Making Blogging Fun (Because Fun Blogging Is Easy Blogging)
Recently, I’ve realized that I had a story in my head about work. I thought work should be serious. Work means no smiling, fun, or laughing.
Then, a lightbulb came on! “Hey, I work for myself, right? I can make work fun if I want.” That’s what I’m changing starting now!
Next, I realized I was taking blogging seriously, meaning I wasn’t letting it be fun. Blogging has been a grind. Now that I’m aware of these thoughts, I’m working on having fun blogging. Because when something is fun, it’s also easier. Fun blogging equals easy blogging.
Here are five ways I’m looking to make blogging fun. I’m hoping these five ideas will inspire you to find more fun in your blogging, too.
1. Curiosity
One of my first business coaches taught me about curiosity. She encouraged being curious about everything. Here are a few ways she talked about it:
- Talking to someone? Get curious about them.
- Feeling something? Get curious about that feeling.
- Afraid of something? Get curious about where that fear is coming from.
Embracing curiosity has helped me form deeper relationships with people and understand myself better.
How does curiosity relate to blogging? In a couple of ways.
When you resist or find yourself procrastinating blogging, get curious about the reasons behind it. When I realize this is happening, I stop and ask, “What am I’m resisting? What’s the feeling behind it?”
Once you realize what’s going with your blogging, you can work through it.
Second, get curious about finding topics and the topics themselves. For example, if you’re feeling stuck with ideas? Get curious about your ideal readers and what they’re asking. If you’re not sure, you can use ChatGPT to ask about the problems your readers are facing.
Speaking of curiosity, I’ve heard a lot about making tasks and achieving goals more fun by gamifying them. That piqued my interest and curiosity.
2. Gamification
Make work fun by gamifying it. I’m going to try it with blogging and marketing games.
Here are the steps I’ll be trying to gamify blogging and marketing:
- Define my goals: what do I want the outcome to be?
- Decide points for tasks: assign points for drafting, editing, and publishing a blog.
- Decide on levels and rewards: after assigning points to the tasks, decide levels and rewards for achieving each level.
- Choose a tracking method: create a scorecard to track the points, levels, and rewards.
I’m working through these things in the next couple of days to create a blogging and marketing game for the next month. I’ll publish a blog or a video about it when it’s done, so you’ll get all the details.
3. Experiment
I’ve learned that there’s no such thing as a bad decision. (I think this came from Susan Jeffer’s book Feel the Fear . . . And Do It Anyway.) As long as you learn from the outcome of a decision, they’re all good.
I also learned from Jon Acuff that it’s OK (even great!) to audition things – to try them out. You can audition and experiment with anything, from new habits to new goals.
With my goal of having more fun with blogging and marketing, I’m embracing auditioning some things —- like gamifying the tasks —-I and seeing what happens.
Want some ideas? Here are a few:
- Change your location. Take your laptop and work in a park, library, or on a hike. Yup, take your laptop for a hike. Find a rock or somewhere to sit and write.
- Try blogging at a different time of day. You might find that changing when you blog will make it flow better.
- Have a dance party before drafting a blogging. I love Sean Stephenson’s dance parties on YouTube. Getting your body moving can help get your mind grooving.
Another experiment I’ll be doing is making more videos and fewer blogs. Video has always intrigued me, and I’ve enjoyed making them in the past.
I’m taking part in a 31-day video challenge with Lou Bortone. I’ve done his challenges before. During them, I had a lot of fun and learned a lot.
I think I’ll make recording videos outside a priority, too. Maybe add some bonus points for filming a video outside.
4. Get Outside
Now that the Rocky Mountains are warming up, I’ll get outside more. (Hence, taking my laptop to a park or on a hike and working.) Being outside relaxes my brain and gets me looking at things from a different perspective.
There’s research to back up the benefits of spending time outdoors. For example, “exposure to nature has been linked to a host of benefits, including improved attention, lower stress, better mood.”1
If you can’t get outside, listening to nature sounds, like waves breaking on a shore or crickets, can help.
5. Celebrate
Celebrations don’t have to be big or only to celebrate big milestones. Rewards can be simple, like a mental pat on the back, a pedicure, or going on a walk while mentally congratulating yourself.
My goal is to celebrate every day for a month. Large or small accomplishments, they all deserve a celebration.
Gamifying can help with celebrations because, depending on how you design your game, you get to level up. Each level up comes with a celebration!
Ready to Infuse More Fun Into Your Blogging?
I hope this blog has given you some ideas about making your blogging and work more fun. I’ve you’ve got ideas about how to make blogging more fun, email them to me! I’m always looking for more ideas.
Remember, fun blogging is easy blogging.