Categories: Publish

Milestones: 652 Blog Posts

I noticed the other day that I was posting my 650th blog post. Today’s is #652. And, I thought that’s pretty cool, I should celebrate this in some way. And, what better way than to write about it and share what I think it means.

My Blog Milestones

Firstly, let’s start with some stats.

My first blog post here was March 6, 2008*. That’s just under six years ago. That’s about 100 posts a year or one every 3 days. Typically, this has come in fits and starts. I’m currently blogging most days and I’ve had gaps of several months along the way.

At an average of 300 words per post, and I simply guessed this figure, that’s 195,000 words. That’s a big book but not quite War and Peace which has over 550,000 words in it’s english translation.

I haven’t spent time analysing my blog posts and I’m guessing around 200 have been repurposed from Book Rapper content.

*For the purposes of historical accuracy, this is not actually my first blog. I started before there was blog software way back in 1999 or thereabouts. I started a daily diary of the paintings I was making and wrote a short piece about each one and what I was trying to achieve. I did about 30 updates over about 10 weeks and 4-5 paintings. Back then, it was all done by hand. And, it took over an hour for each post. It all got too much and I quit.

Three Lessons

So, what’s the point of sharing this milestone? Yes, I am trying to telling you how good I am! LOL! And, I’m proud of this accomplishment. That’s a big effort over a long period of time. And, there’s a couple of insights here you might apply to your business…

1 What are your milestones?

What are the milestones you are out to achieve? And, which ones are you achieving anyway?

Let me explain… I didn’t set out to write 650 blog posts. I did have various goals to create one hundred here or 50 there or one every day like I’m doing now. But, the real goal is just to write. I’m blogging daily at the moment because I want to write a book and publishing my material one little piece at a time every day, works for me as a regular work practice. It’s also a neat little achievement each day that I can fulfil in under an hour. And that’s satisfying.

[Tweet “What are the accidental milestones you’ve just accomplished?”]

There’s an interesting debate about goal setting at the moment. One group follows the traditional approach of setting goals. And, the other group suggests this limits your focus, your potential for innovation and you miss out on the real opportunities that pop up along the line way. I think this comes down to personal preference. I’ve always struggled to fulfil the goals I’ve set whereas other people swear by them. As long I’m working in the direction I want to head I’m happy. What works best for you?

Tip: What are your deliberate milestones? And, which ones are the accidental milestones you’re achieving?

2 How do you celebrate your milestones?

If you’re going have milestones then you need to celebrate them. Or at least acknowledge them along the way. So… How do you celebrate your milestones? Do you write a blog post about them? Share them with your friends? Have an all-out party to remember? Or do you let them slide quietly past? Naturally this depends on the milestone and I do hope you celebrate them in at least some small way.

Tip: Find something to celebrate today?

3 What resources have you under-leveraged?

[Tweet “To create new opportunities review your recent milestones and achievements.”]

And here’s the real opportunity of acknowledging your milestones. For me, I was surprised that I’ve reached 650 blog posts. And the thought that struck me when I noticed this 650 milestone had been reached, was what a massive resource I have available to me. And, how under-utilised or un-leveraged this is. It’s about time I reworked some of this material into some books – at the least some mini Kindle books -that I could use to promote the rest of my work. If you don’t acknowledge the milestones you’ve achieved you might miss the opportunities that are sitting right in front of you.