12 things I’ve learned already from blogging

Milestone
Today marks the end of my first four weeks of writing on this blog. I am amazed at how quickly it has gone and how much I’ve learned just in this short time.

Since I’ve been preparing for the launch of my site for months, I think I had some idea of what it would require. However, I figured it would be much longer before I started learning anything significant.

Boy was I wrong!

I wanted to share some of what I’ve learned and encourage any of you who are teetering on the edge and considering starting your own blog.

What I’ve learned thus far
My goal has been to post every single day by 6:00 am Central Time. So far I have made that deadline 100%. (Yay!)

So with that, I give you what I’ve learned so far.

5 things that blogging every day requires:

1. A significant change in your schedule - If you are taking the time to craft quality posts (and you should be), then an every day schedule will absolutely impact your life. It is already becoming easier, but I foresee it being a while before I’m all “Neo in the Matrix” with how easy it is.
2. Constant thought – From the time that I wake up until the time I go to bed, I am thinking of topics to post on. I keep a notebook with me at all times to make sure nothing ever slips away. The schedule means that you can’t wimp out and tell yourself that you’ll come up with something tomorrow. You have to figure something out!
3. Sacrifice – If there are too many things in your life competing for your time, something is going to have to give. I figured this going in so this was not that big of a surprise, more of just a confirmation that I was dead on! That’s why I gave up the video games for a while before I even did my first post.
4. Focus – Sitting down at the computer to see a blank screen can be overwhelming. Some days it is inspiring to have that blank canvas to capture your thoughts. Other days you have to decide to focus and push through it. If you have kids like I do, you may have to wait until late at night before you can do this. Thank goodness I’ve always been fairly nocturnal.
5. Commitment to your dreams – Posting every day only happens if you really want your dreams to come true. Wishy washy dreams won’t be enough to motivate you. You have to have such an overwhelming and burning desire to see your dreams manifest in the real world to stick with something like this.

6 benefits that blogging every day brings:

1. Sense of accomplishment – When you look back and see a long list of posts in such a short time, you can’t help but feel proud. It’s also cool to see the ‘Relevant Posts’ plug pulling back multiple items each day! SEO FTW!
2. Hope - It’s discouraging to look at your brand-new baby blog on Day 1 and compare it against the giants. However, at the end of a month of every day posting, you can see a dramatic difference from where you started. You’ve still got a long way to go, but there’s something worth looking at in Google Reader now for all the new people giving you hope that one day, you’ll be one of the giants.
3. Strong, yet quickly built foundation - I’ve evaluated a number of the bloggers who have “made it” and noticed that regardless of their post frequency, the first 20 to 40 posts seem to set the tone for the ones that come after. Yes, there is an evolution that occurs, but my guess is that the things you are most focused get written about first. Posting every day allows you to build up your foundation in much less time that a once or twice a week schedule.
4. Experience – Obviously you are still a blog newb in your first month, but you’d be amazed at how quick the learning curve is when you are committing yourself to it daily. Already there are things that I’m doing almost unconsciously that I had to really concentrate on in the beginning.
5. Sharper mind – Much of life allows our mind to remain mush. Choosing to create something daily starts building up that part of your brain that lies atrophied. And blogging isn’t the only thing that’s affected; other tasks seem a bit easier now that the old gray matter is in daily use. Just the act of writing and posting has already increased my ability to focus and think more clearly about the business model part of what I’m doing.
6. Attention – Not everyone is posting every day. By doing so, you draw a fair amount of attention to yourself. We all want to be humble, unselfish people but let’s face it, without attention your blog would just be a private diary. The attention for choosing to be committed was an unexpected benefit that I had not anticipated!

The number 1 biggest thing I’ve learned so far
Hands down though, the biggest thing I’ve learned is that there are some amazing people out there! People that want to encourage you and help you expecting nothing more than to build a relationship!

I’m already amazed at the diverse group of people that have chosen to comment on posts, follow me on Twitter, or email me. It’s humbling how many people have reached out and connected with me that didn’t know I existed a month ago.

For me, the ability to impact someone’s life is the one of the driving forces for why I am using this medium. To have people contact me and say that I’ve somehow influenced their thought process or brought them hope is the most rewarding thing I can imagine. I absolutely love people, so being able to empower and encourage them in my first month has been amazing!

Final note
I wanted to add a final note about this first month as a reality check for some.

Blogging every day changes your life. I don’t just mean in the “I’m a new person way” either. I mean in the “WOW, my entire schedule is impacted” way.

If you are in a relationship with someone, it will affect their life too. To be truly successful, you will need your significant other to fully support you. They don’t have to understand everything or even read it the day it comes out (don’t hound them to either), but they will need to be committed to letting you disappear into the computer for a few hours every day.

This past month would not have been possible without my heroic wife. Despite the fact that she loses me for about 2 to 3 hours (at least) a night, she has been amazing. I’m so thankful for her support as I work towards our dreams and I wanted to acknowledge that in front of everyone. (I love you, baby!)

If you are in a relationship and are considering blogging with this intensity, I recommend making sure you have the full support of your significant other. I can’t imagine that I would have been able to stick to my schedule if I’d had to fight that front.

And that my friends, is what I have learned in my first month.

Have you had similar experience blogging? Are you in the start up stage and learning this right now? Also, I’d love to know if YOU have learned anything from my first month too.

Go ahead, leave a little comment love below.