13 Important Life Lessons I Learned In 13 Months Of Blogging

13 Important Life Lessons I Learned As A New Blogger

I think the year 2020 will be written down in history as the year of “Embracing Change”. I am sure there is no one on this planet who has not been impacted by this change. Whether it’s in the way we work, interact, travel, study, party, and live, change has made its presence felt. The biggest change in my life was my transformation from a corporate to a creative person, which started with my Blogging Journey.

{Please note, my content may contain affiliate links for products I use and love. If you take action(i.e. subscribe or make a purchase after clicking on one of these links, I’ll earn a small commission, This helps support the blog & allows me to create more helpful content for you. Thank you for your support!}

We were captive in our own houses and started looking out for new ways of keeping ourselves motivated through the tense and stressful times.

For me, Blogging came to the rescue. Having being pushed to the wall with no options, I started looking within. What am I good at, what are my strengths, what was it that people appreciated me for? I realised that I was good at listening to people, mentoring people & sharing my life experiences & learnings. Some of these learnings were picked up & implemented by these very same people & proved helpful. Therefore maybe I could do that with the rest of the world.

And that’s how My-Ripple-Effect was born. It’s been one year since I have been blogging & it has been a roller coaster journey. It had its ups & downs, hits & misses but overall a fantastic journey. Read more about this journey of Embracing Change here.

But this blog is not about my journey but my learnings from blogging in the last year. And yes, there have been many – both technical as non-technical.

So this blog is dedicated to the lessons in life I learned from blogging & continue to do so.

My Blogging Life Lessons

1. Do Things From The Heart

When I started writing, I had no experience, and the only thing I had written was office reports and proposals. This was different. I was writing my stories and experiences now, and there was nothing right or wrong. One did not have to worry about whether it would “Sell” or not. I just wrote from my heart and waited anxiously for the reactions. They were overwhelming and encouraged me to write on what I believed in rather than the norm.

I share my stories of triumph, failures & change, whether it is in personal life as a parent or professional life as head of a function, without any qualms or guilt.

Lesson Learnt – When you do things from your heart, it shows.

2. There Is An Audience For You

So why would anyone be interested in my stories or my learnings? Because at a core level, we all human beings are the same. As a parent, we all face the same challenges whether its early years or teen years of our kids. As a working professional, we have similar stress points – managing teams, managing bosses and most importantly, managing self.

So when you hear a story similar to yours, it does 3 things :

1. You are not alone, and many are in the same boat.
2. You can learn from others experiences- what to do and what not to do.
3. And if you are the one telling the story – you can give back to the world.

I think the most heartening response I got was on my blog – How I Changed 180 And Became A Dog Lover. This is my true story. I had so many people writing to me telling me that they felt the same and may reconsider keeping a pet after reading about my experience. How wonderful is that?

Isn’t this enough reason to tell your story?

Lesson Learnt – Don’t hesitate to share your story, there are people out there, waiting for it.

3. Be Patient

Blogging never gives you instant results. Yes, some blog posts may go viral immediately, but for newcomers like us, it’s rare. I remember my early days of staring at google analytics after every hour of blog post-release. Some of my blogs did very well, while others did not gain as much traction.

I did lose heart many a time in last year, but it kept ongoing. I still look at google analytics but maybe once a day. The statistics have improved, but most importantly, I have become more patient in general.

Lesson Learnt  – Any new venture will take time.. you need to keep your sanity intact and be at it.

4. You Will Be Critiqued -both positively & negatively

Take feedback in your stride. Look at it this way- at least the person took time and effort to go through your work and then critique it. Suppose the feedback is positive, good for you but don’t take it for granted. If feedback is negative, try to find the core issue rather than focus on the noise.

But always respond back on feedback.

Lesson Learnt – Be open to feedback & if you need help – read this – 7 Tips To Accept Feedback Gracefully.

5. Blow Your Trumpet

Initially, I got feedback regularly from family & friends, which also fizzled out as I published blog after blog. I realised that I need to build my organic audience if I need to continue blogging. That’s where all social media channels came in, and I started promoting my blogs on social media channels.

Here I must acknowledge & thank my mentor & coach Shailaja V whose course provided me with the required foundation to showcase my work on social media. Whether it was her Pinterest or Blogging courses, she has the right ingredients of practical tips that work.

Lesson Learnt – It’s not only important to do good work but it’s also equally important to make a noise about it.

6. Engage Genuinely With Your Audience & Community.

Being on social media is all about networking. Networking can be of two types- Like for Like or genuine attempt to build a community.

I am not a very social person, and it takes me time to build relationships. But when I do, for me, it’s for keeps. I have the same approach for my social media handles. Till one year back, I was not on Instagram or Pinterest. I had an account on Facebook with hardly any posts. As a matter of fact, I used to view social media with a lot of contempt until I was proved wrong.

You can actually build genuine relationships on social media too. I say genuine because you may not have met these people, but they interact with you only on the basis of your work. And so can you. Thus you build a community whose foundation is mutual respect and support we provide each other.

Lesson Learnt – Social media can be used to build genuine, mutually respectful relationships.

7. Avoid Shiny Object Syndrome

Let me first explain this syndrome. The shiny object syndrome is when you always see something new and more exciting than what you are already doing. It’s similar to a child or an animal seeing something shiny far away, getting attracted to it, but losing their interest in it as they approach it. The shininess disappears, and so does the interest in the object. This is mostly used for entrepreneurs who sometimes take on new projects while not completing those they have already begun.  This, in turn, leads to low self-esteem, and one starts doubting their own capabilities.

As I started my blogging journey, I came across many experts in this field and wanted to follow all of them. And I did download all the material available from each one of them. End Result – I was thoroughly confused and lost. Also, where is the time to read all this plus write blogs plus promote them? So all these became more of distractions for me rather than channelising me towards my goal.

Lesson Learnt – Set your goal clearly & the path you will choose to achieve it. Stay firm on it, and don’t get distracted by all the noise around. Course Correction is fine but not due to the noise but genuine inputs.

8. Thoughts Will Flow

One thing I have learnt in this last one year is that it is possible to write on anything under the sun but with a caveat. What you write about should be genuine and make sense.

So many times, I have no clue how my thoughts will flow when I decide on a topic. I  postpone writing till I have this urge to pen down a few points .. and that’s the start I want. It’s always good to put down the framework and then elaborate your thoughts. Once the framework is ready, thoughts will flow.

Lesson Learnt – Don’t stop your thinking process, anything & everything can be an inspiration.

9. Blogging Is Time Consuming

Some people think blogging is something that can be done in your free time. I beg to differ. For me, blogging is a dedicated time effort proposition. Those who are serious about blogging will agree that there is a science to it.

First, you can’t start writing by snapping your fingers. You need to research trending topics, decide on one and then do research again. Then write. Once the written part is done, you need to align your blog as per SEO requirements. By the way, Shailaja has this amazing Course on SEO that you can use.

Then comes searching for relevant pictures for the blog and planning the social media promotion strategy. So you see, it’s an entire project in itself, and everything needs to fall in place as per your deadline of the launch date. This date again comes from your analytics dashboard, which you need to study every 15 days.

How does this all sound? I learnt all this in last one year.

Lesson Learnt – When you take up something new, go whole hog

10. Learn To Prioritise

Because Serious Blogging is time-consuming, especially when you are starting new, Prioritise. I initially used to spend hours on my laptop working on the blog and the various social media handles. It was understandable, too, as I needed to set the base. But it did take a toll on my personal and family time. Midway I decided I needed to slow down as I had taken up blogging as a pleasurable exercise and not to create stress. I recalibrated my priorities and am in a better space now.

Lesson Learnt – When things get stressful, stop, take a step back & recalibrate your priorities.

11. Never Underestimate Your Work

My teenage daughter reminded me of this lesson. There was a time when I was desperate for getting more traffic on my blog. I felt that I had stagnated, and the needle was not moving. During that time, I got the option of paying money and getting my blog hosted on a leading website.

My daughter stopped me from doing that. She mentioned why you are underestimating yourself by paying for your work. That deal never went through, and in hindsight, I am glad.

Lesson Learnt – If we underestimate our work, so will the others.

12. Reach Out for Help

There is so much knowledge available amongst us, only if we reach out to the right people. We need to remember this especially true when we are trying out something new. While I had written my first blog and my website was ready, I was completely lost on promoting my blog on the right platform. Or rather, I was ignorant.

There are so many people who have helped me reach where I am today. Whether it was Shailaja V, who helped me set up my Pinterest strategy or Anjuli G, whose course I took for Instagram. There was help available at home with niece Shilika & my daughter Paree helping me with my initial Instagram posts. My nephew Abhinav K helped me with my Google ads strategy.

And my sister Dr Minni Chadha who is now my official blog header artwork designer.

Lesson Learnt – There is help available around us, we just need to ask.

13. Creativity Can Be Learnt

Tina Seelig, the Stanford Technology Ventures Program executive director, has written a book, inGENIUS: A Crash Course on Creativity, to explain this point.

Seelig, while speaking to Business News Daily, says, “ “We are all naturally creative, and, like every other skill, some people have more natural talent than others. However, everyone can increase his or her [or their] creativity, just as everyone can increase his or her [or their] musical or athletic ability, with appropriate training and focused practice.” Creativity isn’t something you are; it’s a habit—and for a good reason. “The biggest myth about creativity is that it isn’t important and that it can’t be learned. In fact, it is one of the most important skills we can master,” Seelig explained.

This is quite an eye-opener for someone like me, who always thought that one is born creative, and I am certainly not the lucky one. But the pandemic has made many of us realise our creative side, whether in the kitchen, home or on paper.

Now I say confidently that If I can turn creative, anyone can. Btw painting is another new passion I have acquired. Read my story of Creativity here.

Lesson Learnt – We are all creative. We just need to realise it.

I hope you like my 13 Life Lessons from 13 months of starting something new.

If you have reached till here, it means that you do agree with what I am saying. Please do share with your friends and encourage them to take up something new.

If you would like to be a part of my tribe, please do subscribe to my Newsletter.

Thank you to my dear sister Dr Minni Chadha for the lovely blog header artwork

This Is How Blogging Taught Me 13 Important Life Lessons.

---

Other Life Lessons Posts

---