5 Ways to Get (Re)Motivated about your Blog - Christine Kane

Remember writing your first blog post?  The nervousness, the thrill?  That moment you realized you could share your message from the tallest mountain, for all the world to hear? The moment you realized that this could be really fun?

Yeah. It’s pretty heady stuff.

One of my clients, after stressing about starting a blog for months, was sitting in the parking lot of her daughter’s school, waiting for the end of chorus rehearsal when she decided to just go for it.

She whipped open her laptop and – before she could second-guess herself – wrote it, posted it, shared it.

Bam.

DONE!

She felt totally exhilarated.

And that adrenaline rush gets you through the first bunch of posts, right?

Until it dawns:

That inaugural post needs to be followed with a new piece of insight, a fresh new article”¦ EVERY. SINGLE. WEEK.

And now”¦ well, it’s been a few weeks – or months? – since those first posts.

And maybe writing your blog has now become tedious. Like a household chore or something.

Don’t worry. We can get your mojo back. Here are 5 ways to get re-motivated about your blog:

1      –  Reframe it.

Sometimes we get so caught up in the angst of dreading something that we forget that HOW we approach something makes all the difference.

So when you start going into your woe-is-me story about your blog, interrupt that thought”¦ and go PLAY.

Jump around to your favorite music.  Look upward. (This is an old NLP trick that reprograms your brain! Try it!) Take a walk outside.  Go pet your iguana. Do whatever takes you to your happy place, pronto.

And THEN come back to your blog-article-writing. You may be surprised to find that not only is the bleh feeling gone, but you also had some phenomenal article ideas as you walked among the trees.

2      –  Set a timer.

This always works for me, and always works for my clients, too.

In fact, my client who posted in the parking lot of her daughter’s middle school?

She walked through her fear and just ACTED because she had a finite window of time in which she allowed herself to get it done.

Putting limits around the time you’ll spend on a task is an amazing way of getting it done.

So set a timer. 55 minutes. Write badly. Come heck or high water you’ve got a rough draft at the end of it. Break for 5, then jump back in. Polish. Incorporate SEO keywords. Create a title.

Repeat on a schedule every single week.

3         Get inspired by other brilliant people.

I get magazines on my iPad – Fast Company, Inc. – even some gardening mags. I keep a few books of beautiful essays on hand. (My latest favorite is Ann Patchett’s, This is The Story of a Happy Marriage.) I regularly read my favorite stream of health blog posts.

When I read, I am fed. My brain lights up. I get ideas unrelated to what I’m reading. I write them down.  Then I keep reading.  Sometimes, ideas come later.

You’re not alone. Let other people inspire you.  Feed your soul and your brain and read other people’s work.

What inspires you?  Beautiful writing? Great ideas?  Fabulous art? Whatever it is, make sure you give yourself regular time to read and expose yourself!

4        –   Repurpose and recycle.

If you’ve been writing articles for a while, I’ll bet you’ve got a pile of archived posts!

Now, Google frowns upon simply repeating or duplicating the article, so I’m NOT suggesting a copy-paste-dealio.

What I’m saying is, go back and re-read some of your past brilliance. See what new insights it sparks. And write a response to it, or a new-and-improved or -revised version. Give it a snazzy new title.

Congratulations! You are proud owner of a new blog post!

5            Go back to the source.

Take a little time to think about WHY you started this behemoth in the first place: the big WHY behind why you serve the people whom you serve.

Most likely, a little someone called your IDEAL CLIENT is the intended recipient of said blog. What are her needs? His passions? How can you best serve your reader?

Reconnect with your reason WHY, and then you know what comes next: SERVE your peeps, with love and passion, through your blog!

So there are 5 tools to respark your passion in your blog marriage“¦ So, when you’re thinking it’s time for a trial separation”¦ Don’t give up! Try one of these tools instead.