You need self-discipline to succeed in any field. With blogging, you depend entirely on yourself, so it requires even more motivation than usual. Without self-discipline, it’s almost impossible to get a blog off the ground, let alone build it to the point where it earns you a decent income.
Call it what you want – self-discipline, drive, or motivation. The point is if you always find yourself putting off the things you need to do, you’re probably not going far, and that applies doubly to blogging.
In this article, we’re going to talk about why self-discipline is so necessary when it comes to blogging. Then we’ll go over how to find the motivation to blog. Let’s get right to it!
What Is Self-Discipline?
The easiest way to describe self-discipline is the will to do what you have to, even when you don’t feel like it. That means getting up early in the morning, working out, eating healthy food, and even writing new posts when you’d rather be watching Netflix instead.
Without self-discipline, getting a blog off the ground is almost impossible. It requires months of hard work and constant publishing for most blogs to gain traction in the first place. A lot of people give up on blogging during that period. Those that push through do so because they have enough motivation and self-discipline.
For me, the easiest way to stay on target is to dangle a carrot in front of myself. That means focusing on the reward for my work, whether it’s time off or more money. It also doesn’t hurt that I enjoy researching and writing about the topics I do, so I can’t complain.
Self-discipline is a lot rarer in the wild than you’d think. Most of us are always putting off the things we have to do whenever we can, which often leads to trouble down the road. However, that motivation isn’t something that just falls from the sky. You need to work at it every day to increase your self-discipline until it becomes routine.
3 Ways to Find the Motivation to Blog and Exercise Self-Discipline
The blogging life isn’t always as glamorous as it seems. In many cases, you need to find ways to motivate yourself to get work done, which is where this section comes in.
1. Set Aside Time Each Day to Write
If you pick up any book that includes advice on how to write, you’ll find most of them will tell you the same thing “You need to sit down and write, even if you don’t feel like it.”
That isn’t to say you should move to your desk even if you’re so sick you can’t get out of bed. What it means is, if you know you should be writing, but you’re procrastinating instead, then you need to get in gear and avoid distractions.
The best way to do this, for me, is to set aside a block of time each day where I must write. For me, it’s at least a few hours since it’s my job, but for you, it can be as little as half an hour. The point is, you need to get into the habit of writing every day so you can produce new content for your blog. If you can pull this off, you’ll have a massive backlog of content, and be well on your way to a successful blog before you know it.
2. Ignore the Metrics at First
When you’re a new blogger, it’s all too common to spend each day counting how many visitors you’ve gotten so far. However, that’s a surefire way to get discouraged since new blogs usually get close to zero traffic for a while.
It is possible you’ll publish a post that manages to go viral and puts a lot of eyes on your blog while it’s still brand new. However, in my experience, you have better odds of getting struck by lighting.
With that in mind, if you don’t want to zap your motivation to blog, avoid looking at your traffic numbers until your blog gains some traction. That means during your first few months, your only job should be to write new posts and work on Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Once you have a steady stream of visitors coming in, then you can worry about analytics and ways to optimize your blog.
3. Remind Yourself Why You Got Into Blogging
I’ve never been great with jobs that have a set schedule. I tried working in kitchens and offices, and even though the former was fun a lot of fun, scheduling was miserable.
My primary motivation to get into blogging and freelance writing was to gain full control over my schedule. Nowadays, if I play my cards right, I can take an afternoon off to do errands, spend the morning drinking coffee leisurely, and get to work when I’m good and ready.
The downside to this proposition is it takes a while to adjust to having full freedom over your own time. If you lack self-discipline, you’ll end up working long past the time everyone’s already left the office and pulling all-nighters, which is never fun.
These days, that still happens to me sometimes when I find I took on too much work. However, more often than not, I can take time off whenever I want, which is a luxury not everyone gets.
Your motivation to blog might be different. However, it’s something you always need to keep in mind when you find yourself not wanting to sit down and do the work. In my experience, once you sit down and start typing, it gets a lot easier just to keep doing it, so as long as you can find a spark of motivation, you’re set.
Conclusion
A lot of people tell you that blogging is something that can earn you a lot of money for very little effort. That’s a lie for the vast majority of successful bloggers who have worked their asses off to get to that point. For that to happen, you need to find the motivation to blog and learn how to push forward even when you don’t feel like it.
If you put in the time and effort, you may end up with a blog that earns you a good income. That should be motivation enough, but if you choose the right niche, you’ll even have fun in the process, so it’s a win-win situation.
Do you have any questions about how to create your first blog? Check out the Start a Blog guide, which runs you through the entire process. If you have any doubts, ask away in the comments section below!
Image credit: Pixabay.