Only You Decide When You Quit – Blog to Success

Yesterday morning, I woke up at a bright an early 5 am to participate in a 100 mile road bike ride for charity. The route was going to prove to be extremely difficult with 7,198 feet of climbing through the roads of north metro Atlanta. This was not my first century ride, so I knew pretty much what to expect…a lot of suffering!

When I go on these really long road bike rides, it gives me a lot of time to think. Typically, I hang with the A group long enough to drag me through as much of the route as possible. After about 45-50 miles, I tail off the back and get a lot of alone time on the road just spinning each and every mile to the end. This particular road route was filled with steep pitches and thousands of feet of climbing that just begged you to give up and go home. Instead of caving to my want to throw in the towel…I continued on my quest to the finish and ended up with a pretty good time overall.

Only You Decide When You Quit – Blogging Success

As I was suffering on the blacktop, I kept on thinking about how easy it would be to just give up. There would not be anyone that judged my decision as I was off the bike for two weeks prior due to injury. I would not have lost face or ended my cycling career. I would, however, have just quit because something got a little difficult.

It is in times of challenge that we rise above and complete something fantastic. It is human nature to give up when it is hard and that is why so many people throw in the towel just before they are about to make it. I see blogs all the time that have great potential, but when they do not see the results they want right away…they give up and move onto another project repeating the same process. By pushing through the hard times, we are able to achieve success and get an even greater feeling of satisfaction as we grew though the experience.

Lately, I have noticed a lot of blogs addressing the question that goes something along the lines of…”should I stop blogging?” If business building and making serious money out of your blogging was easy…everyone would be doing it. What differentiates the serious blogger from the want-a-be is the willingness to defy all odds in search of success. The serious blogger who ends up making a real income from their blog will learn and push through the hard times with the knowledge that hard work eventually pays off. By learning what works and what does not through these hard times, we are able to grow and expand.

The easy road is giving up. Not seeing the traffic you want right away? Not seeing the subscriber count you were hoping for? Not seeing enough commenting? If you know you have a great idea…stick with it and experiment. You will eventually touch the right formula that brings you to the level you were dreaming of…

Maybe I’ll Just Quit

If you just quit…you are just another quitter. Wouldn’t you rather have success? It is completely up to you if and when you quit. As you listen to others around you try to convince you that you should just give up, remember that it is your choice. They might try to convince you with lines like…”look at all of this work you are putting in with very little result” or “Looks like fun for now…but I don’t see how something like that would be long lasting”, but it is your future that you are trying to build…not theirs. It is no skin off their back if you just lay over and give up. They get to keep the status quo and you miss out on your dream.

Next time you think about quitting, think back on the small successes you have seen over time. These small successes can be anything from getting your first 10 subscribers to a blog comment thanking you for your work. By remembering the small successes, we are able to grow into larger achievements. Keep on pushing through and remember the goal. As long as you do that…you will just just fine…

Yesterday morning, I just kept on thinking about that last climb I cleared while I struggled with the next. If I could overcome the pain on the last one…what was going to stop me during this gain in elevation? Nothing…just keep pushing…

Photo by erix!

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1 comment

Mike July 13, 2009 - 3:27 pm
In the past, I think I definitely fell into the category of not seeing results right away and giving up and moving on to another project. I made okay money, more than I've made so far than with my coffee blog, but I'm already seeing success in other ways on this blog. Great post. Last week was really rough for me. My traffic and optins leveled out for the first time and it's kind of depressing. I think old me may have quit, but now I'm analyzing the slow down and looking for ways to improve it.
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