see where takes me, but for now, I’m happy I complete one thing I set out to do each day.
Final Thoughts
It’s only 93 days to go!
It would be SO inappropriate to end my 7 days of lessons without mentioning my hero, Seth Godin!
So here’s another wonderful quote from him for you to chew over.
The enemy of fear is creativity.
Seth Godin
Are you afraid of not being a talented writer, creative, or artistic?
I overcame my fear by publishing a blog post every day.
The more we create, the better we get and the bolder we become.
My Favourite Writing Tools
Grammarly (Free) – a great writing tool. Help you with spelling and grammar errors. It’s SO worth it even if all you do is writing an email or on social media.
BlueHost – get a super easy and reliable hosting plan from BlueHost. They also give you a free domain name for one year. Sign up here and start your blog in a few minutes.
Namecheap – get a dirt-cheap domain name if you change your mind and fancy a new domain name later (like I did).
Tailwind – an absolute must-have for Pinterest to schedule hundreds and thousands of pins and save tons of time. Sign up here and get one month free!
Mailerlite – another must-have to create email marketing campaigns: sign up forms, landing pages, surveys and so on; free up to 1,000 subscribers.
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