As someone who has been blogging for over 9 years now, one of the things that has fascinated me for a long time is trying to understand the seemingly endless motivation I and many others have for blogging.
I know I didn’t start out having this motivation when I first started blogging.
It’s a mindset that I cultivated inside my mind which now allows me to blog consistently for long periods of time, without giving up, while so many other people quit.
So what is this mindset?
What set of beliefs do I have inside my mind which allow me to continue blogging and to be committed to it for so long?
After searching for an answer to this for quite some time, I think one of the PRIMARY beliefs and mindsets that I have related to my blogs is one of LEGACY.
Let me explain what I mean by that.
When I speak with most people who are starting a Blog, their mindset and thinking focuses mostly on what blogging can do for them today, tomorrow or the next day.
Meaning, their thinking is very short term and they think about Blogging in terms of “If I invest my time and energy writing this blog post, what do I get out of it now?”
Nothing wrong with that line of thinking, and I think that was as well…
…however, there’s also another mindset that I have about Blogging that goes far beyond that.
When I write my Blog posts, I also think about how my Blog post might be able to help someone today, tomorrow, a week, a month, a year or even 500 years from now.
I believe that we’ve reached a point in our civilization where everything we publicly publish on the Internet gets recorded and stored forever.
Therefore, when I write a Blog post I see it as a complete possibility that someone even 500 years from now may be reading a Blog post I write today or a video that I produce, no different from how today we read the works of authors who wrote things hundreds of years ago.
In fact, since my spiritual beliefs are that who we really are is an everlasting Soul and because I believe in re-incarnation, it’s entirely possible that perhaps one day I may be drawn to read my own Blog posts in another incarnation!
At the very least I can see the possibility of at least some of the content that I produce on my Blog outliving me and having a positive impact on someone even after I’m no longer here.
Just the same way that a person like Bruce Lee left his legacy of films, interviews, philosophies and his martial art – Jeet Kune Do – for generations to consume and be inspired by, I believe every one of us has the ability to create content as Bloggers or Video Bloggers and leave our own legacy with it.
For me Blogging is a passion and it’s a way I generate income for myself and my family, but it’s also something I look at as a way to leave a piece of myself as a legacy for future generations.
I find it inspiring to visualize someone today, or a month from now, or 1 year from now or 50 years from now or 100 years from now reading one of my Blog posts, or watching one of my videos and getting value from it.
I think it is because I have essentially programmed my mind to believe THAT scenario as an entirely realistic possibility, that I find the motivation to keep Blogging while so many other people quit.
The reason being is that the way I look at it is even if I write a Blog post today, and it doesn’t generate any income for me today or tomorrow or it doesn’t get a lot of comments or responses, or even if Google doesn’t rank it well in their search engine – it doesn’t really matter, because I know that if I put positive intention and energy into it, my Blog post WILL help someone somewhere at some point in time.
If not today, maybe tomorrow, or the next day, or 500 years from now.
I have that faith because I’ve conditioned my mind to believe that, and that belief helps me to continue to Blog and to ENJOY the process of Blogging. 🙂
What about you?
Have you found something that inspired you to continue Blogging long term?
If so, what is it?
Never thought of the “one day I may be drawn to read my own Blog posts in another incarnation!”
That is so cool to think eh?
Like, what would I like my future self to remember? Imagine if we could take the knowledge we have now and share it with a younger version of ourselves… just way neat.
thank you for that perspective Paul
Yeah, it’s pretty fascinating to consider that possibility. It’s also equally possible that some of the authors of the past who have written books many years ago before we were born were actually US as well. 🙂
Awesome post, Paul!
I agree with Tamara, the thought of reading some of my own content in a later incarnation is fascinating.
And what you said about LEGACY is right on! I’ve been blogging for about 3 1/2 years myself and having made that distinction early on has really helped with getting to where I am today.
I encourage everyone to get absolutely CLEAR on why it is they are involved in what they’re doing, tie it to their legacy and vision, and put it in front of themselves every single day.
Love and light =).
I recall my first blog entry on June 24th 2005. I started the blog because my songwriting mentor had started one. I said in my first blog, “At least it will be cathartic. Counseling is 125.00/hr US and all you do is sit and bitch to someone you don’t know”. Yep it’s kind of like blogging. Then in 2013, I got really serious as I moved to a new part of the country and actually found my material being published by a “daily” that was associated with Fox news. I started getting all kinds of traffic and my material was being used on “Red Eye” and “The Five” by Greg Gutfeld.
Pretty soon I found myself writing like a machine and the passion was gone. I wrote over 200 articles in less than 6 months. Blogging is like a diet. If you think of it as a “restrictive” diet, you’ll fail. If you can incorporate it into your lifestyle, you’ll be much more productive and happier as blogging is still “Cathartic”.
This is a great perspective Paul. When you view blogging as more than just a way to generate income as quickly as possible and look at it as creating a legacy and goodwill in the universe, it doesn’t seem like work anymore and it’s actually fun. This is something I am getting clear on now so I can inspire myself to be a consistent blogger. Thank you for writing this post.
Gosh I read this blog post and had to leave a comment and share. Today I recorded a video about patience and consistency. So when I read this it really resonated with me. As a fellow blogger I definitely have that bug. It is definitely about the process. Thanks for sharing this.
You’re welcome Sonia. Glad you enjoyed the post. 🙂