1. I’m forgoing my regular Quick Quotes Weekly.
2. There are some subtle changes here on the site.

Both of these anomalies are in service of something that I cannot wait for you to check out. My friend Mike Vardy, a well known “productivitist”¹, and I are starting the aptly named Mikes on Mics podcast.

What’s it about? It will be a weekly conversation between two techies as we talk about striving to live a more productive life. Well, Mike strives and I struggle, but I digress… It will be a mixture of tips, tricks, tools and tactics, but we also want to take steps back to look at the bigger picture. We want to give context as to how productivity fits into our work, our hobbies and most importantly of all, our families.

So why the hell am I doing this? It’s a fair point and to be honest, it started as a sarcastic remark on Twitter to Mike Vardy. He jumped on the idea and I finally admitted that it was something I’d secretly been considering for a while. It also really jives with my personal goals for the year. My three words are Build, Connect and Deepen and this project strikes all three chords:

• It gives me the opportunity to make something using many of the techie skills I’ve picked up over the past year,
• It will allow me to drag several of my amazing internet friends on and hopefully expose more of you to more of their great work.
• Best of all, it will allow me to deepen my relationship with listeners and guests of the show. It also lets me continue to grow my budding friendship with Mr. Vardy², someone I’ve always respected and have quickly grown to trust.

Speaking of, who the hell is Mike Vardy? I’m glad you asked! Mike is a seasoned and consummate podcasting pro, which makes up for my amateurish ways. His resume could easily fill a post of its own, but you can currently find his personal writing at Vardy.me and he is one of the two editors over at Lifehack.org. Mike’s a fellow believer in the power of productivity done right³ and is a generally all around good guy⁴. If you aren’t already following him, you should be.

And why is there a need for yet another productivity podcast? Great question! Unfortunately you’re going to have to listen to Episode Zero, the aptly titled “Dear God, Not Another Productivity Podcast”, to find out why.

Our first official episode will post on Monday, but in the meantime, it would mean the world to me if you’d give Episode Zero a listen and subscribe in iTunes. We’re just getting our legs underneath us, so bear with us as Mike gets me over the podcasting learning curve. I have a feeling there are going to be several interesting conversations and amazing guests along the way. I hope you follow along.

1. It’s a thing, look it up… actually, I just looked it up and it turns out it’s not a thing…
2. He makes me call him that.
3. And by done right, we mean that all of this prep inevitably leads to you actually doing something.
4. Or at least his dark side or inner diva hasn’t quite emerged just yet.

The intention to be epic gets in the way of doing work. I know this, because I’ve tried to be epic. In the middle of the year, I decided I was only going to show up if I had something brilliant, inspirational, or ground-shattering to share or publish. I showed up rarely. When I did show up, what I wrote didn’t land as well as I thought it would. After my digital sabbatical for the month of July, I made a rule. I have to show up, no matter what. I’ll experiment every day. Even if what I write is boring, at least I showed up. What I found is sometimes the most mundane things I shared have touched people. Yes, this doesn’t mean I’m being epic every day. But life isn’t all epic. Everything I think will be epic usually isn’t. The reality is this: trying to be epic all of the time gets in the way of doing the work.


So I show up instead.

Part of hitting publish with even a moderate level of frequency is accepting that you will inevitably read some of your own work and cringe. As much as we might want to, we can’t be “on” all the time, we can only try to be. Part of getting better and part of creating requires occasionally being worse. Experiments fall flat, you were careless or you just had a bad day, but at some point you’re likely to “fail.”

You want to ask yourself, “Is it good enough?” You want to take the time to edit and you should do everything you can to publish something you’re proud of, but we are often our worst critics. As Ev says, the thing we hate, will often be the piece that connects. The opposite unfortunately often proves to be true as well, you’ll think you nailed it, but the words just don’t connect.

It also takes time to get good with any level of consistency. If you’re new to creating, doing great work isn’t something you’re going to excel at right away and for those of us who choose to do our work in public, it will occasionally haunt us.

More often than not, it isn’t a question of quality, it’s a matter of doubt. You’re looking for a reason to finally convince yourself that you’re not good enough. You’re looking for a reason to quit. Creating is hard. In fact, for those of us who aren’t adept at it, it’s damn near impossible.

Don’t try to be epic; just work hard enough to make something that is. Take Ev’s advice and show up as often as you possibly can. Do it frequently enough and one of these days you may make something that surprises you. Speaking of, if you aren’t subscribing to his brief, yet inspiring daily newsletter, you’re missing out.

As long as you’re striving (and working damn hard) to create high-quality, relevant work for your audience, you’ll never really fail. Accept that you’re in the process of improving and embrace the fact that some of what you share will miss the mark. At the end of the day, there’s only one real failure for those looking to create and that’s is not making anything at all.

Tangents come at you all day long. Shiny objects flash before your eyes; the wants and needs of others will always try and knock you off your path. While many are adept at managing these distractions, the ADHD-sufferers among us have to learn ways to filter these things out in order to forge ahead. Inevitably we have to buckle down and begin to understand the concept of focus² and work on ways to work around our own nature.

Inevitably, through experience and practice, we get better. We learn to stay on track, to keep our head down and to get things done. But the same things that help us get ahead are often the same things that end up killing our creativity. We fight so hard to stay on task that things become rote rather than instinctual. We become so focused on focusing that we lose our natural ability to take everything in.

One of the best ways to fight this is by capturing your ideas. Find fast ways to get them down and get back to what you were doing. For me, this is a combination of nvALT and Omnifocus, for you a piece of paper or a Field Notes journal and a good pen might be all that’s needed. Come back to these notes every so often and see if they still pull at your attention. It’s easy to be excited about an idea in the minute; it’s a greater challenge to reignite that spark at a later date. Getting the bones of your idea down lets you overcome the fear of losing something magical, but helps you get back to your work. Regularly visit these notes, ruthlessly eliminate the garbage and figure out what you want to do about the rest.

Then again, sometimes capturing and moving on won’t be enough. Sometimes the distraction is a message and true mastery isn’t in its elimination, but in knowing when to indulge in it. Distinguishing this particular grey area is often one of the great challenges the distractible will face. It’s learning the difference between trying to tell yourself something vs. when you are looking to avoid things. Both breeds of distraction appear to be the same on the surface, but one will quickly get you lost while the other leads you where you need to go.

Figuring out which is which… for some, this will never be a problem. For us, it will be a lifelong battle. You’ll never truly know with 100% certainly if you’re making the right choices, but if you keep looking to ask the right questions and work to determine what really matters, you have a far better chance of getting it right.

1. Then again it’s also the root of quite a few crappy ones, but another post for another day…
2. I can’t tell you how many people take a natural understanding of focus for granted…

From Gini Dietrich:

Being an introvert doesn’t mean you are shy or have no social skills. It means you get your energy from being alone while extroverts get their energy from being around people. Lots of people.

Gini’s thoughts on collaborating with introverts got me thinking about my own extroversion. I know, I know, you’re shocked to find out that I, one of the loudest humans on the planet, am a diehard extrovert. Shock aside, Gini’s thoughts on giving introverts both space and privacy to do their work got me thinking about some of my own comments surrounding the idea of a quiet mind or “boredom.”

None of my best work comes from quiet. If given space to roam freely, my brain tends towards nonsense. Sure, from time to time, I’ll have a shower revelation or use that time to plan my day, but for the most part, my brain does not spend idle time well. It doesn’t seek out those problems hiding just beneath the surface of my consciousness. It doesn’t organize my week on its own. For me, getting things done, making things and being mindful are all an active process.

At our core, we extroverts pull our energy from being around you. While this certainly extends to my face-to-face interactions, I’m also discovering that it holds true for a decent amount of my better thinking. My best ideas almost always come from you. It isn’t that I’m stealing (per se), but I get a feeling that sounds similar to the natural problem solving that I hear people speak about when they allow themselves to become bored. It happens when I engage with a book, a blog or a podcast. It often happens when I’m having a conversation with someone, which is not often ideal. My brain just revs in the background and kicks into a higher gear, especially when I’m around someone who is interesting or challenging me.

What I end up creating is only somewhat related to what the person was initially saying, but it is clearly fueled by their energy. Gini’s passion for the subject and examination of her own introversion sent me down the rabbit hole of my extroversion. I would never have come to the conclusion of why so much of the talk surrounding quiet or “boredom” rings false for me. You’ll read her post and it won’t be immediately clear how 1+1=2, but had this problem in the back of my mind never collided with her work, I wouldn’t be writing these words right now.

Rather than thinking people are full of crap when they extol the benefits of quieting their minds (I’m sorry, but for the longest time I really did think you were full of it), I think I’ve just realized that I get to the same destination by taking a very different road. I’m sure that there is a pretty good chance that I need to get better at being alone with my thoughts. It’s likely that I need to cultivate a better relationship with my own mind, but for the minute, surrounding myself with all of your ideas seems to be doing the trick.

So fellow extroverts, am I alone? Or is there something to this idea of extroverted thinking? Not finding the benefits of “boredom” or quiet? Give this a shot and let me know what you think. Find something inspiring and see if it inspires you to make something of your own.

Blogging is a sandbox

When setting out to get our act together, we’re going to have to experiment at first. We’re going to have to try things, we’re going to have to suck at them for a while and several of our ideas and initiatives are likely to fail. A blog gives us a contained environment in which we can test ourselves. It requires us to make and keep commitments. It lets us learn new technologies and shows how they can both speed up, as well as improve our work. It demands new skills and helps us to improve on our existing strengths. It’s a place where when we make a mistake, they happen in a contained and controlled environment.

Blogging is a commitment

When we decide to write for yourself, when we decide to keep a journal, we’re making a promise to ourselves. Most of our track records aren’t great here; even a cursory look at the success rate of New Years Resolutions will confirm that for you. If we skip a day, we overlook it, we come up with some pathetic excuse for why we “just couldn’t.” When we take the same commitment and make it public, we’re held to a higher standard: the expectation of others. That may sound like a great reason not to start a blog, but if you struggle with consistency public commitment may be exactly what’s needed to ensure you keep it.

Blogging is a practice

As someone who is naturally inclined toward the inconsistent, the idea of delivering five posts a week was frightening. But what started as a struggle slowly and painfully turned into a practice. It took a long time. While writing quickly became a habit, I still felt like it could fly away at any moment. It wasn’t until I pushed through habit and into practice, that I truly understood the value of what I had been doing for the past eight months. There isn’t a version of the world that I can imagine now where writing isn’t an intrinsic part of the way I look at the world. Unlike a habit, a practice goes deeper; it isn’t something that is just as easily broken as it is created. It’s a part of you. A writing practice is a great place to start and a blog is an ideal venue. If you really want to become a better version of yourself, you need to stop making the kinds of habits that break and start forming practices that last.

Blogging is a skill builder

A blog forces you to pick up a few new tricks. While you don’t need to know how to code a damn thing (I don’t), you are going to have to figure out the basics. You’re going to learn how to set of set up and maintaining a site. You’re going to learn how to format and post you’re work to the web. You’re going to discover tools and tricks for spreading the word about your work. Setting up a self-hosted blog¹ can seem frightening to many, but once you get start working your way through the process you realize that it’s more intimidating than it is challenging. This willingness to embrace, rather than eliminate new technologies can help push you forward, both on your blog and in any endeavor you attempt.

Blogging makes you a better thinker

I don’t care how smart or how stupid you think you are, regularly taking the time to work through your thoughts gives them a new kind of clarity. The more you write and unravel the mess in your mind, the better you become at it. Thinking, like exercise, gets easier with practice. As you grow stronger, you reach further. Take the time you would normally spend wandering off in front of the TV and spend it at your keyboard. It will bring you far closer to your goals and your thoughts than any quality time you’ll squander on the Kardashians.

My efforts to improve began with the creation of this site. At first, it suffered many of the same pitfalls as other projects I’ve struggled on in the past, but over time it has grown into a safe place to experiment, to reflect and to grow.

So if you’ve been wondering why I’ve been going on about learning to be a better blogger, here’s why I think you should be doing this or something like it in the first place. When you commit to writing for a site, you begin to see the world through blog-colored sunglasses. You naturally become more mindful as the very act of writing requires you to think deeply about your actions and interests. Committing to write (and in my case, committing to doing it publicly) was the start of something important for me. It was the beginning of a better understanding of my own mind, something that I think a lot of us who struggle could really use.

I hope these answer the few questions I’ve received asking why I’m both a big proponent of blogging and why I plan to spend a decent amount of this site’s time talking about how you can be better at it.

1. and dear god people, self-host your blogs

Make good stuff, then make it easy for people to buy it. There’s your anti-piracy plan.

Jonathan Coulton <— Click To Read More Smart Stuff!

Any place I can find friction, and remove it, is an area of my life or business that I can push closer to my goals.

Aaron Mahnke <— Click To Read More Smart Stuff!

The greatest opportunity cost you have as a human is not taking your own ideas seriously.

AJ Leon <— Click To Read More Smart Stuff!

I’m thinking there may be a market in being the guy who helps to un-train you of all the ‘tips’ that the ‘experts’ teach you.

Patrick Rhone (Hat tip to CJ Chilvers) <— Click To Read More Smart Stuff!

Your biggest regrets contain a storehouse of wisdom — perhaps some of your most important discoveries — yet you still must dare to explore them.

James Shelley <— Click To Read More Smart Stuff!

If you like what you see, be sure to visit and subscribe to my Tumblr blog, Smarter Than I Am!  Need more inspiration?  Click here to see a random quote, it is just like a fortune cookie, only smarter!

Leaving Google is going to be a lot of work…and compromise. But it’ll be worth it since they just turned full heel on us all.

Mike Vardy

My soon-to-be Podcasting Co-host¹ dropped a bomb on Twitter. He is leaving Google in light of some of their recent, questionable decisions. He is slowly but surely going to unravel as much of his life as possible from their services. And from my understanding, his life is rather raveled in them.

Between recent privacy changes (which I agree with Ben Brooks on, it isn’t a problem for me) and Search Plus Your World (which I agree with MG Siegler on, it’s a relevancy problem for Google as well as a ethical issue for me), many of us can’t help but question Google. So much of this just feels like the strong-arm tactics we saw from Microsoft in the ’90s.

Showing themselves this kind of favoritism not only weakens their core service, it’s an indication that Google is willing to go far beyond leveraging their power in search. They are willing to mortgage it.

So much of my life is spent in Google. It’s spent there because I trust them with my data. My life is deeply entwined in their services; they are at the core of how I manage my communication, my scheduling and my network. They are my foundation. Sure, they are reading my emails, my search results and probably have a camera hidden somewhere in my house, but I knew that was the deal when I signed up. They serve me up ads, I get amazing services at low to no cost. Good for the goose…

But if Google is willing to risk what they’ve built in search, you have to stop for a second and ask: what’s sacred to them? We’re all big kids here, and we understand that they’re a business and not our buddy pals, but it certainly shows what kind of company they plan to become and worse yet betrays who they’ve always been. And that, I’m not sure I can continue to trust… but to be completely honest, I’m not sure I’m willing to unravel from it either. I’ve spent a lot of time getting my act together, building up a foundation for getting things done and Google plays several key roles in that structure. That may not seem like a big deal to others, but to when it’s something you’ve lacked for most of your life, you don’t give it up all that easily.

I’m not proud to admit it, but Google has me exactly where they want me… so deeply entwined in their services that I’ll just turn a blind eye whatever nonsense they try to pull. Just as Google is willing to leverage everything for dominance in social media, I can’t help but wonder if my own desire for their services will drive me to ignore their actions. Sure, in theory I can use all of Google’s services except search, where they make their money, but that seems like a pathetic and hypocritical attempt at “taking a stand.” And while I seriously admire Mike’s stance, I can’t help but remember Quit Facebook Day and question the futility of leaving either (then again, I’m probably just rationalizing staying). Hopefully the FTC does something, hopefully enough people with Google speak out and they back off a bit, but to be honest, I doubt it.

So at the end of the day, here’s the question… is Mike Vardy a man of morals? overreacting? Or just one of the first of many?

1. oh, yeah, I’m going to be doing a podcast with Mike Vardy… SURPRISE!

Unrelated side note: My post on being lazy proved to be one of my longer ones, so I recorded a podcast for you slackers. You should also feel free to be even lazier and download my Keyboard Maestro Macros and TextExpander Snippets.

There are parts of me that want to tell you how busy I am. To explain how my hectic schedule forces me to think long and hard about how I write. To share how this struggle set me on a path to figure out how to format my writing as quickly as possible for this site.

In truth, I’m lazy and that laziness has led me to figure out all of the shortcuts that let me to format my work for the web as quickly as humanly possible. Since I’m assuming that some among you are fairly lazy yourselves, it only seems fair that I spare you the work of figuring this out for yourself and share my tips and tricks.

Why Markdown?

Why would a lazy person write in Markdown? Easy! There is no faster way to format your text for the web. It’s easy to learn (you should be fluent in about an hour, even if you’ve never coded before¹) and it’s fast to write in. It allows you to save all of your files in plain text, which is essentially the most universal format there is, and is easy for anyone who edits your work (and boy does my work need editing) to read (and correct).

Now in theory, once you’ve learned the basics, you’re good to go. The beauty of Markdown is that you don’t need aids to quickly format for the web. The thing is… we’re lazy and we want to do it faster and easier, so here’s how…

Making Markdown Even Faster

I currently use a mix of TextExpander (when formatting as I write) and Keyboard Maestro (when formatting something that’s already been written).

Wrapping Text

When creating links, bolding and italicizing text, you need to “wrap” your text. This means that your brackets, parentheses, asterisks and underscores need to appear before and after the word(s) you are formatting. There are several ways to speed this up, but in this case, the best option is actually the simplest: use an application that automatically does this for you. Both nvALT and Byword will automatically wrap brackets, parentheses and quotation marks (and I’m hoping that Scrivener adds this sometime soon) and Byword lets you use a keyboard shortcut for both bolding and italicizing text. I’ve also created TextExpander snippets for quickly writing bold and italic text and Keyboard Maestro macros when I need to format something that was already written that will work in any application².

Links Four Ways

When writing in Markdown there are four primary ways I create links. Two use TextExpander and two harness Keyboard Maestro³.

1. No Text, No Link – Let’s say you are writing and want to quickly link to a domain that you know off the top of your head. All you need to do is use a pre-formatted TextExpander snippet that provides two blank fields: one for the text you want to use and another for the URL. The cursor moves to the end of the line so you can just keep typing after you’ve made your link without losing a step.
2. No Text, Link On The Clipboard – Now you’re writing and want to create a link for the URL on your clipboard. This time, you evoke another pre-formatted snippet, one that has a blank field for the text, but pastes the URL in its proper place. Once again, the cursor is placed at the end of the link and off you go.
3. Text, Link On The Clipboard – This is the most common link in my repertoire. I tend to format after I write, so the goal is to quickly highlight some text and create a link using the latest URL on the clipboard. Keyboard Maestro makes this fast and easy. Geek Tip: If you’re a LaunchBar user, their clipboard history speeds things up dramatically when creating multiple links. Just copy all of your links onto the clipboard, switch back to your text file and use the history to quickly find the one you need.
4. Text, No Link – Sometimes I forget to add a link or decide to add something after the fact. If I know the link off the top of my head, all I need to do is highlight the text, and use a Keyboard Maestro macro that asks me to enter the link.

All of these create what are known as inline links, so the Markdown savvy amongst you may be wondering about reference links. While I have a few snippets and macros for creating these, I honestly found it easier to create everything inline and use Brett Terpstra’s amazing service that converts all reference links into references. Why bother doing this? Simple, I have chimp grammar and my wife finds documents with reference links easier to edit.

Headers, Page Breaks, Block Quotes, Bullets And Numbered Lists

To be honest, there are probably some ways to speed these up, but like I said, I’m lazy. When creating links or bolding and italicizing text, I find macros and snippets to be extremely helpful. The same doesn’t really hold true when dealing with headers, page breaks, block quotes, bullet lists and numbered lists. With the exception of block quotes, typing them out the old fashioned way seems fastest to me. As far as block quotes are concerned, I’ve always found it easiest to highlight your text and use Byword’s Command-’ keyboard shortcut. In fact, Byword has a ton of great Markdown keyboard shortcuts for the lazy, including a few that speed up the creation of numbered and bullet lists.

Markdown On The Go

Once again, Brett Terpstra comes to the rescue with some fast and easy snippets that help you to format Markdown on your iPhone and iPad. You can subscribe to the URL and always have these at your fingertips, but I’ve found it faster to type on the phone and format on my Mac in Byword using all of the tricks above. I’ll occasionally create headers, lists and bold or italicize text, but I’ve found creating links to be a royal pain on iOS. While I’m yet to give it a go, fellow Markdown junky Mike Vardy swears by Writing Kit for creating Markdown on the iPad.

That Seems Like A Lot…

Now the truly lazy amongst you are probably groaning right about now that it sounds like a lot to setup and a lot to use. While the first part is very true, the second couldn’t be further from the truth. Once you commit a few keyboard shortcuts to muscle memory, you will be formatting your text faster than you ever could have imagined. As for the work, I’ve done it for you my lazy brethren. Here are my Keyboard Maestro Macros and TextExpander snippets for Markdown.

Everyone Has Their Own Way

Many Markdown lovers use and love Brett Terpstra’s Services, others love some of the powerful extensions that are available for TextMate and something tells me that Gabe from MacDrifter has some Keyboard Maestro magic up his sleeve. This is just the quickest way that I’ve found for formatting the words you see here for the web. But like I said, I’m lazy, so I’m betting there’s a better way. If you know one, share it below.

1. Trust me, I don’t know a lick of code.
2. All of these could have been done in Keyboard Maestro, but I was already so deeply engrained in TextExpander by the time I got started with that app and didn’t see the need to change.
3. Again, this could all just as easily have been done entirely in Keyboard Maestro

Last week I shot this video with my friend Gini Dietrich about changing your domain. The quick six-minute interview covers both the motivation for making a move and some of the best practices when doing this. There’s been some interesting debate in the comments and I thought I’d clarify and expand my thinking for those of you who may be considering a change.

As readers of this site may remember, as far back as November of the year 2011 (oh, the good old days) this site was MichaelSchechter.me and had been for three years. To say I had done a crappy job with it over that time would be an understatement and since committing myself to doing it right in April of that glorious 2011 era, I felt the pull to make a change.

Before I get into why I think changing to A Better Mess was a good move, let me touch on why I thought sticking with MichaelSchechter.me wasn’t. There are two reasons to use your name as your URL:

1. You are going to use this site primarily to share personal stories and insights.

2. You are at the center of your business and this is a platform for spreading awareness and driving leads.

Neither of these are my primary goals for the site.

While I share personal stories, their purpose is always to emphasize the idea of being a Better Mess, not my personal life. I’m not talking about the day-to-day joys and challenges that come from raising two young children. I’m not talking about my marriage and how I could probably be a lot better at it (sorry honey, I love you). I don’t really dive that deep into my job, my industry or what it is like to work for a family business. It’s not that I think these aren’t areas worth examining and it’s not that I don’t pull from these experiences, it’s just that sharing my personal stories isn’t going to keep me writing. Had I made it my focus, I don’t think this site would be valuable enough for others or to me for that matter.

As for my business, while I frequently write and discuss my industry online, this is not the hub for that writing. I certainly write with the intention of being a better person and a better worker, but I always try to take a firm step back to make my own professional insights useful to others. And as for the family business aspect, well… I’m probably saving that for reality TV. As for turning the blog itself into a business, while I’m no stranger to affiliate links and may consider ways to monetize in the future, this site will always be more a part of my life than my livelihood.

There are also a few minor reasons. I wanted a fresh start, even though I did keep all of the content from my initial three-year journey. Also, Schechter is not the easiest name to spell or remember and “Michael Schechter: A Better Mess” isn’t something I’d want to look at every day (no matter how true it may be).

Now, when someone comes to the sight for the first time, it’s pretty darn clear what this is all about. It’s helped focus my efforts (no easy task) and keeps me from straying too far from the ideas I want to examine here. It sets a tone that I am still working at this; I’m no expert and I was concerned that “Michael Schechter: How Even You Can Be A Better Mess” would have come off as preaching rather than sharing what I’m learning through my own struggles. It also aligns me with several of the sites that serve as the inspiration for my own writing.

In truth, the name probably won’t matter much in the long run. I will either write good, useful content and a few of you will stick around or the value just won’t be there and it really won’t matter what I call the site. Just as many will feel more comfortable with a specific type of pen or some “write better” when using a specific application, I can’t help but feel more at home at my own site after making the change. Which is ironic when you consider that it actually required taking my own name off the site in to feel that way.

Note: If you haven’t read the original Spin Sucks post, check it out. There’s some great counterpoint in the comments.

Back at the beginning, I let the writing lead the way. I was thrilled to be blogging and that excitement helped the posts come fast and furiously. This went on for just over a month. I didn’t have a posting schedule, but I was having no problem cranking out a few posts a week. Then I hit my first road bump; I can’t quite remember why now, but there is about a month-and-a-half gap. From then on out, I became yet another utterly inconsistent blogger.

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again. A blog is easy to start and hard to maintain. Much like a New Year’s resolution, everyone is enthusiastic when they decide want to eat better, quit smoking or exercise more. We rush right out, buy some healthy snacks, some nicorette or join a gym. Perhaps we even make it a month. Then we get busy, our resolve wavers and we realize that what seemed exciting at first look is really work.

Struggling isn’t a problem; that’s just the reality of attempting just about anything new. It’s what often happens next that is the problem. Instead of going back to the drawing board and deciding how to move forward, we settle into our infrequency. We crap rationalize with things like, “I’ll only write when I have something really important to say,” or “I’ll get back to blogging once I finish this project for work.” Rather than course correcting, the average blog dies a slow, painful and lingering demise. It’s a death march that not only disappoints your readers, it’s a public commitment that you’ve essentially neglected.

It’s cliché, but how you start things is how you finish them. Go in without a plan and things will not workout. If you expect that writing for your site will always be exciting then you are just setting yourself up for disappointment. You have to start by planning for the worst. You have to assume that the minute you put your site up is the minute you’re going to want to stop blogging. This ensures that you really, really want to do this and that you take the time to come up with a plan of attack.

Decide how often you are going to post and tell someone; hell tell everyone. Ask them to stay on your ass when you fall short. I post on this site five days a week. It was a challenge that I wanted to set for myself and I voiced it publicly to my readers (and asked my wife to ensure that I did). I wanted to see if I could actually get things done. Inconsistency has always been one of my greatest challenges throughout my life and this seemed like a great opportunity to finally do it right. I’ve been managing to make it happen since mid-April of last year, and I can assure you that it has not been without struggle (to be honest, I’m even a little behind the 8-ball with this week’s posts), but I didn’t start seeing growth in both my writing and my readership until I managed to become consistent.

It doesn’t have to be five days a week, but if you’re serious, I think you really have to commit to at least once a week. I’m certain that you will be able to throw plenty of examples of those who prove this theory wrong at me, but chances are, you aren’t them. Make a commitment to yourself and make a commitment to the people who spend their time with you. Determine a frequency that is right for you and then take time to plan out how you can deliver the required amount of writing (this is often where we get ourselves into trouble). If you’ve never done this before, go slow. Even if you’re extremely productive at the beginning, store your writing up. In fact, wait a month before launching your site and just write. Hold things back, because I promise, the day will come when you don’t want to do it. There will come a time when you go to the well and the well is dry. That doesn’t mean that it’s the end of your blog, it doesn’t mean that the passion won’t return, it just means that you’re like the rest of us and you’ll be prepared for that eventuality. There are days where you will fall short, just be ready and even the most inconsistent amongst us (hi!) can hit publish with consistency.

Once I got consistent, people bothered to stick around. If you look at the chart below, it’s hard to argue the value of showing up. Especially when you consider that things only started heading in the right direction when I got my act together back in mid-April of 2011, a time when I had 20 subscribers.

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