You've read so many articles on how to write the perfect blog post. You've written the headline once, then rewritten it because it sucked. Then you've rewritten it again but you found out that it sucked even more so you have rewritten it once more. You keep deleting and rewriting words and sentences but nothing really works.
Trust me, I should know. I've just rewritten the previous 4 sentences (and the whole article) like 10 times and I'm still not happy about it.
*Now that I think about it, I've only been writing for about 4 months, so I guess I should be more patient. More on that later.
Never mind, moving on.
You've gone through your blog three times, four times, five times, yet you've still found a mistake just after posting it. You've literally done every single thing you could do to make your post stand out. Except it didn't and you receive a less than satisfactory total of 0,052 SBD. All the while you see blog posts earning much more money for much less work.
And yes, sometimes it's just our perception of reality that makes us blind to what's directly in front of us. We are biased, thanks to the bubble of selfishness around us that doesn't allow us to see the value in some posts. But if we were to objectively compare the overall quality of posts here and on Medium, guess who the winner would be.
What's so bad about today, then?
Even though the beginning of this article might not sound like it, Steemit has been nothing but good to me, so finding something bad was difficult. If I were to name one bad thing that happened to me because of Steemit, though, then it would be today's topic for this challenge. I just didn't know how to tackle it because there really hasn't been one particularly bad thing.
I always strive to make the article as best as possible and I'm okay with it not being easy, but struggling to even start gives me a headache. A big one, to say the least.
Forcing yourself doesn't really help
This challenge has been going for more than 20 days now and I haven't really done anything like this in the past. To create something sensible every single day has proved to be a greater challenge than I expected. I guess that's why we call them challenges, right?
Anyways, trying to play some "Upbeat Instrumental Work Music | Background Happy Energetic Relaxing Music for Working Fast & Focus" didn't really help. I've now come to a point where the only thing I cant think of is: "Arrrrrggghh! I don't want to deal with this shi*t. The music doesn't help one bit. I just want to punch something!"
Sometimes, to blow off some steem (pun intended) is the only solution. To just go and play some video games, walk your dog (like I just did) or read a book for a while. Just do whatever floats your boat and then come back to what you were doing.
Now, some people might disagree with me here. They might say that grinding through is the only way to achieve growth and success. And they might be right, in some cases and under specific circumstances. For most people, however, grinding through doesn't really work. It may do more harm than good, in fact.
Not being able to deliver
Some days are good and some are not. That's just how it is. There's going to be days when you're just not feeling it. When you're not on the top of your game. Just remember that you don't need to always be the best in the eyes of people around you. As a matter of fact, don't even bother. You just need to make sure that you are satisfied with your performance. Not for anyone else, but for yourself.
If you can't tell, I really tried to make this article work. I really did. And maybe I'm being too harsh on myself here, but to me, it still doesn't feel quite right. Also, if you felt like this post was forced in any way, you're probably right. I was grinding my teeth through the whole thing.
Nevertheless, I gave it my best today. I'm just not willing to give up on the promise I made to myself at the start of the challenge that I would write on every single day.
This post has been created as a part of @dragosroua's May 30 Days Writing Challenge. If you don't know what it's all about, I suggest you go check it out. I've already learned so much thanks to this challenge.
My previous posts in the challenge
Day #20: Who Did I Follow First?
Day #19: What Are My Top 3 Movies?
Day #17: Would I Still Be Here If There Was No Money To Earn?
Day #16: Where Do You Want To Be In 5 Years?
Day #15: How Many Posts Per Day Do I Write?
Day #12: What Is The One Crypto That Will Rule The Market In 5 Years?
Day #10: H20, My Favourite Morning Drink
Day #8: May 30 Days Writing Challenge - Day Eight: What’s Your Most Consistent Hobby For The Last 5 Years?
Day #6: You Wouldn't Guess What My Reason To Staying On Steemit Is
Day #5: Do you know the difference between investing and speculation?
Day #4: What Are My Top 5 (More Like 3) Witnesses On Steemit And Why Should You Care?
Day #3: What’s The Best Thing That Happened To You Thanks To Steemit?
Day #2: May 30 Days Writing Challenge - Day Two: If You Had 1000 STEEM, What Would You Do With It?
Dude, been there done that a dozen times and I probably will a dozen times more.
It happens when I have no idea how to tackle a post. It happens when I have too many ideas floating around and my mind wants to mix and match topics that shouldn't really be combined. I've written and rewritten and completely scrapped some posts. I think it's just the nature of being a writer. You just don't have all the knowledge, all the experience and all the motivation at times to come up with something awesome every time out.
I've found that a combination of grinding and stepping away have helped me. It just depends. If I have the desire, than I might push through and get it done. If I don't even have the desire, than no matter of pushing is going to make it look right.
So, I think in this case, if you're experience on Steemit thus far has been so positive, or you've generally downplayed the negative, than trying to come up with something wasn't going to sound genuine anyway.
In this case, what you described was how you felt, and what came through was the frustration of wanting to do your best every time out even if the topic isn't one you have much to write about.
I think you did exactly the right post for you. :)
I'm glad I wrote the post no matter the circumstances. Though there was a point where I just felt like deleting the whole thing and not writing anything at all. And that was after I've spent more than an hour writing the post.
Like you, I find it the most fulfilling when I combine grinding with leisure. Something like the sinus function.