Success Through Encouragement

“Correction does much, but encouragement does more.”~
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Some would argue that I become fascinated with the smallest of things in life. Others would say that I don’t become stimulated enough when certain situations come my way.

We all have our own little things that cause our happiness and and our sorrows.

Through the blog though, there are definite factors that I notice that actually makes me stop and believe that I just might be doing something, and doing it well. Encouragement is one of those things.

WordPress now has something that they like to call “badges”. I got my first one last week. Throughout this entire blog, I had received my 50th “like” to a blog post. I honestly had no clue that throughout the pages of blog posts that I have written over time that I actually had that many individual “likes” to specific blog posts. And its spread out, indiscriminately from post to post.

I then went to see my blog stats. Today, I have over 17,500 views since the beginning. That too, is something that I have always found encouraging. And it shows in a  few blog posts when I have written about how excited I was to have reached a certain number of total views.

Especially after months and months of self-doubt that “anyone was paying attention” to the blog, regardless of how many people were either following or subscribed. I do sometimes, write with those people in mind though. Often, I never think about those who are the silent readers or those who are looking for a specific topic and stumble across my blog. Thus, the entire advantage of using “tags” because it does work!

Yet with being unsure of either the success of the blog, or lack of the definition of “success”. Or it just might be the insecurity within myself that would lead to the doubt.

What has always worked for me in the past, is the feedback. I know from receiving both negative and positive feedback where I should focus attention or begin to work on other things to make things even better and more enjoyable for anyone who may be reading.

I think what I find interesting and just a little funny are those who end up giving feedback without them knowing that’s what they are doing. Their admitting to have read my blog or certain blog posts is sometimes just enough to know that I want to continue writing. Some (or most) having something comical or funny to say about what they had read or how they enjoyed the stories of experiences in my life that I often include in my blog.

And yes, some even admitting to the fact that they like the eye candy that often comes along with my blog posts. An effort that I started in order to gain the attention of male readers once I learned that a large percentage of readers, subscribers, and followers were actually female. I knew that I was taking a bit of a risk with female readers by including such images, and hoping not to offend… I think so far, I have been able to accomplish that.

Perhaps I am sounding like I am making excuses. But that isn’t what I am striving for.

When a person tells me in one way or another that they’ve read my blog… it is totally encouraging for me to keep it up and keep going.

This morning, I received feedback. It caused a glow to my heart in a sense. They said:

“You are an amazing writer.  I love how you talk to the reader as if they are sitting at the table with you in conversation.  Which is what a good writer does.”

I didn’t know what to say, other than to thank them for their words. And with those words, that was even more encouragement for me to continue what I am doing. I don’t get that every day, and neither do I expect it. But once it is offered, I definitely ponder it.

I used to think that the more subscribers and followers that I had meant that I was having more and more success. But honestly, success is defined in so many different ways that one specific definition can’t hold up. So… that means that I have to define for myself whether or not I am being successful in what I am doing.

If I have helped someone in some way and they’ve learned … that is success.

If I have shared a life experience, and they have laughed until they cried… that is success.

If I caused someone to smile, and they haven’t done that in a long time… that is success.

And that is just how “I” measure my own success with this blog. With that success, I am honestly grateful and appreciative of those who do read, comment, “like”, follow, subscribe, and leave me feedback. Without all of it, I probably would have quit a long time ago. Thank you for being the encouraging support in this continuing endeavor.

The Measurement Of Success

“It is not a question of whether or not I will stick my foot in my mouth at some point today, it is whether or not I will be able to make room to shove the other one in there.”~ W. Fry

This morning I was engaged in a conversation with one of my beautiful friends. She had complimented me on my success here on this blog. She was impressed at the number of views that I have received thus far in 11 months and 1 week of writing in this blog.

My response was more of : Open mouth. Insert foot. Keep going til you reach the hip.

I answered that success was relative to each individual’s idea of what it is. I said that, instead of “thank you” right away.

Collateral Damage in 3… 2… 1 ………..

I also further sank my own butt by mentioning that throughout the fall of last year, I had an increased number of views like never before. But then in mid-December, that seemed to have faded. So I haven’t been getting the higher volume of views recently as I have been. I can only imagine what I sounded like to her! I was being such a whiner!!

Geez. Why didn’t I just take the compliment? I’m always telling people: Take the compliment and run. Perhaps a taste of my own medicine would’ve been a better solution. Man down, we got a man down!!!

However, she is right. My blog IS successful!!! I am still writing in it. I didn’t give up when nothing was happening. I continued to use it for when I felt I needed to. I gave more and more blog posts on certain situations that we all deal with. And even though I’ve not really received anything in the form of tangible feedback, that doesn’t mean that it has not been successful.

So then how does one measure success?

Well, I do believe that it varies. What one person thinks is successful might not be the shared opinion of another person. It all depends on YOU!

For example: If you make $50,000 a year- are you successful? Or are you successful if you make $250,000 a year??

Are you successful if you have 10,000 collectibles of your favorite thing? Or are you successful if you have 75,000 collectibles??

When you’ve reached a point and then you look back, and you feel that you have accomplished something, that would probably be your significant detail that you are successful. Your happiness to be where you are at that new point also determines whether or not you feel that you have been successful.

One the best tools a person can have in order to achieve success, is to have goals. If you’ve reached those goals at the end, then yes.. you’ve been successful.

Your goals vary from other people’s goals. But focus on yourself and not others. Those who grant you feedback will help you along in making your goals. That way, you know whether or not you need to do any tweaking along the way.

So all in all, I actually do believe in my friend. Even though I had a lapse of couth. I’m very happy with how this blog has turned out in less than a year.

I am grateful for her feedback. And I’m sorry for being a dork.

 

Writing Thoughts

“Writing, to me, is simply thinking through my fingers.”~ Isaac Asimov

 

Yesterday, I received a message that was in reference to this blog. The person had mentioned that they thought that I should write a book because of all the topics and subjects that I have already shared in this blog. Their thinking was that I could still do what I do, but instead of just allowing it to be shared on a website, that I should write it all in a book, and make some money in the process.

 

The thought had never crossed my mind to do that. Yet the feedback was overwhelming and positive. Something that is always enjoyable to read.

 

Writers/bloggers live off of feedback. Whether they tell you that or not. They are always encouraging for their readers for feedback, even if it is nasty and rude. The fact of the matter is that when they receive that kind of feedback then they can decide whether or not they are on the right track and know as well that what they are writing about is actually fulfilling the readers. And not to mention that they will know that they are not wasting their own time and efforts, and fulfilling themselves by writing.

 

Feedback and subscribers are the two main things that a blogger would want. It is something that helps the blogger more than the average person, or reader, would think.

 

Quite honestly, I’ve been receiving dozens of comments to my blog in the past few days. Others have been bold and brave enough to e-mail me to tell me what they think. And for each and every one of them, I am totally filled with gratitude.

 

But the idea of writing a book is rather intriguing. Many people have told me that I should. It is always nice to have that kind of support.

 

I know that I would have the capability to write a book. But I do not know about how to do that. I could write all day long and finish the composition and revisions. After that, I have no clue how it would work.

 

So I guess that since the idea actually is fascinating me at the moment, that I could look into it. I could ask my writer friends who have published books in the past and find out just how they did it.

 

Needless to say that I enjoy writing in my blog. And I am always excited to get feedback from it, especially if someone is telling me that they’ve either learned from it or it had helped them in some way. I think that for me, is the most rewarding part of it.

 

My only concern about my blog is within these scores of blog comments, I tend to wonder if they are simply spam. I’ve caught several of them saying the exact same message over and over again that were left on random blog posts. They are written exactly the same, verbatum.

 

So how do I know what is real and what is garbage? And would this person’s message to me be the same thing? Even though it was received in my e-mail which would kind of assume that it was a genuine comment. It has not been e-mailed to me again the same way though.

 

Also, with writing a book- who would read it? Who would buy my book because they are interested in the content of the book and who would be the ones that would buy it because they know who I am and what I have done in the past with my blog?

 

Generally, my thought was to take some of the more important blog posts, or more popular blog posts based on how many views they received, and put them in a book. But also include plenty more topics and subjects in the book that I have yet to write about in this blog.

 

Writing a book has endless possibilities. But I would not want it to take away from me writing in this blog. Even though as I’ve said that the idea of making a little more money off of writing a book sounds thrilling. I would be able to take those important posts and reach more people, maybe… I don’t know.

 

So I’ve got something to think about, I suppose. With the few subscribers that I have right now, is still amazing to me. This blog really did something that was positive for me, and I enjoy that. Therefore I continue to write, and write, and write. And hope that each and every one of you who reads it, is actually either enjoying it or learning from it.

 

What do you think???