Building a successful blog can be a daunting undertaking. But taking ‘Baby Steps’ is the sure-fire way to get there
Have you ever seen a baby learning to walk?
As the father of four children -3 are all grow’d up now- 
, I can attest to both the enormous challenge that it represents as well as the incredibly rewarding outcome it promises. If you’re a parent, you know what I mean.
Of course there is a downside. Once they learn how to put on foot in front of the other, those little darlings are into absolutely everything! Nothing is immune to their curiosity.
Baby steps and your new blog
How does the concept of baby steps correlate to the success of your new blog? Because unless you can commit to taking incremental steps toward the development of your new blog, you’re sunk.
In fact, it’s the only way we can truly succeed at anything in life. We have to learn as we go. There’s no way around it.
I couldn’t have completed my education and training as a physician without attending classes, writing papers, doing the work, etc. If I’d begun my education focusing only on the 8 years it would take to get to the end, I’d have lost my mind. But breaking it down into manageable objectives and tasks, made it infinitely easier to think about and accomplish.
Launching a blog can be just as overpowering
We need a bunch of things to create a successful blog. Some of these include:
- a domain name
- a hosting company
- blogging software
- a theme
- a few plugins
- a customer profile
- an email address
- a niche to serve
- a unique selling proposition
- traffic
- advertising considerations
- products and services
- a personality
- ….and the list goes on…
Analysis paralysis
That’s quite a list. And it’s just the beginning. A list like that can be quite daunting and lead to what’s known as analysis paralysis. We become so busy thinking about all the tasks we need to accomplish that it becomes overwhelming and it stops us dead in our tracks.
Enter – Baby Steps
Smaller accomplishments, like a baby taking their steps, lead to bigger ones. Installing WordPress on your server is a huge step for one day. Registering your domain name and setting up your email is another. Writing your first post is still another. If you’re a bit further along the blogging path, setting up an advertising strategy might be a big task.
[Tip]The point is this: no matter what your goal, you can always break it down into smaller steps and take them one at a time.[/Tip]
Deciding what to do first
This is often the most imposing barrier of all. Just getting started is the hardest part. But if you think about it, it’s really just a make believe or virtual barrier. Getting started in simply a matter of inertia.
Here is a suggestion to get you over this virtual barrier and help you begin.
The mind map exercise
If done this a million times (OK, maybe less) with success each and every time.
Here’s how it works.
Place your goal or intended outcome in the center of a sheet of paper and then write all the tasks that contribute to this outcome around it.
Anything that pops into your head is fair game. No order is necessary as this is a ‘brain-dump’ of potential starting points.
Look over your list of potential starting points and decide which one feels like the most fun or is the most exciting.
Half the battle of getting started is finding the portion of the task that’s enjoyable. The mind map exercise helps you find those baby steps that are enjoyable and provides the motivation to get started.
