Those who fail to plan plan to fail. How true it is. Planning isn’t something that comes naturally to me at all. I rather do things flying by the seat of my pants, forever improvising and adjusting my path to achieve success. It’s worked pretty well so far—I’m not incapable of thinking ahead, I just don’t like to do it. But you sure do learn a lot through the planning that you failed to do.
The 2K11 24/7 has been quite the journey so far—in a little over a week from now, we’ll be looking at the 300th post of the year (and what a post it’ll be)! But because I decided to do daily posts this year, because I chose to delve deeper into the world of blogging than I ever had in the past, there’s a number of lessons I’ve learned through the entire experience…
- If you’re serious about blogging, you use a content management system—WordPress is a beast, it’s versatile, it helps you keep on top of the content you’re putting out into the world. Other services like Blogger and Posterous may be more convenient and less work to set up, but the work behind putting a good WordPress blog is there for a reason. It’s one of those things where you can truly get out what you’re putting into making a good blog
- Daily blogging is a commitment. I’m coming down with a cold right now, and rather than call the night quits, I’m trying to get this post written before I make my next stop for the night since I know that it’s the only way that I’ll free my evening up in order to get a solid block of R&R.
- When it comes to blogging, ignorance is truly bliss. The more you start reading about blogging and how much work people put into it, the more you feel like you have tons to go to get any degree of success at blogging. Whether it’s focusing on search engine optimization, getting the right plug-ins, keeping active with other bloggers—it truly is similar to a full-time job. The more you discover, the more you want to do
I know there’re things I would’ve done differently had I done my research in the beginning, but that’s just not me.
So then, why am I working harder on a plan for 2012 than I have with anything I’ve ever done in the past?
It’s simple—people can change, and sometimes we don’t even realize that we’re doing it. I’m pretty sure that I changed a little bit this year through all of the writing, trying to come up with schedules for posts and somewhat structuring my life around blogging. I now know the benefit of a plan when you really want to achieve something. I’m less likely to just start making things without considering how they might connect to other things I may have already done. Diving in head-first is not always the best answer. Sometimes, it’s not even the most fun!
No, what we need to remember is that we rarely get things right the first time, and we shouldn’t beat ourselves up if we don’t succeed with an initial attempt. It’s all the times after that that we should be a little more worried about! We often tend to keep making the same mistakes over and over because we don’t have a plan. Because we can’t envision whatever it is that we’re trying to accomplish. And that, my friends, is the lesson here.
Myself, I’ve been planning to fail for too long. Too many times have I told my friends that something will happen soon rather than being able to give them a specific date. I’ve been scheming up ideas and wishlists for a decade without much to show for it.
I think it’s time I plan to change that.
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