The Problem of Overthinking
I have a confession to make: I’m an overthinker, and because of this, I struggle with blogging. I tend to overthink things to the point that I end up not posting anything at all. I’ll spend hours researching and planning out what to write, drafting and redrafting a blog post, and then when it comes time to hit the ‘Publish’ button, I can’t bring myself to do it.
The Perils of Perfectionism
Part of the problem is I’m a perfectionist. I want everything to be just right, and that includes my blog posts. I want them to be well-written, insightful, informative, a touch funny, and engaging all at the same time. But the truth is, nothing is ever perfect. And that’s okay. In fact, it’s more than okay — it’s human.
The Fear of Failure
Perhaps The biggest issue holding me back is a fear of failure. What if no one reads my blog? What if people read it and don’t like it? What if I get negative feedback or zero feedback, the latter being more common? Am I annoying people who subscribe by email when they see a new notification from me?
I have a friend who is a successful screenwriter who used to blog. If he wrote a post and no one left a comment, he would say, “Another dud.” Despite writing films many of you reading this have seen, when it came to blogging, his confidence went right out the window.
The reality is not everyone will like what I write, and that’s okay. I need to learn to accept that and keep moving forward. As Wayne Gretzky once said, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”
The Problem of Time Management
I’ll be the first to admit I have a problem with time management in a lot of areas of my life. It’s a vicious cycle, and one I need to break. However, blogging isn’t one of those areas. I know how to carve out the time I have available to me and write. And I do write, every day — usually short stories (not “blog posts”) which don’t see the light of day. I just don’t post what I write (see “The Fear of Failure” above). I’m including this because I know many writers do struggle with time management. If that’s you, check out my post on the subject at “How to become a writer in 10 minutes.”
You can use the same method in this post for other areas of your life (note to self). Adjust the timer accordingly.
Breaking the cycle
So, what’s the solution? Well, it’s simple. I need to stop overthinking things and just start blogging. I need to accept that not everything I write will be perfect, and that’s okay. I need to stop worrying about what other people think and focus on what I want to say. At the end of the day, blogging is something I enjoy doing; and if you enjoy something, you should do it more — not less.
Here’s to breaking the cycle of overthinking and procrastination — whatever the cause. To blogging more and worrying less. To embracing imperfection and putting my imperfect words and thoughts out there for the world to see, as I once did.
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2 replies on “Confessions of an Overthinker: Why I Struggle to Blog”
Hah. Either there are two of us in the world with the exact same problem, or you have done a great job of eloquently expressing many of the basic challenges of writing – the problem/difficulty with blogging is that bloggers are both managing editor and content creator – you have nicely described what that feels like – and yet despite the difficulties we do it anyway – I have been blogging since 2007 and many of my 450 blog posts have been thought and rethought, edited and reedited – like Sysyphus I suppose, who was cursed to push a rock up a hill – but frankly, Ihave to admit I love to do it and I suspect so do you.
The Sisyphus reference is on point. With every anniversary of the Internet’s existence it seems that rock gets harder to push up the hill. Like you, I’ve been blogging/writing online for quite a while (1997). I didn’t move to WordPress and use my own domain until around 2012 or so. Had I been wise I wouldn’t have moved platforms so many times over the years, essentially starting from scratch each time.
Yet, here I am, 25 years+ into blogging, still trying to play the game of catching readers’ eyeballs and hoping something I yell into the void makes a tiny difference. And why? Because I’m cursed like you’re cursed. Cursed with the dag gone need to write.
Thanks for stopping by. And P.S. I’ve read your work (books and blog), so it means a lot for you to drop a comment here.