6 Life Lessons from 6 months of blogging

Hey, can we just take a moment and appreciate you. Yes, it’s you who’s reading this blog post.

You see, on the first of September 2020, I took the chance of creating a blog. The first of March 2021 marked the 6th month of this website and I never thought I could go this far. I can’t tell how much further I can go, but for now, I just want to thank you and share the 6 life lessons I learned from 6 months of blogging.

Thank you for being here. Whether it’s your first time here or not, I appreciate you. And by sharing these 6 life lessons, I’m hoping this post would add value to your life in a way that this blog added value to my life.

I have learned so much in half a year but I am going to share the most important ones today. These 6 Life Lessons are so important that even if you are not a blogger, I am sure you will still find them helpful.

6 Life Lessons I Learned from 6 months of blogging

The 6 life lessons I am going to share with you are related to blogging but they are lessons you can apply to your personal life even if you are not a blogger. These are the lessons that have made a difference in my life and they helped me become a better version of myself in 6 months.

DISCLOSURE: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links of which I receive a small commission if you click through and make a purchase at no additional cost to you. See my full Disclaimer here for more information.

Life Lesson 1: Our health is paramount

Put yourself first. You can give and serve more if you are not running on empty.

When I started this blog, I realised that this is not a short time project. I am here for the long haul. This is more than a full-time job (at least for now, it feels like it). And because it involves giving and service of some sort, I need to make sure I am well, so I can have the capacity to give.

I remember what my Mother used to say: ” You can have millions and millions of dollars in your bank, but if you are not well, you won’t feel rich. Everything you worked for would be meaningless”. She used to go on and on about the importance of resting, sleeping and eating well.

Sadly, I never paid attention to any of these until I created this blog. I have always made poor choices when it comes to health. It is embarrassing to admit, but, I used to skip meals and work long hours without breaks when working on a project. All because I have always been result-driven. It was all about all or nothing kind of thing.

Maintaining this blog helped me realise that if I want to be more effective in blogging while I am looking after my family and improving myself, then I need to make Well-being a priority.

So, I made it a point to make Wellbeing one of my Pillars of Focus. At the end of the day, I only have one body, there is only one me. I cannot give and serve if my cup is empty.

Life Lesson 2: Find your Passion

Passion keeps us consistently motivated. It gives us the power to stay focused and the strength to go through challenges. So go ahead and find your passion. 

There are a few great suggestions in this article on How to Find Your Passion.

My favourite definition of Passion is : Willingness to suffer for what you love. 

I learned this from The Real Meaning of Passion.

This definition is so relatable. In my case, Blogging is my passion. And oh boy, I never knew that Blogging is so full-on. It takes a lot of sacrifices. If I knew what’s involved in blogging before I created this website, I probably would have not done it. That said, I am so grateful I didn’t because having this blog is just one of the best things that happened to me in 2020.

So, going back to that definition of Passion, I am certainly willing to suffer for what I love.

In the last 6 months, I have sacrificed so much and I will take more if need be. It is because this gig is so fulfilling. It is hard to explain but if it helps, let me share how I feel about it as a beginner blogger.

Blogging is a big job, so complex, it takes so much brainpower, It takes a lot of time and energy, yet I always look forward to doing those blogging tasks I have set. I just love it and for the first time, I feel that finally, I am making a difference for myself and to those people around me.

If you haven’t figured out your passion yet, I hope you find it so soon and may you live a truly purposeful life.

Life Lesson 3: When we commit to something, we show up, no matter what

It takes a lot to show up all the time, but if we want result we need to be consistently showing up. 

This is not only about blogging, it can be applied to any goal you want to achieve. Commitment and being consistent have a massive impact on the kind of result you will get.

We’ll only see real results if we stay consistent. If we want to develop a certain good habit, for example, we need to keep repeating a certain behaviour until it becomes a habit. (consistency) and we need to keep going even if there are setbacks(commitment). It won’t be a habit if we do it only when we feel like doing it.

Atomic Habits by James Clear is an amazing book you may check out if you would like to learn more about habits. I have learned so much from this book. You can check out the book here

Blogging is not only about publishing posts. There’s so much going on in the background and I will be honest, it is a hard gig.

In the first two months of setting up this blog, there were a couple of instances where I worked for more than 12 hours and then it crashed. To be fair to me, at that time, everything was new to me so I was just figuring out how things work. I had zero knowledge of web design. My gosh I didn’t even know how to set up a menu

The kicker was, it happened twice. If I wasn’t committed enough, I would have given up in the first instance. I am glad I didn’t. Honestly, I am that committed that giving up didn’t cross my mind.

After 6 months, here I am. Enjoying the process and changing components of the website is not daunting anymore. There’s is more to learn (always), but I am in the position now where I feel comfortable in changing things around on my website.

Life Lesson 4: Being organised is not the only answer but it can be the answer to many challenges we face 

In life, a little organisation can go a long way. 

I am not saying that you should be extremely organised, but what I mean by this is, when we have a system of some sort on how we do things, it makes life easier.

Being organised doesn’t mean we have everything together at all times. It doesn’t mean we always have everything figured out.

Being organised means we have systems (and processes), routines, and we always make plans. I know it sounds too “businessy” but hear me out for a second.

At home, we have a schedule. We have routines. This helps us run the household with less friction because everyone knows what needs to be done and who needs to do it. As a mum, this means I don’t have to do it all. Everyone shares the load. Yes even the 5 years old in the house is pitching-in.

Now with blogging, I learned that systems, routines, workflow are extremely necessary in my opinion. Having a system in place helps me avoid feeling overwhelmed.

You see, when we feel overwhelmed, we procrastinate because there is no clarity with what would be the next step. If we are not clear of what we need to do and we keep putting off things we should be doing, we feel frustrated. This frustration can lead to having impostor syndrome which is not helpful at all.

On the other hand, if we are organised, we have a plan, we have a system, even though some things are not clear to us yet, we know that eventually, we will figure things out.

Life Lesson 5: If we want higher quality results, we need to single-task

Single-tasking helps you get a better and quality result because your energy focus on only one thing.

Multitasking, on the other hand, takes so much energy because we have to switch our focus from one task to another task. The more the brain keeps switching from task to task, the less effective we get. If these tasks aren’t related, the likelihood of getting poor results is even higher.

In Blogging, I have learned that if I break down a project and do them one part at a time I get a lot more done and the result is better too.
This is where batch working is so effective. I work on one big task at a time. Using the Pomodoro technique helps to practice this habit of doing only one thing at a time. Good for focus and gives a better result.

I get it, if you are a mum multitasking can’t be avoided completely. So I have a suggestion.

Make a list of what qualifies for multitasking and a separate list for those single task only. For example, folding clothes, washing the dishes, few minutes wiping off surfaces, are examples of tasks that can be done while doing something else. Just make sure that when you multitask, you choose tasks that are similar and that you don’t have to physically go from one place to another. So, if you like watching tv, you can fold laundry. While cooking, you can do the dishes. You get the idea.

But when it comes to projects, I suggest keeping them as a single task only category.

Life Lesson 6: It’s ok to say “no, not this time” 

The word “no’ is not always negative.

Saying “no” can be a little tough sometimes. Since starting this blog, I found myself saying no to many things.

Saying “no” to what is not essential at a given time, helped me focus on what matters.

It is not just about saying no to other people but also about the things that do not add value to my current purpose.

That being said, I am not suggesting that we live our lives so tight that we don’t get to enjoy what’s in front of us. Of course, we need to smell the roses, and we need it often than we realise. We need to make room for flexibility and try to be realistic.

Next Action Steps

Now that I have shared with you those 6 life lessons, are you ale to pick a few (or all that) that you can relate to?

Do you have any other suggestions on how to find balance?

My suggested next action for you is Find your Passion if you haven’ done so. Give it a go and who knows where it would lead you to.

Until Next week,

E