Thanks For Three Great Years And Here’s To Three More!

I recently discovered, haha by accident mind you, that I’d passed my three year blogversary on Untemplater! I remember being much more aware of time at my six month and one year mark, but got lost in the blur of things after that. I can’t believe year two totally passed me by. Goes to show how quickly time goes when you’re having fun!

One of the main reasons I’ve lasted as long as I have, which I explain over on Yakezie.com, is because I love to write. I think it’s really hard to be a blogger long term if you don’t like to sit in front of a computer and type out your thoughts. It’s a commitment for sure, but it’s been a fun one for me.

Believe It Or Not, Writing Is My Weakness

I’ve known since the very beginning of my blogging career that I’m not a strong writer. I think my writing is decent and I always take my time to be thorough, but I consider it to be one of my weaknesses. Why? Well for starters I’m slow. I’m not as slow as I was in my first and second years, but I’m a perfectionist by nature, and it can literally take me anywhere from 2-6 hours to write one post.

I’m not really sure why exactly it takes me so long to write. One theory that I have is that communication in general is challenging for me. I’m an introvert and even amongst good friends, I tend to struggle with getting my thoughts into well articulated sentences. I often pause mid sentence trying to figure out how to explain myself lol. So I’m always impressed by naturally sociable people who can strike up a conversation and easily express themselves without ever stumbling.

I find myself wondering a lot if my struggle with verbal pauses is the same type of struggle that makes me write slowly. Seems logical. I just don’t know how to get rid of my mental delays. Maybe I need some beta blockers lol. I saw clips of a documentary recently about how more and more people are taking beta blockers to help them focus and have less anxiety especially in public settings.

I want to continue improving my writing though because I know there are more ways than just speed that I can work on. I’m going to try and be more focused, my posts have been getting rather long lately, and share more of my own experiences and thoughts. It’s not always easy opening up and going public with things, but as a wise blogger once told me, incorporating personal touches takes writing to the next level.

I’m No Stranger To Failures And Losses

Anyway, it’s fun to look back on the past and look at wins and losses. To start with the losses, I’ve definitely had plenty. I totally dropped the ball on the Untemplater Newsletter – sorry guys! I was doing pretty good for the first year and had multiple free giveaways for some lucky readers. Then I made the mistake of setting a goal to send a newsletter once a month, and I think that overwhelmed me just thinking about it that I didn’t end up sending any for gosh probably a year now. How embarrassing!

Another one of my fails is with social media. Man, I suck at it. I haven’t done a very good job at all with marketing and promoting Untemplater. And I don’t tweet or post on Facebook often enough. If I spent the same amount of time on social media as I spend text messaging I’d be in good shape though haha. Something to work on. And another big fail was I totally fell through on my goal of writing an ebook last year. I am not giving up on this goal, it’s still on my bucket list, but I realize now how huge of a commitment it really is. And just saying I’m going to do it is not going to cut it.

We Need To Celebrate Our Wins More Often

Fortunately, the last three years were not only full of failures. I’ve been fortunate to have many wins, but I realize that I didn’t celebrate nearly often enough. Why work hard if we don’t celebrate?! I’m proud of my involvement with Yakezie.com and consider that one of my wins. I became a Member of the network, have gotten to know many fabulous people, and recently got my Blackbelt which was one of my goals for 2014.

Another one of my wins was getting my first Google Adsense check. I was skeptical about signing up for the longest time, especially because of all the horror stories out there by other bloggers, but things have gone just fine. I’ve had some mixed feelings about Google over the years, but I owe a lot to them, including most of my search traffic. Google also has a huge impact in the Bay Area where I live, which is pretty neat.

And another win is all the many things I’ve been able to learn so far over the last three years from blogging. And I have no doubt I will continue to be able to learn more. I’m also proud that I made the time to create my bucket list a couple years ago where I’ve been able to keep track of things I’ve done and also remind myself of what I still want to accomplish. If you’ve ever thought about creating your own bucket list, definitely check out these 55 bucket list ideas. It’s really fun to make your own list!

Thanks For Three Great Years And Here’s To Three More!

Thanks to all of you for your support!! Your readership and comments are one of the main reasons why I’ve been able to keep Untemplater going. I’m always open to feedback and love to hear from you. If there’s ever something you want me to write about or need help with, please reach out to me anytime in the comments or through my contact page. Thanks!

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