When you’ve bitten off more than you can chew…

If you’ve been reading this blog, you might have noticed that each day, for the last 30ish days, I’ve posted a blog. I’ve been doing this because I really wanted to get under the skin of blogging – to fully immerse myself in it. Why? Well, I blog for my clients, I help my coaching clients create content and schedules, and I really see the value in it. But my own blog, my own content, has frequently found itself at the bottom of my ever changing to-do list. I decided to change that for 40 days. Because in order to learn, we sometimes need to push ourselves.

Why 40 days? Well, because I’m always pushing myself… and I’d seen a number of 30 day blog challenges and decided to go one (or 10) better, with a 40 day blogging challenge. Was it a good decision? I don’t know yet. At day 30 something I realise that I have no more blogs in draft or scheduled, so I need to get my writing head on and crack on. Have I bitten off more than I can chew by insisting I publish a blog each day for 40 days? Of course I have. But does that make me feel that I shouldn’t have done it? Absolutely not.

I read Natasha Courtenay-Smith’s book, The Million Dollar Blog (looks like you can get a free chapter if you visit her site here!) and it cemented and expanded on all my blogging beliefs (if you’re even vaguely interested in blogging, I would really recommend this book!). Now, I didn’t read the book because I want to make a million dollars from my blogging skills (I’m really not THAT interesting!), but I loved reading the stories about some of the most successful bloggers out there and then thinking about the strategies that they used and applied helped them grow. I like stuff like this. That’s why I read so many business books and listen to so many audiobooks and podcasts. It gets my mind whirling. This can cause me to have brilliant ideas, or off the wall ideas and, in some cases, assures me that I’m not the only one with certain beliefs. Natasha mentioned a 30 day blogging challenge in her book (I think there’s actually another book about this – but I honestly haven’t read it or even Googled it, I just took the suggestion at face value!)… and that’s why I decided to go 40.

So, now I’m on day 30 something, in some ways I feel like I have bitten of a bit more than I can chew with the 40 day blogging challenge, but truth be told, I’ve learnt SO much that I can pass onto my clients. I will now be able to relate, completely, to the issues that they have when they blog, because in 40 days, I will have, most likely, experienced quite a lot of them. I’m also really loving the actual creative process. It sounds stupid as I write most of the day with my PR and marketing hat on, well, unless I’m coaching, but writing stuff, just for me, is rather liberating. Being able to write how I speak is also rather lovely – it’s easy and fast. Of course, I’m dealing with my ‘is there a typo somewhere?’ hang ups. Well, I say I’m dealing with, I have to give myself a metaphorical slap in the face about this as that little voice would stop me from ever pressing publish, but I think I’m dealing with it. A typo still drives me mad though. But at least it takes seconds to correct when it’s been spotted. I also know the good it’s doing for my website, my brand, my new direction and more. I’ve had lovely emails and comments as a result of some of my blogs. I feel that some of them have really helped people and, like I read business books and listen to podcasts and audiobooks to learn and reassure, I think some people are using my blogs in the same way. And that makes me feel really good. Like I’m making a difference.

Next time you feel like you’ve bitten off more than you can chew, think about how far you’ve come since you started the process you’re now feeling a little swamped by. I promise that by the time you’ve finished thinking about it, looked at all your successes, accomplishments and learning, you won’t feel half as bad.

What do you think? When was the last time you felt like you’d bitten off more than you could chew? How did you handle it? I’d love to hear.