Ask the Readers: Where are the Holes in Your Leaky Bucket?
As bloggers, webmasters and web workers, none of us are perfect at what we do. From the A-listers to the Z-listers, there are things we all need to work on.
For the sake of illustration, try to think of yourself as a leaky bucket (hopefully something you don’t do too often). The little holes in the bucket are flaws, mistakes, areas in need of improvement.
The water represents lost opportunities — whether those opportunities are new feed subscribers, more traffic, more links, better networking relationships, and so on. Close up more of those holes, and you retain more opportunities to move towards your goals.
You’ll never close them all, but you can work to close as many as possible. The process begins with pin-pointing where you need to improve.
My most critical areas that need improvement are:
- My off-blog promotion. Since I’ve started freelance blogging I rarely make the time to write guest-posts and ask for links. The way I divide my time also prevents me from commenting elsewhere as much as I’d like.
- My ability to execute long-term plans. It’s been several weeks since I planned to start writing my eBook and I still haven’t made the time.
- My methods of processing harsh criticism. 99% of responses to my work are either positive or, if not positive, constructive. There will always be that 1% which is written to deliberately sting. While I’ve become a lot better at dealing with this, it’s still something that gets to me more than it should.
- My idea generation methods. If anything, I have too many post ideas for Skelliewag and don’t make enough time to use them. The other blogs I write for don’t really suit those ideas. For them, I do find it a weekly struggle to come up with post topics. I need to change the way I approach idea generation in my freelance work.
While it’s difficult to lay out your flaws and mistakes like that (it was for me), I now have four central areas I can focus on improving. I think the exercise has the potential to make anyone a better blogger or webmaster.
Where are the holes in your leaky bucket?
I’ll be picking out another favorite commenter this week. Here’s a quick summary of what I’ll be looking for:
- A useful and insightful answer — something others can learn from.
- Engagement with other commenters and reflection on their answers.
- Active participation in the discussion.
What I won’t be taking into consideration:
- Names, identities and affiliations. I’ll be judging by comments alone.
* * *
On success
Last week’s discussion on what’s your definition of success? has probably been the most interesting ‘Ask the Readers’ session we’ve had here. Aside from setting out our own ideas of what we require to feel successful, there was also a rather philosophical side discussion about the very nature of success.
My definition of success was to publish an eBook/book and use it to generate an income significant enough to quit my part-time job and support myself financially doing something I love.
A few commenters felt this was too modest or not really success, as it’s just the fulfillment of a goal that seems quite achievable, rather than a really big goal, or a long-term journey.
I want to take a moment to explain why I still stand behind this definition.
If you don’t allow for multiple successes in different stages and areas of your life, or if you define success only as an end-point — the last goal — my question in return would be, when are you ever able to feel successful? If you define success as a journey, where does it end? Does it ever end?
I suspect the idea that success is something that must be constantly just out of reach is what keeps millionaires feeling poor. If I generate enough income blogging to quit my part-time job, I will have achieved something I never really thought possible when I started Skelliewag several months ago.
Just because it now seems like an attainable goal, I don’t think I should move my success marker out of reach. I want to be able to experience that feeling of success. Of course, I won’t stop blogging after it happens. I’ll set new goals and work towards them. But I will already consider myself having succeeded in what I set out to do.
I was particularly impressed with the quality of the comments this week, and how fluidly commenters were engaging with what others had written.
Though we disagreed in our ideas about success, this week’s most valuable commenter is Alfa King, who blogs about writing. He provided thoughtful answers in the thread and expanded them on his own blog. I particularly liked his blueprint of what we need to do in order to be successful:
(i) have an intense desire to work towards the goal(s);
(ii) have conviction in what we are doing;
(iii) have commitment and enthusiasm to achieve the goal(s);
(iv) be dedicated in our action;
(v) indulge in hard work to make things happen; (don’t wait for things to happen)
(vi) be persistent;
(vii) be consistent;
(viii) be responsible;
(ix) have positive belief; (have inspiration not desperation); and last but not least,
(x) be prepared to give more than we expect to get.
One thing the discussion illustrated is that success is subjective. It’s a word that gets used a lot, but it seems like few people give it the same meaning. It’s something to think about, and it has ramifications across all areas of our lives. When you talk about success with others, are you really talking about the same thing?
If you’d like to continue the discussion about success (and whether my definition is really success at all), I’ll be responding to comments in last week’s thread. I’d like to keep the comments here reserved for the leaky bucket question, to avoid things getting muddled.
* * *
Other posts I’ve written that were published this week, elsewhere:
A Plan For Bloggers Struggling to Find New Readers
My recommendations on what to do when your blog isn’t growing as much as you’d like.
How to Keep Your Subscribers Forever
If you can stop people from unsubscribing, your subscriber count will always grow exponententially. This post is about keeping people subscribed to your feed.
Use These 10 Tips to Write Your Most Popular Post Ever
My recommendations on writing a post designed to get some serious social media traffic.
Prolific Blogging: Five Methods I Swear By
The methods I use to write all these posts!
In other news, starting this week, I’ll be sharing writing duties at NorthxEast with Leo Babauta. What a compliment!
Very well put Skellie. I do have quite a few holes in my bucket and like you said, the water is being wasted constanntly.
Among other holes thje biggest hole I have found in the bucket as for me is content writing. English isn’t my first language and at time I find it hard to express the way I feel through my writing. Although I try hard.
I get comments that are directly targeted towards me and my language and like you said no matter how hard I try, I just can’t get them out of my mind, they constantly bother me.
Networking, I find networking extremely hard for me as I barely have any time. Between a day job, wife and four kids, family time is important to me. The fact that I put so much time on my blogging alone at times make me guilty of not giving enough attention to my own family. This is the biggest and the worst leak on my buckest that pours out gallons of water in waste, if you will.
And this will be the one reason I probably won’t be active in this discussion with other commenters although I would like to be. Family first and blogging second, although I am constantly trying to improve myself in every way I can.
Thanx for the great post, again! I always find time to swing by here :-)
Leaky hole number one for me: playing it safe instead of being remarkable.
Leaky hole number two: writing about topics instead of writing for my target audience.
Leaky hole number three: trying to offer genuine value while simply regurgitating information that can be found elsewhere.
(these are all the same leaky hole, by the way)
Thank you Skellie for inspiring me and helping me to slowly start putting the plug in the jug there.
Gosh - the holes … I’ve thought about this and know what they are, but somehow just haven’t managed to quite get it together to fill them. Like RITU (comment before mine), my biggest hole is networking. I don’t have the time to work full time, run 3 blogs, comment consistently and be active on social networks … although unlike RITU I don’t have a family (I feel your pain R.).
That said, my other biggest hole is time management. My blogs require a lot of time per post. Then there is the research and once I start looking around on the net, I get sidetracked … then sidetracked again …
But then I read about Leo from ZenHabits and how he does it with 6 kids, work, freeliancing in print and online and I think, sheesh, I really could be doing better. I do get great ideas from your blog (and your other posts though).
I’m with Cellie - I look at Leo and go, “Oh my God, where do I start!?”
My biggest leaky hole is following up. Oh, I know how - I write about it! But I get stupid and check my email when I don’t have time to action anything and then there are emails from readers or pingbacks that totally get lost in the mess. I end up finding about people who linked to me through Technorati, for heaven’s sake!
Then a week later, I feel like an idiot and I don’t know whether “better late than never” applies and I end up doing nothing.
I’ve been reading some productivity stuff to see if there’s a way I can streamline the process - hopefully I’ll get my sh*t together by the new year.
Loved the “leaky bucket” reference, btw. That’s a great visual.
My challenge, definitely feeling like there’s not enough time. Isn’t interesting how that’s the common thread here? All of us have mentioned it in one way or the other. I think a lot of challenges with blogging boil down to feeling like there’s not enough time. I say “feeling” because, after thinking about this, I believe that it’s not the lack of time that’s the problem but how we react to it.
I know in my case, I feel anxiety, urgency, maybe even panic, and what that does is blow my focus completely. No matter what I try to work on, I am not sure that it’s the “right” thing–the most effective use of my time. So I spend time on commenting or e-mail because at least I know that’s productive, right? But then I’m *not* doing things like: developing pillar content, writing e-books, sending out proposals, and all the other activities that have a long-term payoff. That’s me–I’m sure everyone’s different, but the mechanism is the same.
So what’s the answer? Patience, maybe? Being patient enough to take the time to do things, while still being determined enough to see it through in the long haul?
The holes in my buckets are:
i) Better analysis/overview of the targeted readership
ii) Commenting in relevant communities
iii) More high quality articles on time
iv) Focused Social networking
The reasons the holes are there are partly lack of time (ii, iii), partly not enough knowledge about the issue (i, iv).
i) I’m not altogether satisfied with the definition of my targeted readership. I am not sure what group I define as my core target group. I’ve pictured the readers to be laymen with an interest for science and technology. But I still struggle with the level of knowledge/information that I put in my articles - and what form - serious or light and slightly personal. I tend to prefer the personal touch, but it is hard to find a format and form that I am comfortable with and that reach the readers the way I want it too do.
ii) Commenting is time consuming, but very good training and fun! Keeping track of where you have been and follow up all the strings require systematic logging. Maybe I will increase my commenting capacity if I start doing that. :-)
iii) Writing the articles I do requires thorough research. I also have to use several days to write one piece simply because the sleep is needed to ensure quality. Time is the key word and then hitting the publishing at the right time with regard to what goes on in the world.
iv) Again a better understanding of my readership, both the existing and targeted, is right now in a try and fail sort of state. Which of the social networks would be the right ones for my niche is something I do not really know yet. I have to decide on a few sooner or later.
Solutions: Efficiency and research is the answer. Even though I see my self as a pretty efficient person one can always improve, always :-). The research simply has to be done!
Skellie, this post was indeed very useful for me. You made be do a necessary mini analysis of my website project. Thanks!
The problem, of course, is that we sometimes think our leaks are things we need. For example, like you, I have been neglecting off-blog promotion. I should be commenting and promoting regularly. But I tell myself that I don’t have the time, I’m too busy with more important things..
At least that is something I feel nagging guilt about and have a chance of correcting. What about the things that we are just blind to? I’m reminded of Robert Burns: “(O would some power the gift to give us to see ourselves as others see us.”
That’s why I so enjoy reading blog criticisms such as you and Darren Rowse are doing and am an avid reader of the type of advice you give here: it helps me see my work with fresh eyes.
One other thing I constantly do is read random articles from my site. I even have a little cgi script that picks them for me. This mostly lets me fix broken stuff; spelling, formatting, facts that I once thought were true but are not, but it also sometimes gives me inspiration for new posts. Most importantly, I’m seeing things with whatever new perspective I have gained through reading sites like this. Perspective, I think, is the most important element of time management: almost all of us can manage our time if we what’s really important and necessary.
Like Naomi, I really connected with the “leaky bucket” reference. As a matter of fact, I have one here at the farm. I have a giant “to do” list of holes to plug, but I finally organized it into categories, so I can concentrate on one category at a time. I used to have the same trouble Angela (Cottage Magpi) has, but the separate “to do” lists for each major commitment really helps. This is an idea I got from browsing around Zen Habits, BTW.
Here are my top three holes:
1. Clearly identify the target audience what will motivate the blog audience/customer base to particpate in the blog community, - The problem is that customers don’t necesssarily check out the blog, regularly. I have a customer list of about 80 folks. I have asked for input and suggestions and areas of interest, but have gotten no response from these folks. Not on the blog anyway. They’ll call me and tell me they like it. The folks who do comment are not local.
2. Figure out how to implement the page design ideas in my head - I am relatively new to the blogging world, although I do
have an IT background, the technical coding details are definately not my favorite thing. This takes more time/more money than I would like. This may be a matter of assembling the “right” toolset - again, time. Maybe I mean I need patience. I could pay someone to do the technical details, but that’s not in my budget. I would also like to know how to put the page together the way I want, anyway.
3. Provide a tighter connection between my blog and my actual business model, by allowing people to access sign-ups and the like. The business mdoel for the farm is a Community Supported Agriculture or CSA model. It would be highly helpful for people to access a CSA signup form from the blog and to be able to get a separate feed of what’s available that week. I’ve seen good website examples that I owuld like to use, but again #2 issue pops up.
To summarize, I want my blog to be effective and efficient at accomplishing the objectives I have for it. That may be a very common goal. And then there’s the original benefit to me. Which is the regular opportunity to exercise my writing muscles. Almost like beingin class, huh?
It is sites like these and ZenHabits that have really helped me along the way. I think the key to filling up any of our holes is to work on one at a time, one step at a time.
For example, let’s say I want to comment more on other’s blogs. I do a blog search and save it in my favorites. Then for one week, I comment on the first blog in the list that really relates to my blog. If I get a response from the blogger, then I add that blog to my subscription list. Then I start to dig a little deeper. What sites is the blog promoting? What does this person really do? Will there be a benefit to a mutual linking arrangement for them and for me? And so on. I just started this process. I took me about a month to really find a blog that I felt was a great connection for my readers. The blogger’s comments indicated they felt my blog was related to their efforts. Next step, approach them with an offer to swap links. We’ll see what happens.
I want to thank everyone for the wonderful insights and lessons I have learned from the various blogs and comments. I am excited to be part of this.
Hmm..good post. Really made me think, and therefore gave me areas to improve.
My biggest hole would be the lack of marketing, networking, and asking for guest blog spots in the popular blogs, although I’m starting to fix that now.
The next would be time management. I am trying to cut back on my obsessive email checking, forum reading, and so on. Right now I set an alarm clock, a timer for half an hour, and dedicate everything that half hour totally to one task. Makes a huge difference.
Lastly, I have so many things I want to write that I can’t just focus on one! I wish I had 36 hours in a day so I can get everything done.
Cheers,
Albert | UrbanMonk.Net
Modern personal development, entwined with ancient spirituality.
For me, my biggest hole is working on anything other than content on my blog. I spend a lot of time writing content and publishing content. I spend next to no time on all the other aspects of a blog - making it look pretty and functional, adding plugins that enhance the reader’s experience, creating sidebars that flow, etc etc etc etc. Running a blog is a lot more than just content, and sometimes (all the time) I seem to forget that.
I of course need to keep my primary focus on my content but at the same time, I could do a lot better even using 5% of my time for the 95% that is everything else related to blogging. But instead I use maybe 0.5% of my time, which is not near enough. I am constantly behind on updating.
My other, to me, primary leaky hole is not quite related to my blog exactly but to others - I procrastinate responding to articles of value and then by the time I get to it, the good comment time has passed. I need to be more proactive in building community.
Reading the responses, I know I am not the only one who needs to improve their time management! Or lack of time in general. Ritu, when I figure out how Leo does it I’ll let you know too because I have no idea. :)
Anthony - rereading past articles from your site and re-editing them - I think that is a fabulous idea. I do a *tiny* bit of that myself but not near enough. As we evolve our writing grows and our style refines (at least mine has) and making the beginning up to par with the end is a worthy goal.
Thanks! That is a great idea!
Now that I’ve punched a new hole into my already leaky bucket…. hmm. :)
I agree with all of the above as far as time management to do all the things that need to be done, such as updating, writing content and socializing.
My biggest hole in the bucket is focusing on what I need to do.
With all of the social networks, blogs, affiliate programs and other programs to help bloggers, I find myself distracted by all of them. I am still trying to define my niche a little more closely than what I have been focusing on so far, and it is tough to find it.
If I can plug the hole of searching and reading other stuff, and focus on writing content and limited social networking and reading other’s blogs, I think that would put the bottom back in the bucket.
All of the other little holes won’t seem so significant then.
Hi Skellie ~
Just wanted to drop in a note of CONGRATS on the NxE assignment!!
I did an interview on my site with Cameron Low, the new NxE owner, and it sounds like he has a great vision and plan for the future. And as coincidence would have it, this Tuesday I will be posting an interview with the above-mentioned Leo Babauta.
All the best,
Mark
You got some absolutely ridiculous criticism from some moron that I once randomly stumbled across but after a little back and forth of me repeatedly pointing out why what he was saying made no sense, he removed the post..
[...] am very much honored and pleased to have been chosen as the “most valuable commenter” of the week at Skelliewag’s [...]
First of all I wish to thank you very much for your appreciation of my comments about success. I am deeply honored and pleased to be your favorite this week. Very encouraging.
Then, I’d like to commend you for the even-more-thought-provoking question like this week’s. We always try to fill the bucket and continue filling it only to find that it’s not filling as it should without even realising that it may be leaking, perhaps heavily. We always look at the surface, ignoring what may be hidden underneath that stand on our way.
I haven’t had time to ponder seriously on this one. But I can already say (as you can guess and as highlighted by other commenters) that the biggest hole in my bucket is time constraint. I have a full time job and a part time consultancy, a family commitment and a social life, a jogging schedule and a blogging time; and I need to make my eight-hour sleep in order not to disturb my biological rythm too much.
As blogging involves a lot of things from reading, researching, writing to commenting and looking for possible improvements, I need to establish a better time management system to enable me keep up with my blogging schedule. I can’t do without it; it’s become part of my hobby (very enriching) now.
Like just about everyone else it would seem, my biggest hole is time-management, or lack of time. I run two blogs, write fairly consistently for a third, work full-time and have a part time weekend job. Add in family, exercise, rest, and other hobbies and suddenly stuff gets ignored, long-term projects get sidelined, and before you know it, you wake up and another year has gone by…
The solution would be for me to focus, and quit trying to do ten things at once and accomplish none of them.
Another hole, that is more personal, is my tendency to get excited about new projects and then gradually lose interest. I’ve done this with books, comics (I’m a sort-of artist), blogs, ‘community projects’, even my degree I think was affected by me burning out before the end. I think I need to pace myself more, although it is very tempting to use all that excitement and energy at the start of something new.
@Keira Peney - do not worry about the “tendency to get excited about new projects”. This is simply a sign of creativity and I’m absolutely sure that you finish at least 10% of what you “start”. :-)
Consider that a success. Besides, in the end all those bits and pieces of projects come in handy in a bigger or later project.
In general marketing.
Specifically knowing more about my target audience. And how to write stuff that appeals to the large group while targetting a niche.
There is little about this I’ve found of any use. What I have seen assumes the target audience is well defined and known (look at magazines on a news agent’s shelf for instance). As to appealing to all the market while finding a niche within it, I have seen nothing.
So if others know of stuff about these I’d love to be pointed in the right direction.
Great question by the way.
The responses so far have been really illuminating. I think everyone shares a sense of there just being not enough time to do everything we’d like to do. While I always emphasize making time rather than waiting for it, I do concede that there’s a point where you just can’t shape things as you’d like. I’m wondering if productivity/time is a topic I should be covering more often.
@ Alfa King: No problem! You earned it.
@ Adam Taylor: I remember that — I did appreciate you sticking up for me :).
Skellie, thanks for sharing with us your own leaky holes. I’m sure it wasn’t easy, probably a bit painful, to go through the experience of identifying, writing about and sharing your leaky holes with everybody who reads your blog.
I have one big hole, not a little one: I don’t take risks. I only do something if I’m sure of success, or if I know I’m right. When I get a good idea, but one that I haven’t tried or one that nobody can assure me will work, then most likely I will not pursue it. Looking back, I realize that I have lost many opportunities because of this. At the very least, I have missed a lot of adventures.
When I was younger, I promised myself that I would not make decisions based on fear. But guess what, that’s exactly what I’ve been doing!
Well now I’m about to leave my full-time job to do what I’ve always loved and been longing to do — I’m going to be a full-time Mom who works at home and/or works part-time. I’m going to become my own boss! I’ll be setting up my own website soon (as soon as they let me off from my job) and starting work as a childbirth educator.
Am I scared? You bet I am! Are there voices in my head telling me to stop, that I’ll fail, that I’m putting my family’s well-being in jeopardy? Oh yes! But I’ve had enough of not doing something because of these fears.
My first child, 13 years old, is in her school’s varsity basketball team. They won their last game and when I was complimenting her for the number of points she made, she tried to trivialize her accomplishment by saying, “but I missed so many shots!” I said, “But you wouldn’t have those points if you hadn’t tried all those shots. The more shots you try, the more points you make.”
If only I would always take my own advice.
PS Sorry this got looong!
I share with paidtwice a slight feeling that I don’t spend enough time maintaining the back end of my blog. I tend to update to new software late, and I’m slow to add useful plugins.
Although I’m good at commenting on all the blogs that I read, I’ve slacked off in searching out new avenues to network in.
Finally, I could do with being more audacious. I’m too timid, and I think this limits my reach arbitrarily.
I think that I claim that this is mostly because I don’t have enough time, but that’s not really true. I spend far too much time hanging out on forums when I can have just as much impact if I limit my time there.
Cellie said it best. sidetracked, sidetracked, sidetracked.
That’s my biggest leak I’ve ever had. I get started really good on a project (or a few smaller projects) and then out of nowhere, its 2 hours later and all I’ve done is read other blogs.
I need to set aside some time to read blogs so I’m not randomly doing it throughout the day like this anymore and that will definitely help with my leaky hole.
My second leaky hole, which I’m currently working on a LOT is networking and getting my blog out there in peoples faces. It’s something I’ve been studying here and a couple other blogs and I definitely am learning a lot.
To help with this leaky hole, I’ve got three blogs I’m currently writing guest posts for, and am looking for other blogs to write posts on. I have a document with over 100 freelance/entrepreneur topics so I won’t run out anytime soon. I just need to fix the first leak in order to have the time to write them all.
My leaky bucket comes from having too many buckets. The blog would really benefit from at least 1 additional longer post a week, but there are so many competing priorities.
Also, like Naomi, I could be better about follow-up. Actually, I’m awful about follow-up.
@Evan, your problem may be coming from trying to do two things at once–speak to your niche and speak to a larger audience. Start out just talking to that little niche. Give them information they need and that no one else has bothered to wrap up for them just right. Naomi’s site, http://www.ittybiz.com has a whole fabulous new series of posts that I think may help you get started.
Skellie,
This kind of post comes at an opportune time of the year because it forces us to reflect upon the year that has past.
This is the time to make changes and look at how we can improve on 2008.
I completely agree, I think that setting up small goals, achieving them and then setting up new goals is the way to go.
I believe that in 2007 I sabotaged my own success by looking at the end-results. Because I was not getting to the end-results in the time period where I thought I would, I became frustrated, unhappy and I stopped acknowledging the smaller and the not-so-small successes along the way.
I’ve been working on my 2008 goals for months now, because I want to set myself up to success and I also want to be able to be conscious enough to appreciate, recognize and most importantly celebrate smaller success that will come along the way.
Thanks Skellie for a great end-of-year-reflective post!
Gisele
Many people have mentioned lack of time specifically, and I see time as the one thing that can plug all the leaks. Yet for most of us, more time isn’t going to just magically appear, short of major life changes like quitting a job.
So in the meantime, here are some tips for managing the time you do have:
1. Identify your top life priorities. Family, job, this blog, that blog, this hobby, that hobby, etc.
2. Within each of those top life priorities, find the leaks, i.e., do this exercise that Skellie is giving us. Keep in mind that many leaks are not worth fixing. Plugging any leak is beneficial, but it comes at the cost of not plugging some other leak. You have to identify which leaks present the biggest opportunities for improvement.
3. Don’t multitask. When you find a leak that you’ve identified as a high priority, pick a task related to that leak and follow through to completion. If you get a great idea while working on that task, write it down so you don’t forget, but don’t let up on the task at hand.
I’d view this question of holes and leaks in a more holistic approach. The holes will continue to grow so long as we don’t find out why at all there are holes. In other words, we’ll be wasting our time pouring in water in a never-filling bucket if we don’t focus on what’s manifesting inside and within us that often contribute to heavy leaks and result in failure.
While time management could be quite a significant hole in the bucket (we’ve seen from various comments), smaller holes around it could be adding to the leakage. When we have time problem it’s almost always a situation where we are chasing too many things at the same time. Result: we are entangled in defining our priorities. Everything seems to be important.
Another factor that could exacerbate the leak is lack of faith; lack of conviction. Patrick mentioned “playing it safe”. To what extent? For how long? We should believe in what we do and do it with conviction.
Instant gratification or short term gains are what we often run after. We lack patience and perseverance. We want results instantly; we want to achieve our goals fast. Don’t forget the saying: “Short term gains are most of the time followed by long term pains.” So work on a long-term vision.
Then if we are honest, how often do we try to find excuses for our performance gap? We rationalize instead of analyze what went wrong. We refuse to recognize our mistakes. We try to justify our wrongs instead of learning from them. We blame fate or bad luck. We fail to realize that we can become wise learning from our own mistakes; and even wiser learning from others’ mistakes.
I’ll just mention another one before ending: fear of being criticized, which nurtures the fear of failure, often closely associated with the lack of faith, confidence and conviction. Taken positively criticism can be a good sealer (of the holes).
Well, we can go on and come up with a number of other factors that foster the holes. But then all the water would drain out; and bucket there would no longer be. It’s a healthy exercise anyway to reflect on what the holes could like so that we know how to plug them whenever they appear. I’ll just summarize the above thoughts as follows:
(i) lack of priorities;
(ii) lack of faith, conviction;
(iii) instant gratification;
(iv) rationalizing instead of analysis;
(v) fear of criticism and failure.
I definitely suffer from a refusal to set firm priorities. I don’t want to give up any of my beloved pet projects! So they all move forward rather slowly. They do move forward. I do interesting things and connect with interesting people every day, so for the most part, I feel good about that.
I do get to feeling bad about flakiness, though. I just can’t make the connection I would like to make with every person who reaches out (including some who are reaching out with the potential for paying gigs). And some of my projects, like my blog, are things that I feel very tenderly toward and would like to nurture a little more.
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Prioritising is well and good - and clearly needs to happen. But I do wonder sometimes about the way we prioritise. Most of us would put family, and hobbies we feel passionately about at the top of the list. But for most of us, the highest priority is going to be feeding ourselves/families, paying rent, and otherwise earning. So blogs that could be incredible are drowned in ads, and the people working on them are writing at the end of the day when they are tired. Equally with hobbies. Can we find a way to generate income from it? That question adds an awful layer of pressure and stress. But if we’re not earning from it, we HAVE to depriortise it, unless we are lucky enough to have independent income.
I’ve read an awful lot of these “do what you love and eventually you will earn from it” posts, but my rent goes out at the same time every month and I cannot take the time required to turn it into a paying hobby. Writing value packed posts take time. Networking and marketing takes time.
But at the same time, is there anything worse than spending your life in a job you don’t enjoy?
@Keira Peney: It’s a very fruitful discussion over here. It’s helping me to question myself again. I don’t intend to argue. I just want to share my experience without undermining your stand (or anybody’s for that matter).
I guess you are confusing the basic needs (which are your routine) like you mentioned about feeding etc. with what you do besides the routine activities. When I was talking about priority I was referring to extra activities, blogging included, unless blogging is your main activity. Organize your activities (time, importance, benefits, urgency, etc)
Make a list of all the extra things you do or want to do. Tick them in categories, say: important, less important and very important for the objectives you want to achieve. You’ll easily come up with many things which at first appeared you couldn’t forgo that now you can remove from the list in view of importance, because you find that they don’t bring any additional or worthy benefit to you. So it’s vital to identify which activities add value to your life, which not.
You mentioned something about “doing what you love…”. This is emotion. I agree with your view and I don’t believe in returns from emotion. Emotion is short-lived. Rather you should do something you have faith in; conviction, something you believe will benefit your client (reader). Otherwise why will anyone read what you write? Certainly not because you love writing.
After all you should be clear about your mission; what you want to achieve. If it’s networking and marketing, then you should make sure you know what this involves and how to achieve it (networking/marketing is your “water”; what and how, the “holes”).
If you want at the end of the day to “turn it into a paying hobby” (the water - opportunity), you have to find out what’s in your way; is it lack of knowledge? lack of tools? lack of ideas? (the holes).
Well, identify your weak spots and work towards clearing them from your way. When you say “if we’re not earning from it, we HAVE to depriortise it” it means you are not addressing the problem; instead you are escaping it; you are quitting. Don’t quit. Losers quit. Investigate why you are not earning. Ask yourself questions; ask those who’ve made it (remember, learn from mistakes).
Cure the disease; the symptoms will disappear. Find out why there are holes, how they are triggered and prevent them from occurring or re-occurring so that you preserve your water and have a filling bucket (not an emptying one). That’s what Skellie’s asking us to do, if I’m not mistaken.
The holes in my leaky bucket are caused by a lack of consistency. I have trouble staying consistent with writing on my blog. Some weeks I write everyday, other weeks I write every other day. And then there are some weeks (like this week) I don’t even write for four days. The hole in my bucket is named “lack of consistency” has got to drive my readers crazy and I need to fix it.
That’s a great point, Erin. Now get into dissecting why? Time? Organise yourself. See the priorities. Revisit your daily/weekly commitments. Not all bring value. Then come up with a writing schedule and keep to it. But you should have stuff to write; don’t just write for the sake. Good luck.
[...] do if time wasn’t an issue. Throughout the answers to last week’s question — where are the holes in your leaky bucket? — there was a pervasive sense of readers feeling that they never had enough time to do what [...]