Today I finish a month of putting a blog post everyday!
I started August 14th and somehow it happened that I had something to write continuously for a week and then I decided let me keep up trend and write everyday till the end of the month. I managed to reach the milestone and then I decided…let me set another goal for myself…one post everyday till the end of the month and I have achieved it today!
It got me thinking…what motivates me to blog? What do I achieve?
Just keeping milestones to achieve does not motivate me normally for a sustainable time (I have tried it earlier with other things I have wanted to do on a regular basis like exercise/pray/meditate etc and it has never worked!)
Secret: I have managed to put a blog everyday for the last one month cause there is something wrong with the posting time on blogger…even if I would publish a post after 1:30 in the night it would still show the previous date! Eg a post published at 1:30 on 14th Sept Sunday night would show up as 14th September and not Monday 15th Sept! I don’t know what time zone it follows but I am not complaining!
But Why Blog....??
1) Satisfaction of having a produced a concrete out put
I started August 14th and somehow it happened that I had something to write continuously for a week and then I decided let me keep up trend and write everyday till the end of the month. I managed to reach the milestone and then I decided…let me set another goal for myself…one post everyday till the end of the month and I have achieved it today!
It got me thinking…what motivates me to blog? What do I achieve?
Just keeping milestones to achieve does not motivate me normally for a sustainable time (I have tried it earlier with other things I have wanted to do on a regular basis like exercise/pray/meditate etc and it has never worked!)
Secret: I have managed to put a blog everyday for the last one month cause there is something wrong with the posting time on blogger…even if I would publish a post after 1:30 in the night it would still show the previous date! Eg a post published at 1:30 on 14th Sept Sunday night would show up as 14th September and not Monday 15th Sept! I don’t know what time zone it follows but I am not complaining!
But Why Blog....??
1) Satisfaction of having a produced a concrete out put
2) A decent number of hits on my page everyday. The last month I have had an average of 32 unique visitors a day out of which 15 are first time visitors and 17 are returning vistors! (I don’t know if this is good from a general blogger perspective but I am quite happy with it!)
3) Comments from so many unknown people on the blog are very encouraging (My brother says…people read your blog cause you are a girl and not cause you write well or anything..like all the friend requests girls get on orkut! He has never taken the trouble to come and read my blog so I choose to ignore his wise cracks!)
4) Discussion on my blog : People I meet often tell me…Ah..you have written this on your blog…or oh I read this post of yours etc..! A recent example that comes to my mind ..today I was at a Buddhism meeting in the morning the speaker very casually referred to my blog and Analysis Pralysis post! The other day I met one of my clients who I have been taking to phone for quite sometime but was meeting him for the first time and he was like I have read you blog! I was quite taken aback!
5) Clarity of thinking : Writing has helped me to think better. Many times when I sit to write I have no idea what I intend to write but wile I am there in front of the laptop thoughts get formed and something interesting comes out. There are other times, when I sit to write with a concept, but as I am writing I realize that what I end up writing is very different from the concept I started from!
6) Change of Perspective : Now I look at everything and think…can I write about this on my blog!?
7) Learnt New Things : There are so many new things I learnt once I started blogging…like putting a stat counter….putting advts…etc etc etc!
8) Making Money?! : I have managed to put google advts on the site…it is not making me too much money($5.40 over a month!)…and google apparently pays only once you make 100 dollars..so that is a long long way to go!
Disadvantages of Blogging
Mom says I have become very non social….and don’t come home and talk…and talk more to the comp than people at home…
Bro says I have lost it….he asked me how a movie that I watched was…and I was like I have put a review on the blog check it out!
Overall…quite stressfull at times to have to come and sit on the comp again after a whole day of work!
Bottom Line :
I like to blog…I intend to continue to do so…maybe have a revised target of having one post every two days instead of one post everyday.. so I can strike balance!
What say people/readers/friends!?
Posts
6 comments:
Wow...Blogging everyday is quite an achievement! But looks like you have become a blog-addict.
And you are right about the clarity of thought. Blogging does help to unclutter one's mind on specific things or issues. But when you look at everything from a blogging point of view...u are getting into a dangerous zone. Time to join bloggers anonymous :)
For getting the time stamps right, under Settings -> Formatting, set your time zone to IST.
Keep Bloggin'
Clarity of thinking and indirectly discovering a little more about myself as I blog my thoughts are the 'Why Blog' elements for me! Of course, a decent blog following keeps the motivation and enthu going :-)
As for the road ahead, decide a frequency upfront so that reader 'expectations' are set - you will probably strike that much needed balance as well as get more interesting posts in!!
@ ajit...
Yes looks like I have become a blog adict..!
Now gonna write only once every two days...
Thanks for the time settings info...will try it out...!
And ya I should get to bloggers anonymous!
@kapil!
Finally your first comment on my blog!
I have a big group here too, they talk about what i blog, but never find time to post a comment.. May be ur brother has got it right.. May be people are leaving comments because u r a 'Girl' :p
I started reading the blog to learn more about Teach India.. Most of ur blogs carried sense of humor, but somehow that seems to be missing in ur recent posts.. May be writing a post a day is affecting that..
U seem to be developing a bigger fan following, which i guess comes from the more social activities of ur's.. Inspired from u, Even i have started trying to post something a day.. Its not easy, having done that for a month, its an achievement!
The same happens to everyone, thoughts seem to come together only when u start writing, it sure has changed the way i think..
I did not know u have started making money too..$5.40 is not bad at all.. :)
Kunal
Ps: I don't see Google ad's in ur blog..
Shilpa San...I hav never seen a artist standing before a clear wall with all the colors on her hand looking for statistics/reason before she could add some color to her life..its people nature to stare at everything...and gonna find reasons for each colors...ur bro is right...as big bro i can tell in india if a women gets early in morning and all of sudden starts jogging all kiddos gonna watch(that is all they can do...)...some might start even running...there are rare adult out there to embrace that and empower them ...noone will know abt exp of breathing out after the good run...so you rock on ...hav fun!!!
Shilpa 'San' eh!...I heard it means "ji" in japan!
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