11 signs you’re no longer enjoying blogging

Is blog writing becoming a chore for you instead of an exciting brand-building exercise? Here are 11 symptoms of your blogging fatigue, along with their remedies

Image: Priscilla Du Preez | Unsplash

It’s a story as common as you may think. You create a resolution at the start of the year to write and publish a blog post every day, week, fortnight, or month. You bang out a few posts, and each of them gets a lot of love from your readers.

But soon, your motivation starts wearing out. The reason could be anything. Maybe it’s life coming in the way. Perhaps, it’s your disappointing blog stats. Your promotions are probably not working.

The point is you lose interest. Your analytics page begins to reflect your faltering passion because your followers can smell it through your blog posts. And then it becomes a vicious cycle. You think nobody’s interested in your blog, so you curse the world, starting with your impassive friends.

Soon, you stop caring. You go a week without blog writing and posting, and then a month. One month turns to two, and eventually a year.

If this is you, you’re not alone, my friend. This is more or less my situation right now. I currently feel anything’s better than blogging, though nothing can remotely compete with throwing everything away and running for the hills. (Better if those hills are devoid of any internet connectivity so I just cannot post anything and find a valid excuse for it.)

But giving up isn’t the solution, I remind myself. Not even if blogging is worth swapping for something else.

So, let’s sit for some introspection together, shall we? Inspired by my own condition, here are 11 signs you’re getting bored of blogging. I also list out some potential solutions, so be sure to give them a shot. Hopefully, you’ll get your enthusiasm back in time. For now, let’s mull these symptoms over and nip them in the bud before it gets too late:

1. You have to push yourself to blog

Writing should ideally be smooth, easy-breezy, effortless, and organic.

Your blog post should preferably emerge from your own life and activities, through note-taking and the like.

But if you have to block out a specific window for blogging (meaning, writing + editing multiple times + inserting tags and keywords + publishing + promoting), you’re only going to run out of motivation when the time arrives. (Fun fact: This happens with me more often than you think.)

Some experts say creating a bank of posts is the solution. But then again, it can only work if you have the necessary discipline and willpower, which are already scant in the first place.

Solution: Don’t wait to write until your stipulated blogging time. Jot down your thoughts as and when they occur. Rants, vents, musings—anything. It’s always better to show up armed with notes during your blogging time than staring at a blank Word page with an ominously blinking cursor. Mine out a useful post from them, and you’d have found a gem amid the stones. (How do you think this particular blog post was born, eh?)

Here’s an example of a blog post I rustled up from one of my life situations—after being snubbed by the lead actor of a movie at its premiere. My original plan was to review the film, but I ended up with this unforgettable story instead.

2. You want to do anything but blog

You want to cook, party, binge-watch the latest season of any show in existence, read anything you can lay your hands on. You’re game to poring over even the most yawn-inducing annual reports on Earth than thinking of writing your next blog post (which is quite a serious symptom of blogging fatigue, I must admit). The mere thought of putting out a post and promoting it makes you cringe. But then you have a commitment to honour, so how do we fix this?

Solution: Combine blogging with the activities you enjoy. Trying a new recipe? Print it out or copy it down and take notes against it after testing it out. Have some party-planning tips? Spell out a few for the rest of us mortals.

Binge-watching shows? Review them and share your watch-list and why you’re so excitedly looking forward to these series. Annual reports? Decipher them for the crowd. You get the drift.

Your blogging niche should correspond with the activities you truly enjoy and automatically carve out time for. Only then can your readers sense your passion, too. Oh, and here’s a handy list of blog topics to pick from.

3. You get an inferiority complex on seeing other people’s blogs

You check out other bloggers’ websites and their social-media numbers and blue ticks and then you look at your own. You feel a pit in your stomach as your subconscious mind compares these stats and symbols in a jiffy. You believe you seriously have a long way to go, and you wonder how much time it would take and whether it’s even worth the effort. You might even contemplate switching your niche for a widely read one.

These feelings are completely natural, but at the same time, can be quite toxic if you let them take over you. We need to realise that nobody’s perfect and that every established blogger has had their share of struggles before they’ve reached the position they’re at. Even at present, not all their days are equal. Besides, we miss out on some vital learning by avoiding reading other blogs.

Solution: Wear blinkers. Post your blog, promote it, and get out. There’s nothing else in our control, nor can we do anything else about it.

Learn more about blogging and promoting—the internet is a clubhouse of resources, after all.

Talk to your blogger friends. Ask them lots of questions, be willing to learn. They may have just the gold you so desperately seek. Don’t forget to check with them about guest-posting opportunities. (Tip from a YouTube sensation I once spoke to: Be regular and consistent. There’s no other way to stardom.)

If nobody wants to talk to you or help you, it’s their karma, so leave them to their devices, get back to your business, make Google your guru, and run your own race.

4. Your feel overwhelmed by the plethora of blogging resources out there

The best part about blogging is learning something new and sharing it with the world. Also, amping up your blog’s stats using whatever you’ve learned from blogging tutorials and resources.

But if the countless articles and pieces of advice out there on blogging feel like a never-ending deluge of files on an office desk, it’s understandable. Some of these nuggets may even contradict each other, and that may obviously add to your confusion. In this case, it’s natural to feel you’re doing something wrong or not doing enough and, so, want to give up. So, how do we work this out?

Solution: Take each resource one day or week at a time. Apply the fix, observe and monitor, then document the results. You’ll automatically have a blog post out of these experiments, too. Remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day, and nor will your blog.

Don’t overthink SEO, SEM, search engine ranking, keywords, blogging niche, etc. Just do your best and whatever you can and whatever’s convenient for you. Keep it simple. Keep making mistakes and learning from them. And most importantly, trust your inner wisdom.

5. You defer starting or continuing a blog until you have a plan, strategy, or niche in place

Many a marketing and blogging whiz come up with lists such as the 10 things we need to do before starting a blog. While their intentions are noble and well placed, they don’t really help the cause, especially if, after chancing upon one of them, you end up putting your WIP on hold out of fright or hesitation. Or worse, just don’t push out that blog post at all.

Solution: Don’t wait—just start and keep going. Learn along the way. The only thing you may want to do before you roll out your blog is keeping a bank of posts handy, but again, don’t wait too long. Even if you don’t have a paid blog website right now, it’s alright. Just start with a free one—the paid upgrade will happen when it has to.

6. You’re asking yourself why you blog

I know it’s important to have your purpose figured out for whatever you do. If you find one for your blogging pursuit, great. Else, let there be only two: writing practice and personal brand building. What you can offer, nobody else can.

Solution: Think of your blog as the documentation of your life. Any books or articles you read, you recommend and dissect them. Any lists you make, you put them up. Any unpopular opinions, you get them out.

This is the best way to create your USP—by making your blog personal. Your life has plenty more material than you think.

7. You only want to earn money from your blog

We all have this ultimate aim, don’t we? Blog monetisation. Ads. The lucrative project offers. Perhaps even a book or movie or Netflix deal.

But here’s some news for you: for any of these to materialise, you have to be a persistent blogger, who never gives up, no matter what their analytics dashboard shows.

Solution: As much as I have my issues with this movie, I’d recommend plastering Aamir Khan’s iconic dialogue from 3 Idiots as your wallpaper: “Chase excellence, not success.”

8. Your blogging analytics dictate your emotional state

I know of bloggers and web editors who lose sleep over their analytics numbers. Nothing on Earth can be more important than your physical and mental health, so please don’t do this to yourselves. It’s not even in your control in the first place. And if you obsess too much, you’ll simply bow out of blogging soon enough.

Solution: Try different times for social media promotions, analyse your data, see what works and what doesn’t. Do as much as you can. And then, step back and chill.

The keys to your happiness should lie with you, not with your analytics dashboard.

May I also suggest rewarding your failures? That every time you miss your targets, you treat yourself to a cupcake? Or a luxurious bath if you’re calorie-conscious? Always works for me, though.

9. You’re a perfectionist, and your blog feels too raw and messy for you

Hate that you still haven’t found your niche and your blog posts seem scattered and all over the place? Want to delete your previous posts out of sheer disgust? Feel like taking down your current blog and starting another one?

These are signs of perfectionism, a phenomenon said to only lead to stress, procrastination, and the untimely death of your passion before something fruitful can come out of it. I suffer from this problem most of the time, so I completely understand what it’s like.

Solution: Don’t nitpick. As my sister says, done is better than perfect. As long as you’re blogging as per your commitment, as well as learning and improving with every post, you’re doing great. Updating your old posts one at a time is also an idea.

10. You rush through your blog writing

Instead of slowing down and relishing the process of blogging, you’re always in a haste to get your posts out. You don’t pause or take breaks. You even skip your meals. Flow and mindfulness go out of the window, and your posts begin to show your hurried tone. If this is you, it’s probably your inner taskmaster at play, so let’s sort them out.

Solution: Mindfulness, mindfulness, mindfulness.

There are plenty of articles on the subject, so do peruse and practise focusing on the present moment as much as possible so you can enjoy blogging instead of dreading or speeding through it. Try The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle.

11. You want people to read your blog

Wait, don’t we write so people can read? Isn’t that the primary goal of every piece of written work, including blogs? Actually, that’s not how it should work. We write so we can express, not impress, and create a record of our lives. We don’t want to give any Fs about who reads and who doesn’t. If people read, great. If they don’t, we’re still happy. And that’s how it should ideally be.

Solution: Your blog readership isn’t really in your hands, even if you do all the keyword research in the world. Write, publish, share, promote, learn, relax, repeat—that’s all I can say here. Best of luck.