Tripped Up Before I Even Get Started

This post grew out of a comment I made on this post on Think Traffic.

In my launch post, I talked about how things were going to be different this time. I put myself out there. I set goals and made them public. I did what people say one should do and knew it would make a difference.

Well, that didn’t work.

I was really excited when I starting reading about the MDBP. Here was something that would help me with my motivation. I would have people holding me accountable and pushing me to do the things I have always said I want to do.

I immediately started working on getting my blog ready for the project. I installed Clicky and got my RSS setup with Feedburner. I had this domain that wasn’t doing anything so I installed WordPress to use it as my accountability journal. And then when registration opened, I signed up as fast as I could. I wrote my first post on my journal and was really feeling good about things.

Then it was time to get some real work done on my blog. I made it a goal to get one thing done on the blog every weekday starting on Monday. So Monday came and….

Nothing.

Tuesday, nothing. Wednesday, nothing. And now it’s Thursday. I have already fallen behind and this thing has just started.

And it’s not that I didn’t try. I did. I opened up my blogging software several times and stared at the blank screen. But no matter how hard I tried, couldn’t make myself write.

I’ve started asking myself, why am I stuck? Why can’t I make any progress? And the answer comes down to one thing.

Fear.

I have read several places that a good way to overcome your fears is to think of the worse thing that could possibly happen and then realize that the more likely result is not even close to that bad. The likelihood of someone dying or ending up homeless is extremely thin. The worse things that could happen is either a negative reaction or no reaction at all.

The thing is, those two possibilities scare me to death! Even writing this comment has been a struggle against that fear. What if people think I’m stupid? Or worse yet, what if no one cares?

Of course I know what my answer to those questions should be. Lucy from Get Online Income put it well:

1) People already think you’re stupid, humans are judgers, we judge, its our thing.

2) Thankfully those people are not your audience. You want the people who think you’re cool and/or can be convinced of your coolness.

3) No one cares already cuz there is nothing to care about.

She’s right. People will think what people think. There’s nothing I can do about it. All I can do is my best and not worry about the rest.

Man, that’s hard. It trips me up every time.

But I’m going to try to push through. I think I’m going to take a step back and work on a more detailed plan. Something that includes everything I need to do on all the projects I have, including at my day job. I’ll post here about it when I have something done.