The hardest part of developing a new habit is to simply get started. Then through frequency and time, the initial action becomes a habit that ultimately changes your result.
Alex Mandossian frequently tells his students, “sloppy success beats perfected mediocrity.” The key is to simply start. Here’s how I plan to overcome my latest challenge: developing the habit of blogging.
When I was in corporate America, I thought, who has time to blog? And what would I talk, I mean blog, about? Finally in early 2007 I decided that I would start. After all, I encouraged a few of you to do so and who was I to not follow suit?! Yet, after creating free accounts at wordpress.com and blogger.com, I still could not call myself a blogher 
There was always some ‘thing’ that got in the way.
Then when I enrolled in Alex Mandossian’s Teleseminar Secrets in December, Alex emphasized getting a free wordpress theme blog on your own domain (e.g. www.sparkactionnow.com instead of www.sparkactionnow.wordpress.com). It took me 2 months to find a free template that was acceptable (instead of perfect). All along I kept remembering Alex’ famous words of encouragement, “sloppy success beats perfected mediocity”. Challenging but doable for someone who suffers from occasional bouts of perfectionism…So in January 2008 I finally started with my first post.
Despite the posts to date, ideas for posts and various draft versions, I haven’t quite found my blog rhythm. The proof is in my results — the number of blog posts between January 14th and May 3. What I need is a system to crank out content with the frequency that lets my audience predict my behavior and grow to trust me. To learn more about this, check out Alex’s May 1st post where he talks about how predictability and frequency impacts trust and what happened when he neglected to post on his blog during a two-week time period last month.
So here’s how I plan to break into the habit of posting more frequently to this blog:
1. Post twice per week. I will write multiple posts in advance during one sitting. My output will increase when I focus on writing two posts in one sitting instead of finding time later in the week to write the second post. With WordPress, you can write the posts in advance and schedule it to appear later in the week.
2. Offer email subscription. Currently, you can subscribe to www.sparkactionnow.comvia RSS feed when you select the orange icon at the upper righthand corner of this site. I’ve also enabled email subscription. Look for it in the margin of the site. You’ll receive the latest entries as they post instead of having to check back. When you subscribe via email, you receive updates to the blog only. You will not be included in my newsletter or other email updates about offers or teleseminars. And I will never share, rent or sell your email address. I can’t stand spam! Knowing that my subscribers expect to read something from me weekly will help incent me to meet their expectations.
3. Use my mastermind group to hold me accountable. Aside from making a public declaration (see #1 above), I will submit 2 blog entries/week as a goal at my weekly mastermind meetings. The ideal outcome is to have these posts written by the time the weekly meetings come around. You can also help me succeed in this area by pinging me about what topics you would like to have me write about next. You can send me an email to AskMarian (at) SparkActionNow.com
4. Focus on ONE tip. When I dig deeper into my blog-writing resistance, I discovered that I struggle between quantity and quality. How many words are enough to provide value to the reader? How do I distinguish between a blog entry and an article? In the spirit of keeping things simple, I will focus on one item / tip / tidbit and provide valuable insight. By writing short snippets with greater frequency, I’m more inclined to look forward to blogging. (If you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m more included to speaking than writing…).
To recap, I started blogging. I chose to self-host my blog at this domain. I chose the template I want to use (for now). And I posted a few entries.
To develop the habit or find my blog rhythm, I plan to implement the four items above. You can help me succeed in developing this habit by sharing your own experiences in the comments section below. In addition, let me know what you want to read to about as it relates to sparking action towards your passion-driven dreams, aspirations and business. You can email me: AskMarian (at) SparkActionNow.com.
The Spark Action Now Lesson: To change your result, you must first change your behavior. To change your behavior, look at the habit you want to adopt and simply start, increase in frequency and enlist a support system.
