I used to check the stats on my blog every day. Actually, I used to check them multiple times a day. I can check stats on how many people have been to my site, what pages they checked out, if they used a link on social media to get to my site, what country they are from and so much more. I used to check it as if doing that was going to magically increase the number of people going to it. Everyone knows it is totally rational to think that checking your blog’s stats will drive traffic to it. There is no way it could have to do with your post’s content and how often you put up a new one. Naturally, these stats would have an impact on my day. If they numbers were up, I would be happy. If the numbers were low (or non-existent), it would negatively impact my day.
There is this part of me that would like everything to magically fall into place. The rational side of me knows this will never happen, but man wouldn’t it be nice. I used to think about what current topic could I write about that will magically get my site thousands of new views. If I get Taylor Swift or Russell Wilson to retweet my post about them then my blog will instantly go viral. That strategy never worked. And even if it had, I posted so inconsistently that those readers wouldn’t have much of a reason to come back. I would probably just have had one day of success.
Even though there is a part of me that wants more than anything for my blog to take off and be able to turn it into a job, I struggle with putting time and energy into it. I know that if I don’t my blog literally has no chance of going anywhere, but it is still a struggle. And I feel like it shouldn’t be that way. The writing part is easy once I get going, but getting going is the hard part. But with 2015 I am bound and determine to change that. And I found a pretty motivating way to do that.
I bought a calendar.
I know that just blew your mind, but yeah that is really what I did. I bought a calendar that displays all of 2015 on it. I went through and labeled my goals for 2015. I am sure I will add some on there, but I put in what I knew. I also bought some highlighters. I decided that on a day that had a goal I would color it blue if I made that goal (green did not come in the highlighter pack I bought) or I would color it orange if I missed the goal. My office is in the loft at the top of the stairs. So I hung the calendar right next to the stairs. That way every day, every time I went down the stairs, I would see it. So will anyone else who was at my house. I don’t want to have to walk past that calendar multiple times a day and see a lot of orange. I also don’t want Angela to walk past it and see a lot of orange. She will probably have some things to say to me (and rightfully so) if that is the case.
So far, I haven’t missed a goal. I am sitting at my computer right now typing this because I didn’t want to have to color in my first orange square. I wanted to keep the streak alive. By the end of February 2015, if I hit my goals, I will have published more posts than any other month since the inception of my blog. I’ve probably put up more posts than most two month periods on my blog. As much as I wish all the motivation came from within me, it doesn’t. And until then, I will have this calendar to help motivate me to go to the places I want to go.
What motivates you to reach your goals? Leave a comment and let me know!
until next time…