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1 Year of Daily Blogging: Did I Achieve Anything?

The metrics say that I failed. But there’s a different story to this.

Photo by Tom Rogerson on Unsplash

On November 14, 2018, I published my first blog post with the intent of doing it daily. One year since then, to my own surprise, I am still on it — daily blogging. Every. Single. Day. (Okay, I did miss 5–6 days, but I had my reasons 😓)

So, the big question that some have asked me already… Was the experiment successful? Did I achieve something, if anything? Did it help me in any way?

Well, the metrics say I failed — miserably, at that. The daily average views are about 200; the engagement isn’t too ecstatic either. In a sense, with metrics on the pedestal, it was a failed effort.

But then the spark in the dark is that I didn’t start daily blogging to build my metrics in the first place. Even in the first post, I outlined my objectives as something holistic and self-centric.

So, in that context, I achieved plenty of things.

Some achievements can’t be measured

“What can’t be measured, can’t be improved.” Or so the saying goes. But beyond a point, it’s incredibly wrong.

For instance, when you communicate with your target audience and share some laughs with them — it’s not easy to measure the ROI of that engagement. But somewhere, down the line, you know that would affect your personal brand and, hence, business conversion.

Similarly, there are so many things I feel like I have won over the course of one year of daily blogging… Things that cannot necessarily be measured.

It’s a lot easier now to pen my thoughts on paper with high fluidity. The idea that someone would judge me based on my writings is not scary anymore. The thoughts/writings around personal growth and development have not only become a point of introspection for me but also a framework that I am tempted to follow. From Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to Mel Robbin’s The 5 Second ruled — I learned so many new and interesting things.

The feeling of being so disciplined every day, even if for just a few minutes, have its own gratifications. And, yes, FROM the awkwardness in the very first post TO the fluency in this one — the writing has certainly gotten elegantly expressive.

These are some of the wins that can’t exactly be measured in numbers but can only be observed and felt. And I feel them. They are quite satisfying.

The (biggest) problems with bloggers and writers

By no means, just because I am a daily blogger, I am in a position to be an opinionated critic. However, seeing so many bloggers and writers, after consuming their content, reading their tweets and comments, I have realized there are some fundamental problems with how they approach their work.

1. Focusing too much on vanity metrics

Yes, it’s amazing if you’ve got thousands of followers and get hundreds of shares and comments in every post. However, making numbers a North Star for self is a big mistake. And there are so many bloggers and writers who are making this mistake. They write “what might work” and not what they want to say.

A great artist, if asked to focus on profit, eventually lose track of her/his creativity.

The same is just as true here. If you’re focusing too many on metrics, it will reflect poorly in your writings, which will transcend into you feeling a little less excited. Moreover, if you’re looking for followers and likes to validate your competency as a writer, that’s a whole different issue of personal insecurity that you must address immediately. As long as your writing makes you happy, the metrics do not matter.

2. Over-judging the quality (and themselves)

Quality is subjective. A piece of content that I find marvelous, you might find it trash. No one is qualified enough to call a piece of creative as “it’s of poor quality”. The objective conclusion is always “I didn’t like it”, which doesn’t mean it’s of bad quality.

Besides, you would be surprised just how less the end consumers care about the quality. And this is truer if you’re writing for yourself.

If you write for your personal joy, no one should have a say in your work’s “quality”. This doesn’t mean you shut down to the feedbacks. It means your target audience, if you have one, would always appreciate your work. They might contradict your ideas, which you can always follow-through into conversations — but they would never question its quality.

On the other hand, if you’re getting paid to write — even there the quality doesn’t matter. What matters the most is ‘value’.

As a professional copywriter and blogger, I don’t aim to write ‘high-quality content’; I try to write ‘highly valuable content’. There’s a big difference between the two. The target audience would never say “Oh, I didn’t like the quality of the blog”. Instead, they would say “I didn’t find the piece helpful”.

I see many bloggers and writers over-thinking on the quality of their content. This leads them to judge themselves. And then some of them fall victim to ‘perfection paralysis’. Stop being over-considerate of the quality of your writing.

What was the intent behind this piece? What did you want to achieve from this? Did you want to help someone with tips? Self-reflect? Be more productive? Document your experience? Advise others?

After completing your piece, ask the questions around intent. As long as your writing has met the original intent of why you wrote it in the first place, you have no reason to ponder over its quality. Hit that Publish button and move on to the next post. Don’t judge yourself. No one is perfect. Let’s stop beating ourselves for that.

3. Not enjoying the writing

A lot of this has to do with point #1 — focusing too much on vanity metrics. Many bloggers and writers create content around things that they believe would get the most likes, shares, and comments. This compromises their own interests. So, they end up spending hours writing something that they don’t enjoy.

Another reason behind this “not enjoying” is that there are people who don’t really know what to write on — what they actually enjoy. They struggle to find blogging topics, niches, and genres.

There’s no hard-written solution to this except for self-discovery. If you don’t know what kind of blogger or writer you are and what are the things you love writing on, you will have to figure it out yourself. This would require you to make proactive efforts; meaning, you must produce and publish more content.

Remember, you wouldn’t know you love bungee jumping if you have never done it; you wouldn’t know you have an aptitude for painting until you pick a brush.

Similarly, if you don’t know what you enjoy the most writing on, you’ve got to write on as many things and topics as you can, and then audit your experience. You will eventually find something that you’re into. And finding this is of incredible importance.

If you ask an author who loves crime thriller to write on teenage romance — she can certainly write. But she wouldn’t enjoy the process. This would eventually kill her creativity and excitement. What once felt joyous, writing would become monotonous and boring for her.

This is the exact problem many bloggers and writers are struggling with. They are writing on things that they don’t enjoy. This manifests in inconsistency, poor productivity, and unhappiness. You don’t want to be in this position.

17 things I learned from daily blogging

I won’t exaggerate for dramatic effect. Daily blogging didn’t change my life. But there are definitely many things I learned from this experience:

If you’re writing what you believe, the writing process becomes incredibly easier and quicker.
No matter what, there would always be people who would dislike your work.
There’s a different level of joy in maintaining discipline and consistency.
“Oh my god, the biggest reason why I wasn’t comfortable publishing posts was because I was afraid of others’ judgment.” Thankfully, I have bypassed that.
Writer’s block isn’t as prevalent as so many writers make it be. After all, there’s no such thing as talker’s block, is there? I have never run out of ideas to blog on.
There are days when your writing would feel mediocre. It’s okay! There are many posts I have published that don’t match my expectations. But I am not going to judge my skills and abilities based on that.
We have enough time. I have a full-time job. I run a marketing blog. I have various other tasks. I still make time to blog every day.
It feels good if someone says “it’s a nice post”. But if no one compliments it, it shouldn’t be a problem either.
Writing could be therapeutic, helping us calm, think clearly and find answers.
Many of your pieces of content will go unread even by a single human. Don’t feel sad about it. Someone will eventually find it.
Unless you’re qualified, avoid the authoritative tone and be more inclusive. Don’t say “you should do it”; say “we should do it”.
If you believe in something, say/write it no matter how uncomfortable it may make the readers feel. Of course, be polite and empathetic.
You might not always be in the mood of writing. But once you pick up the pen or touch the keyboard and write for a few minutes, you will eventually get in the groove.
Don’t write things that you don’t believe in; content that might expose you in the future. Always be honest.
If you want to make money from your writings, have a thorough, long-term plan. Never mix your creativity and business in that plan. Keep them apart.
If you want to be a successful blogger or writer, you’ve got to have a ridiculous amount of patience. It won’t happen overnight. It might not happen even in a couple of years. It might take a decade or more. Stick to it. Have patience and enjoy the process. The end result, which you will inevitably achieve, would be much more thrilling.
I don’t have to daily blog. I just want to. It makes me feel good. So, I’ll hopefully continue at the same pace even in the second year.

Here’s what to take away from this post

I am not trying to convince you that you should become a daily blogger too. Of course, for bloggers and writers, writing helps. But the quantity and duration are secondary here. What you write on and how does that makes you feel are what matters the most.

If you’re going to take away anything from this post — from someone who’s learning, growing and, most importantly, enjoying the process — here are five things you should:

Do not judge yourself as a blogger or writer based on every piece of content you produce. Understand that getting better is a process and not an event. If you believe you’re not good enough, you will definitely get better. But it will not happen by judging yourself but with consistency and speed.
Always know why you’re publishing a piece of content. Even if you’re writing for leisure, tell yourself “I am writing this for myself”. Knowing the intent behind your action is important to feel productive and satisfied.
If it has been weeks that you’re not enjoying your writing process, stop and re-think your strategy.
Aside from personal gratification, if you’re trying to achieve anything from your writing — fame, money or awards — realize that it will take time and lots of hard work. Don’t mislead yourself into believing the idea of overnight success. Your blogs won’t be read. Your books won’t sell. No one will care about what you have to say. Follow patience with consistency. It will work. It has to work.
The majority of the people in the world are good. Even if your writing is not good, there’s a lot of them who would support you and help you improve. At least this is what I have seen and experienced.

All the best with whatever you’re writing! 🙂