There is one sure way to tell when I’m feeling bad about my blog and its lack of progress.
I go looking to see what others bloggers are doing and compare their progress with mine.
Yeah. Not the best thing to do.
Comparing yourself to other bloggers just makes you feel like you aren’t capable, that you don’t have the same opportunities and that you can not succeed at blogging.
And that is not true.
Jon Acuff says “Don’t compare your beginning to someone else’s middle, or your middle to someone else’s end.”
Every blogger is on a different path. We each have different resources and different talents that we bring to our blogs. And we also have different barriers that affect our blogging. Having your time limited because you work a full-time job is a big barrier. Other bloggers may not have to squeeze working on their blog in the small amounts of time that you have to work on yours.
Comparison will only make you feel even worse than you already do about your blog. It will discourage you and make it hard for you to want to work on your blog.
So how can you stop the comparison cycle once it starts?
First, recognize the times when you start with the comparison trap. What is happening with your blog when you start going down the rabbit hole? What is happening in your job and life that triggers it?
Then know this is normal. That doesn’t mean it’s a good thing to do. It just means that you are not the only one who does this.
Now that you know what trigger you have, what other task or action can you work on developing that you can do whenever you get the hankering to start the blog comparison?
One thing that might help you get out of your bad blog funk is to look at the progress you’ve made on your blog. Did you have more visitors this month than last month? Was your affiliate income up? Did you get 4 posts set up as draft posts to work?
Seeing the successes you’ve had on your blog(yes, even the small ones!) is a much better activity to do than looking for ways you are failing at blogging. Progress can motivate you more than the guilt or jealousy you feel when you fall into the blogging comparison trap.
Keeping track of your blog wins doesn’t have to be difficult. To help I designed a blog progress printable that you can add to your blog planner or journal, someplace where you can easily read it when you get the urge to feel bad about your blog.
Then come join us in the Moonlighting Bloggers Facebook group where we understand how you feel and can help you get back into the blogging groove.