A to Z’s of conquering blogging fear – E to H

Yes, you CAN conquer these blogging fears: Energy and time, Fear of failure, G____, Hackers and privacy

ENERGY AND TIME:  You fear that you don’t have the ENERGY OR TIME to keep a blog going.

Fear not!  While it is true that blogging generally assumes regular content, and while blogging is a good way to get into the daily writing habit, a blogger does not necessarily have to write that often, and blog posts can be short (many would argue that blog posts SHOULD be short).  Writing on a regular schedule that your readers know when to expect is more important than writing every day.  Yes, it is true that most people who start a blog quit blogging within a short time.  But if you’re reading this blog, you probably already have a couple advantages:  you’re quite likely already a writer, so you’re motivated to write; and you’re also quite possibly a senior, so you may well have more time to work on your blog than younger people who have heavy career, family, and/or educational responsibilities.  If you think you could write a simple, short post 3 times a week (or possibly a bit longer, more complex post once a week), that should be good enough.  Later you can decide if you want to increase your frequency and complexity of posts.

FEAR OF FAILURE:  You FEAR YOU WILL FAIL.

Fear not! Focus on succeeding instead!  You are much more likely to succeed if you just get busy and start.  Try different things; if one thing doesn’t work, try something else.  And remember that anything truly successful takes lots of time and effort and practice.  A “failure” is only a bump in the road, and is actually a great opportunity to learn from.  So go ahead, try different things to see what works for you, and keep improving – all on the road to success.

HACKERS AND PRIVACY:  You fear blogging and other online writing because you have heard that going on the internet is dangerous; that it allows HACKERS and other bad people to invade your PRIVACY.

Fear not!  After all, answering your telephone or stepping outside your door allows people to invade your privacy.  Putting your garbage out at the curb allows people to invade your privacy.  Using your debit card or credit card or a personal cheque allows people to potentially invade your privacy.  Of course, there are some things you want to keep as private as you can, and you should certainly take sensible precautions.  But the internet itself is not inherently dangerous.  YOU are probably the biggest danger to your privacy!  Do you store a list of your passwords on your computer?  Do you give out private details (your phone number, bank account information, etc) to companies when you aren’t absolutely sure of their veracity?  Do you loan your debit card to a family member and give them the PIN number?  Do you toss old bills in the garbage instead of shredding them?  Do you allow your little ones to be photographed for newspapers or magazines?  Blogging is like the rest of life.  Though there are no privacy guarantees in this world, if you are careful with private information, and resist the temptation to share details you’d rather keep private, your chances are good for keeping your privacy safe.

Be sure to come back for the next post on conquering your blogging fears.  Links to the entire series can be found here.

Question of the Day:  Do you personally face any of the fears we’ve discussed today?  Which one?  Is it really a good reason to avoid blogging?

Tip of the Day:  Continual progress: keep at it for the long haul.  When one tactic doesn’t work, try something else.

Put it into Action:   Write down your fear(s) in your blogging binder.  Then write down what you will do to overcome the fear.  DOING is the best way to overcome!