Wow. cameronchardukian.com has been up for more than six months now. There have been lots of sweat, blood, and tears that have gone into the community here, but I’ve loved every second of it and I’ve learned a lot.
I’d like to thank Huan, Warren, and Kevin for their constant encouragement and always challenging me to think critically. You all have made major changes to the way I look at the world over the past several months and for that I’m very grateful.
I’d also like to take a moment to thank everyone else who reads my blog. I appreciate your support and you taking time out of your day to read my ideas. I love the community here and you guys mean a lot to me.
Now before we get too mushy gushy here I’ll move on to the actual content of the post. The six lessons I’ve learned thus far from blogging…
Discipline
Although I wouldn’t have believed it six months ago, being a consistent blogger is HARD. You’ve got to set aside time everyday for blogging, you need to ignore distractions and focus when you’re writing, and you often need to pull your hair out or put your ego aside to come up with ideas worth publishing.
There’s stretches where you get into a groove and are able to write solid posts day after day for several weeks, but there’s also times where writing seems nearly impossible. Heck, I’ve just gone through that phase.
I’ve let my ego get in the way of my success this week and because of that this is the first post I’ve written in 4-5 days. It’s a constant battle to ignore the voices that say what you’re writing isn’t good enough, or to force yourself to write when you’re lacking inspiration, but ultimately by doing so you develop an incredible amount of self-discipline and strength.
Self introspection
During your first months of blogging it’s common to feel like you’re talking to yourself. You write post, after post, after post, and yet at the end of the week you find yourself with no comments and just 30 views between your four posts.
Most people quit blogging once they realize it’s not a get rick quick scheme, but what keeps the rest of us writing for a seemingly non existent audience? The intrinsic value of self expression.
It’s great to have others benefit from your work, but writing is a reward in itself because it allows you to clarify the way you think. When I wrote my story about running through the finish line it may have given you a motivational analogy to keep you hustling, but it also helped me to internalize the lesson and more effectively implement it into my day to day life.
In addition it also allows me to identify patterns in the way I think as well as holes in my logic. Like Linus, I’ve found that writing is perhaps the most effective way to find an answer to almost any problem.
Conquering The Ego
One of the greatest things about being a blogger is you’re constantly putting yourself out there. You may have to sacrifice your privacy and leave your comfort zone, but it’s well worth it.
When I first started my blog I was nervous about people I knew in real life finding out about it. What if they think I’m a nerd? What if they think I’m not cool?
Now I’ve gotten to the point where 0 shits are given on their opinion of my blog. I’m giving this my all, and it’s not like they’re doing anything better.
I actively tell people I’m a blogger these days. If someone’s reasonably compatible with me they’ll either think blogging is really cool, or they’ll forget about it. If someone thinks blogging is stupid, and holds that against me they’re likely low level thinkers I wouldn’t want to have anything to do with anyway.
Effectively, I can actually use my blog as a filter to avoid wasting time on people who aren’t a good fit for me.
I couldn’t confirm this as they never comment, but I’m sure there’s a handful of people I know in real life who are subscribed to my blog. I’m still not perfect, but I’ve gotten to the point where I can talk about things like previous depression, and tough times here without worrying whether that’ll change their perceptions of me.
Blogging has taught me that is that privacy is merely unnecessary protection for one’s ego. One can significantly increase their rate of growth by disregarding privacy and allowing their ego to be vulnerable.
Instant Gratification Vs Long Term Prosperity
One of the most important things blogging has helped me internalize is by putting long term prosperity over short term gratification you can live a much more fulfilling lifestyle.
Sometimes writing can be painful, but even when the words seem to effortlessly flow writing still isn’t “fun.” If I only had an hour to live I wouldn’t spend it writing.
However, putting your thought on paper is extremely rewarding in the long term. Once you take the time to write something your work essentially becomes a documentation of your thoughts at the time which has the potential to continue delivering value to others for hundreds, or even thousands of years after you’re written it. Pretty cool huh?
Writing has been a huge help in freeing me from my servitude to instant gratification in other areas of my life as well. It’s like I constantly have someone holding me accountable. The community here motivates me to always give it my all because I know that when someone sees me pour my heart into something they’re going to feel inspired to do the same.
You Can’t Do It By Yourself
Perhaps the most recent lesson I’ve learned is that it’s almost impossible to accomplish any massive goal without outside help. I can write the most epic posts in the world, but without building relationships with other bloggers they’re probably not going to end up reaching many people.
Since writing my post on why each of these 32 blogs will change your life (and emailing the bloggers included in that list) the traffic here has nearly doubled despite that being my only post in the last 3-4 days. One of them even submitted it to getprismatic and it ended up reaching the front page.
Think of it this way. If your content is the base of the pyramid, your relationships are the bricks stacked on top of the pyramid that’s going to make it visible and admirable to large amounts of people.
How To Build Relationships
Big credit goes to Huan here. He helped show me the framework upon which all relationships are built. The law of reciprocity and mutual sharing of value.
Most people are reactive, not proactive. You can’t expect someone to help you out if you haven’t done them a favor first. If you ask for favors without providing others value upfront the only thing you’re going to get accomplished is being labeled a leech.
When you sincerely help others accomplish their goals you’ll find them supporting you on the way to your goals as well. It’s mutually beneficial and you’ll develop amazing relationships as well. It’s a win/win situation, and there’s no reason not to help others and build a support system for yourself.
Overall the last six months have been amazing and I’m glad to have been able to share them with you. I appreciate all your contributions, and investments here, and I’ll do my best to continue reciprocating that value in return 😉
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