Planning blog posts

I have realized if I plan what I am going to write about then my ideas, just come out.  My mind will think about them over time.  I have gone to conferences, read books, and taken online courses.  They all tell me the same thing, "Have a plan".   Well, of course, but making a plan and following a plan isn't always easy.  Life happens...  So the question is how do you plan for things you can plan for?

Simple.  What is your priority today?

If writing a blog post is my number one priority of the day, then I will tend to complete my task, regardless of how lame of an attempt I make at it.  If I even make an attempt at it, then I did more than if I did nothing.  We tend to beat ourselves up for not succeeding, but we haven't even defined what success is, we just know we don't have it yet.  So there comes the momentum of misery... Momentum is a very dangerous thing... it can lead you down a dark path... or a very happy one.  What direction are you going right now?

Now, back to the topic, if you plan on writing a blog post once a week, then you have a great goal.  Now, double the actual time in half.  I plan on writing a blog post twice a month.  I say that out loud and I think, wow, that is pretty lazy... but for those who haven't been in the corporate world, they do annual reviews and always talk about SMART goals.  Specific, Measurable, Attainable/Achievable, Realistic, and Time-Based.  I always giggled at that, but then realized that there is something to it... achievable and realistic go hand in hand, people were just trying to be clever with the acronym in my mind.  But specific, realistic, and time-based.  SRT goals... (if they are specific, then they should be measurable,  if they are realistic, then they should be attainable).  So let's me make a plan right now.  I want to write a blog post every Thursday.  So, let's be more specific...

I will write a blog post every other Thursday for 1 month.

Ok, that is a start... but what are the posts going to be about?  Am I talking about cats playing pianos or a new cold fusion device to charge your home?  Well, neither for me... so let's get more specific...

I will write a blog post on May 7, May 21, and June 4

• May 7 - Planning your Blog and setting goals (apparently).
• May 21 - CSS tips I use every day (RWD, colors, centering images, scaling images)
• June 4 - KnockoutJS - A brief introduction based on my experience (fyi, I love knockout, so expect extreme bias)

Ok, so now I have a plan, and as I just finished, I put it on my personal calendar.  So let's see if I can do it.  Starting off pretty good, but don't we all.. LOL.

So go set your own goals... let's get back together on June 4th and see how we did.  I always worry about posting on a blog.. should I have more pictures, should I make sure my text is perfect, what about my font choice, who cares about this topic?  None of that matters.  Write for yourself.  If it is worth reading, someone will read it.  If not, you got it out of your head and you can move on to your next priority.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope I see you in two weeks. :-)