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dream big and be proactive

Dream Big and Be Proactive - designbyinsight.net

Blogging is a crazy thing!  Reaction times are immediate, or at least it feels that way when you are waiting for someone to leave a comment on your genius post.   Social media has created an ever-changing, ever-evolving mode of communication, and just when we think we’ve figured it out – it all changes!

What’s a blogger, a writer, to do?

In Who Says Your Writing Dreams Have to Be Sensible or even Realistic?, Joanna (from The Creative Penn) says, “But our dreams feed our goals, inspire us and keep us focused on the future.”   A powerful reminder that there is a difference between dreams and goals, and that we need both to keep us moving forward.

Maybe I’m the only one who has ever reached the point of not even wanting to LOOK at my own blog but this guest post on ProBlogger really helped me identify some proactive steps to take as I enter the next part of my blogging journey.  9 Steps to Take When You Loathe Your Own Blog offers practical and realistic suggestions for evaluating what to do next.  My favorite is this one:   Read New, not More. In line with that I recently evaluated every blog I had subscribed to and asked myself, “Does this content challenge, inspire, or motivate me?”  If it didn’t, I hit unsubscribe.

My degree is in Speech Communication – public speaking, rhetorical criticism, argumentation and debate were the core classes of my college education.   The first principle we learned in Comm 101 was this:  “Communication is a receiver-oriented phenomenon.”  For us as writers and bloggers, that means if our readers didn’t grasp our message we have failed in communicating.    This guest post on Michael Hyatt’s blog offered concrete ways to measure our effectiveness as communicators.  My favorite of the 4 Characteristics of Effective Communicators is “Effective communicators know how to prepare a message with a singular and crystal clear focus.”  So true!

3 Tools to Help You Find the Best Time to Tweet offers suggestions on scheduling tweets and offers different options for tools to use in that process.  We’re trying a couple of those tools here at Design By Insight to help us communicate better with our clients, readers, and others.

What’s your big dream?  How are you engaging proactively to reach it?

4 Comments

  1. Good stuff. I’m noticing too, that at times when I just pay attention to what is resonating, I find a sweeter spot than if I try to plan too far ahead.

    1. I agree with that, Stacey. I do try to keep posts in draft but I’m learning to hold my “editorial calendar” loosely.

    1. We love sharing your info with our readers! Thank you for being such a great resource for writers.

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