Shimmying.
Shaking.
Left to right.
A little dip here and there.
After flying over 100 times I have experienced turbulence during the odd trip.
Nothing major. But sometimes I shake, rattle and rolled high above the ground. Or sea.
Pilots typically do all that they can to avoid turbulence. Sometimes, running into turbulence is unavoidable.
I thought of a neat little analogy between plane turbulence and successful blogging.
The Most Direct Path to Success Gets Bumpy Sometimes
I recall my first flight from NYC to Bali.
The pilot noted how we would take a short cut to get to Bali, since we lost time during delays on the ground. A short cut sounded funny; the journey spanned over 11,000 miles.
Taking the most direct way involved running into some turbulence, we were notified. This is usually the case during most flights because upper air conditions and storms ensure you will face some shaking and shimmying from time to time. No big deal.
The most direct path to the destination gets bumpy sometimes.
Blogging is no different.
Being successful requires you to do free but sometimes uncomfortable things. Getting in front of the camera for a Facebook live broadcast. Creating your first online course. Staying up late to write the guest post. Bumpy experiences at times because unless you are an enlightened being, fears arise when you do new things, or things that pull you outside of your comfort zone.
But diving out of your comfort zone is the quickest, most direct way to reach your blogging goals and dreams.
Going Around Turbulence Adds Time to the Trip
Imagine if the pilot tried to avoid turbulence over the Pacific Ocean during our flight from NYC to Bali? He would have added 20 to 30 minutes to our flight, if not more time.
Why?
Avoiding the uncomfortable feeling of running into turbulence would have taken us off course. Once you take the round and about way you cease taking the simple, straight line way.
My beloved Air Asia does a fine job getting you from Point A to Point B quickly and safely. But the budget airline wastes no money or gas with trying to fly around any form of turbulence; these flights often get bumpy because upper level winds create bouncy conditions in Southeast Asia.
Imagine if you avoid creating your first Facebook Live broadcast? You took a blogging detour. The round and about way. Definitely not the direct path. Because you just avoided using a tool that would help you build trust between you and your readers, quickly and easily.
Ditto for ducking on writing and self-publishing your first eBook. If you avoid going this route because you fear facing writer’s block, or seeing a dearth of sales, you may have missed the turbulence of dealing with fears but you added months or even years to the blogging journey.
I felt terrified to write and self-publish my first eBook. But I felt the fear, dove into turbulence and did it anyway.
Earlier today I received royalty payments from the 126 eBooks I wrote and self-published on Amazon. I took the straight and direct path to establish my authority and build my passive blogging income. Many bloggers who try to fly around this fear of becoming a self-published author are still struggling to earn passive income through their blogs.
Take the Most Direct Path
Take the most direct path to your blogging dreams. Running into turbulence is unavoidable when you travel regularly. Even if you experience a few smooth flights, you will experiencing some jarring or maybe a stomach in the throat dip during your flights.
Blogging is similar. Publish 1 or 2 posts and you may avoid turbulence, or perhaps you will feel turbulent fears kicking around in your mind when you go live with your first post.
If you keep blogging for months, publishing 1-3 posts weekly or more, turbulent conditions will arise. In these moments you either cower from your fear and add time and distance between yourself and your blogging goals or you dive into turbulence to take the simple, quicker path to your dreams.
Which path are you taking?
Blogging eBook
If you want to get through the sometimes bumpy blogging ride buy my eBook:
10 Disastrous Mistakes Newbie Bloggers Make (and How to Fix Them)