Many times when I speak to new bloggers (or Pre-Bloggers) and ask them what might be holding them back from taking their blogs to the next level (or holding them back from starting blogging) the response I get is around ‘fear’.
What if nobody reads?
What if I can’t write well?
What if people laugh… or worse… what if they attack me?
What if I say something stupid that might come back to bite me later?
1 – What if I posts too much? (Solved, I post 50 times or more daily doing short videos on 2 blogs ;))
2 – What if my comments go into spam? (Solved, I write long, helpful comments that bloggers need to notice lol)
3 – What if people rip me a new one? (Solved, I write, deal with criticism, detach)
Of course I experience blogging fears from time to time but honest to goodness, diving into the face of fear and doing it anyway is the only solution. The fear dies. You feel uncomfortable as hell but really good about succeeding as your fears die a quicker and quicker death.
List your fears. Then do the thing you fear to do, and the list dies. It works. Keep doing what you fear to do, again and again, and although new fears pop up you can handle them gracefully.
The last goes on and on.
When I started blogging my own fears resembled those that I listed above pretty closely and over the decade of blogging since I’ve added quite a few more to the list at different points as I faced new challenges and obstacles.
One of the sessions I’m planning for this years ProBlogger Event is going to be on smashing through your fears as a blogger and in preparing for it I asked last week for my followers on Twitter to share some of the fears that they’d had that they’ve had to overcome.
The response was pretty amazing so I thought it might be a good discussion to have here on ProBlogger.
What fears have you overcome as a blogger?
Or – if you still have them – what fears are you currently facing as a blogger.
I’d love to hear not only the fears you’ve faced in your blogging – but also if you have a moment I’d love to hear your story of how you’ve overcome them (or attempted to).
Blogging is a scary thing. It’s your ideas, content, knowledge, and personality infused into an online destination. It is very personal. Many realize this and are deathly afraid of failing. Of putting themselves out there. Of going at it 100%. So much so, that many sabotage their own success.
Putting ourselves out there 100%, makes you very vulnerable. Which is why many people will only put in half the effort. They take the easy route. If they fail, they have an excuse: it was because they didn’t really try, not because society rejected them.
This fear of rejection is why many people handcuff themselves to a 9-5 job they hate. Because they are deathly afraid of failing. Of doing something they really want to do and looking stupid when they fall flat. It is scary to put your all into something that could fail.
Which is why the best bloggers are fearless. They put everything they have into their blogs and don’t fear failing. Who cares if they fail? To the best bloggers it is scarier NOT to try.
When you let go of fears, anxieties, worries, and doubts a special thing happens. Your lizard brain quiets and your creativity and productivity takes over. These emotions are handcuffs. Find the key to yours and unleash your potential.
My favorite bloggers are mind readers. I’m sure of it. They are always posting about topics I have been wondering about. Maybe it’s just that I have surrounded myself with a group of like-minded individuals with similar interests. Maybe it’s because I follow bloggers whom I feel I can learn from. Whatever the reason, it’s awesome.
Two weeks ago I wrote a post entitled “Friday Fears: Five Things to Conquer”. In this post I touched on wanting to use my DSLR and also wanting to learn how to design my own blog. Within the next couple of days Elizabeth of Delightfully Tacky wrote this post about taking photos with a self timer and a tripod. Shortly after, Shauna of Nubby Twiglet wrote this post about her favorite WordPress theme sources! I believe in putting my energy into the universe, and this time the universe answered very quickly. This isn’t the first time something like this has happened. I find it happens all of the time in the blogosphere.
Now do I really think all bloggers are mind readers? No. I think that bloggers are constantly thinking about what to post about. Anything can be inspiring and people want to know about everything. The blogs I read on a daily basis really depend on my mood. Sometimes I just want to look at pretty photos and other times I am purely seeking information. I love that there are so many bloggers with so many different interests and blogging styles.
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