Two Key Issues That Stopped Me From Blogging

In this blog, I will talk about two key issues that acted as a roadblock for blogging. These issues are common among beginners as well as experienced writers.

The two issues I am talking about are,

1. Imposter Syndrome
2. Writer’s block

Let’s take a look at both, and I will share the strategies I use to overcome these issues.

Imposter Syndrome

A common problem faced by every blogger or writer is Imposter Syndrome.

Here is how Wikipedia defines Imposter Syndrome

Impostor syndrome (also known as impostor phenomenon, impostorism, fraud syndrome, or the impostor experience) is a psychological pattern in which an individual doubts their skills, talents, or accomplishments and has a persistent internalized fear of being exposed as a “fraud”.

From the above definition, you could have probably understood what imposter syndrome is all about.

When I started blogging, the following questions and thoughts would always pop up in my head. It gets really bad if you are not a native English speaker.

1. Will anyone understand my writing style?
2. My grammar is terrible.
3. I am not sure if I am explaining it correctly.
4. It looks like I am copying someone.
5. I cant share this with my friends. They will make fun of me.
6. I don’t think blogging is for me.

Even with all those self-doubts, I have published a 300 pages book, written more than 250 blogs, and documented many things in my day job.

These fears pop up in my head even after publishing so much content, but it doesn’t stop me from writing and publishing content.

I push myself to do it.

Nobody is perfect. Everyone learns from something or someone. 

So there is no need to put yourself in a position thinking that you are copying someone.

It takes lots of practice to create your own writing style, especially for creative writing. It’s mostly tutorials and step-by-step guides that I am comfortable writing when it comes to tech blogs.

Once you publish enough content, you can compare your latest articles with your first one. Definetly you will see a notable difference.

Once I had a curiosity to check the initial/first blogs of a famous blogger from India. I don’t want to mention his name. So here is what I did.

I checked the first page of his WordPress blog. I read the content, and It didn’t sound professional at all. His writing style got changed over time through a lot of practice and publishing.

If he had thought that his writing was terrible and stopped publishing, he wouldn’t have been a famous blogger making more than $50000 in a month.

If you want to start a blog, don’t think about anything else. Just do it. You don’t have to care about what others think about it. 

“Just listen less to your fear and more to your dreams. (From Internet)” 

Writer’s block

I started my blog with basic tech tutorials.

Over a period of time, I learned new technologies, and I had a hard time convincing myself to write basic tutorials again. It ended up in procrastination.

Every idea that came to my mind felt like very simple content. I did not publish any blogs for a long time and waited for a perfect blog idea.

Guess what? I never got an idea for perfect content. I realized it is essential to keep learning and publish content, even if it’s a simple tutorial. 

A simple tutorial might be a useful one to others.

I have my own experience in this. I have published few tech blogs for my reference, and to my surprise, it brought more traffic and comments to my blog.

My point here is, In blogging, if you think content adds value, publish it. Do not overthink.

Here is the strategy that worked for me. 

If you run out of ideas, browse through your old content and see if you can enhance it. You can start with updating the existing content, which is also good for SEO.

My key Learnings

1. Don’t try to be a perfectionist. Nobody is perfect. 
2. We tend to think that others are continually watching and talking about what we do. In reality, it’s not. No one cares what you do. Everyone has their fears and priorities. 
3. It’s ok to write blogs on simple topics even if it available all over the internet.
4. A blogger’s aim is not to impress anyone. It is to share and document the learnings and experiences.
5. Do not let any negative thoughts demotivate you. Consistent blogging will yield significant benefits in the long run that you never dreamed of.

Alright, so these are my learnings.

Share your experiences in the comments if you have comes across imposter syndrome and writer’s block.

See you in my next blog!