I think we aren't consistent at times because we are either not in our strength zone (as you mentioned with your achiever comment) or we were not truly interested in the task to begin with.

I waver at times too but mostly because I am overly anxious to move on and impact/reach more people.

Great post Michael!

I am a 3 weeks old blogger. With 5 followers to date all of whom I recruited through begging and more beggings.

I have no idea how to check the statistic so, I have the bliss of not knowing how many people visited…

What is my purpose for blogging?

Short story:
I genuinely believe that there need to be a place for positive people in Asia to give their view for a better Asia, hence I started the forum.

Long Story:
Read "What If'" on http://www.visionforabetterasia.blogspot.com

True story:
I get to put some of my thoughts to rest through tricking my brain into thinking that someone will discover my great ideas one day.

My learning:
I find that having a blog Title enables me to focus with a direction on the themes to write about. My blog's name is Vision for a better Asia (although when I google just that, my name never appears. Why?).

If you have trouble being consistent, why do you think that is?
As a new blogger, I'm still going through the excitement phase, hence no report on this. But will certainly return to rant about this when I encounter this problem.

Shaun

If one does what one loves to do, success will follow.

You are changing lives… So, keep up the great work!

God bless you.

For me, blogging is like gardening. Instead of tending flowers, I tend my thoughts there. Both hobbies are for pleasure. Then again, when you have 24 readers, the pressure's pretty much off.

Keep the posts coming, Mike. They're helpful.

The stats only matter if you're blogging for direct revenue. If you're blogging for any other reason, then the stats are relegated to being somewhat interesting, but mostly incidental.

I tried to follow / manage / gauge my blog's stats for a while, but I eventually concluded that monitoring and tracking stats was a tail-chasing exercise and that my limited "blog time" was better spent writing.

I appreciate you sharing your insights on your blog.

Here is a post I wrote about it, if you're interested in reading…

&lt ;http://mamaloafblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/measuring-up.html>

Best to you,
Jill

Honestly, I don’t enjoy blogging, and it’s hard to keep going when my readership remains small even after spending hours commenting on other blogs, networking on Facebook, etc.

People always tell me that they enjoy and are encouraged by my blogs; that’s good because it fits into my purpose for my fiction writing.

Still, it’s easy for me to be discouraged when I look at my stats: five or six hits a day for a post I spent 2 hours writing?! Ugh.

Thanks for the reminder to re-visit my original purpose for writing fiction and blogging, and the reminder to not be fixated on stats.

I'm right there with you about liking to start new projects, seeing them grow, and then disappear somewhere during the maintenance cycle. I agree with you about it being something that seems hard-wired into our personalities.

I guess that I blog for many different reasons. I like to help others and hope that my blog is accomplishing that goal, but there are times when I would write even if I knew nobody else was reading. When my blog traffic and interaction starts to stagnate, it is then that I remember the cathartic nature of blogging.

God tells us that His word never returns void. I think this is true for us, His Creation, as well. It is why Isaac could not take back his blessing stolen by Jacob. In that way, I know that once my blog posts are published those words will accomplish something.

If nothing else, they are at work in my own life. They are witnessed by God. It is when I forget this (which I am prone to do) that my postings become erratic.

Thanks for the thought-provoking questions.

Brad

A reader left a simple thank-you comment that inspired me to post again.

Over the five years I've been blogging, I've been tempted to quit a few times. In the first year my original dot.com domain was hijacked and I ended up having to go with a dot.org. My original web host had trouble with blogs and I had to move to a different company. Each time I asked myself if it was worth the trouble to continue. Each time I learned something new and how to make my site better.

One book that has helped me through times like this is Failing Forward by John Maxwell. It always gives me perspective during the storm.

Thanks for all you do, Mike, with your blog. Your insights have helped many people become better leaders and better people as a result. Keep up the great work!

I started blogging because I read a variety of blogs[news, politics, finance, travel, food] and admire the writers’ tenacity. I wanted to see if I have anything to say. It’s all seemed about “me” and I’ve wondered if blogging = digital narcissism. But, I also find it is a way to communicate with friends [share photos, recipes, travel tips about where I’ve been and what I’m doing] without writing lots of emails. And, I find that talking about something or writing about it invariably clarifies my thinking. I think I’ll keep writing but still need to figure out how to address more of my interests, may be a second blog?

PS — I found your blog after I started listening to your podcasts from Ancient Faith Radio.

You are so right, it's the one person who really needs to hear what you have to write. But you don't know who that is until you send it to the 8,000!

Brad

Lord Haw Haw, as you remember, was the popular name of William Joyce, a German radio propaganda broadcaster during World War II. And then, right after the war:

…On May 28, 1945 Joyce was captured in a German forest by two British officers gathering a truckload of firewood. Near Flensburg on the Danish border, Capt. Alexander Adrian Lickorish of the Reconnaissance Regiment, and Lt. Perry came upon an odd, tramplike figure with a walking stick. The tramp pointed to some logs with his walking stick, and addressed the men in French. Then he said in English, "oh, there are three or four more here." The duo immediately recognized the voice of Lord Haw-Haw.

Some people couldn't keep their mouths shut to save their necks. (Literally, in Lord Haw Haw's case.) Those are the bloggers.

I've only been blogging for about three months, so I'm still a rookie at this and have found that one of the great benefits for me has been the archiving of ideas. I wasn't expecting this to be the case, but now it's a key driver for me as well.

I do look at my blog stats often (and suspect that I always will), but try not to get too anxious about them.

Don't give up Michael, you haven't peaked yet!

Thanks for the gentle smack :-)

Joseph

By the way, I appreciate all you have done in your field. I am a fan!