I’ve been reading a lot recently about the best ways to keep you lovely people happy (great tips here) and how to get more people to know about this site. The majority of these tips focus around giving lots of quality stuff away for free – good news for you!
The other common theme is to have a theme and stick to it, so people know what you’re about and what they can expect from you.
I totally get this. It makes sense. You’ll keep visiting a site because you’re interested in travel and it’s a travel site.
But sometimes I think you’ll stay with a site because you’ve decided you like the person writing – they entertain you. They’re always doing crazy stuff and letting you know about it. But then I suppose that’s a theme too.
My theme is confidence in yourself – that inner confidence that let’s you know you’re on the right path and you can do it.
That’s not all I’m about though, and it’s not all I want this site to be about. This site is about feeling good – in yourself and about yourself. It’s about trusting yourself and pushing yourself. It’s about positive thinking and self-development in the fullest sense of the words.
So, does it matter if I start writing more about positive thinking or pushing yourself? No, I don’t think so, it all links in to the same theme. But what do you think?
For any self-respecting blogger, the whole point of what we do it to provide content that we enjoy writing and that our readers enjoy reading. The key here is in balance.
In whatever you do, there is an exchange of energy taking place. In your job, you exchange your skills and time for money and other benefits; for a blogger, they exchange their knowledge or humour for your time and hopefully you passing on the message to your friends and colleagues, helping to spread the word.
This exchange needs to feel fair to all parties, which is why, I believe, so many people are dissatisfied with their jobs at the moment – they don’t feel it’s a fair exchange.
So when you find yourself in that situation, what should you do?
Most people would try to kid themselves. They’d be told by well-meaning friends and family that they’re lucky to have a job, a sense of security and a pay cheque. I’d tell them something different:
I’d say you need to figure out where the balance is off.
If you were paid more money, would that make it feel better or would it be a temporary fix? How much would you need?
Do you just want to be doing something else instead? If this is the case you need to really take the time to figure out what you would LOVE to spend the majority of your time doing, then figure out how to make money from that. What aspects of your dream job do you love?
Is it the people you work with? The flexibility? The location?
As a wise man once said, if you don’t like it, change it, if you can’t change it, you need to learn to accept it.
What I want to add to that though is don’t settle. There’s almost always a way. Change your mind. Change your life. Don’t be afraid to keep changing until you figure out what it is that makes you happy.
Don’t let anyone tell you you’re flaky – you’re following your dream.
I started writing a novel when I was about 13. I have no idea where it went and I only wrote a few thousand words.
It took me until I was 26 years old to work out I actually enjoyed writing and I started this blog. I’m not ashamed of that. I learnt a lot along the way.
P.S. The penguin picture (in case you’re wondering) is because penguins make everyone happy!