Since the time I started to write (see My First Blog), which is less than a month, I’ve been struggling to do my day job. It feels like I now have an escape, and I just want to focus on that. I feel like I could write all the time. When I’m not writing, I’m trying to figure out how to increase reach for what I write. Of course, it does not mean I’m not doing my day job. I continue to do everything that I was doing before, but just more grudgingly. Previously I didn’t have anything constructive to do if I did not work. Now I write, and as I’m working, my mind keeps wandering back to wanting to do something with my blog. I don’t know why I feel the blog is an escape from my day job.
Learning Patience
I’ve read stories about how writing online could become a full time career, and I think I’ve started believing that it’s going to be possible for me. The belief that it’s going to be possible for me, however, does not seem to come with the understanding that I need to be patient. It might take me years to get there, or it might happen in one year, and I keep oscillating between ‘let me just write, and not worry about readership’ to ‘let me focus on selling and make sure I have a good number of readers’. However, I want to do one of the two, and in the melee, it is becoming even more difficult to focus on my day job, which is my bread and butter. I can’t give up on it that soon. I need patience. I need to nurture my writing. I don’t even know if at this point I’m writing well, whether what I’m writing is interesting and useful, and obviously with very little readership, I won’t know for some time.
Staying Motivated
I wish I could talk to a few bloggers who’ve cracked this to see if they went through something similar, and how they dealt with it. Off the top of my head, I know there is a balance that I can strike, a decent solution- I spend one hour a day on my blog, on weekdays, and probably four to six hours over the weekend. Rest of the time I do my day job. That however, is the adult in me speaking. My inner child still wants to escape and do whatever it wants to do; which at this point is anything to do with my blog.
Nevertheless, I’m writing this at mid-day, and I need to get back to work.
In a nice case of synchronicity, after I had written the above content, an article on Times of India (in the paid section unfortunately, if you are able to access it) came up on my feed- Quiet quitting is not the solution, quiet work is. Simple writing, to the point, and impactful. The author talks about how you should not drop your performance even if you are disinterested in your work, or more interested in doing something else. Work well, and perform well, but also continue to pursue what you want to do slowly but steadily. The article was perfect for the state in which my mind was when I wrote this article.
Practicing gratitude
Just writing this post has cleared my mind a little. At this point in time, I have a great day job, and I need to be grateful for that. I also have to be grateful that the universe is showing me what could be. I will trust that the universe will organically guide me towards what I’m meant to do. For now, I’m thankful for what I have and intend to give it my best!