I’ve long known that my biggest fear is the fear of failure. It’s so hard-wired into my psyche that it takes a conscious, concerted effort to free myself of it. What it took me a while to realise though, is how much that fear was hindering me when it came to making decisions about my business.
Every time I was faced with a decision, I’d start assessing the choices as either ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. And Heaven forbid I get it ‘wrong’! The fear of failure meant that my decisions always fell on the side of what I thought I ‘should’ do.
It wasn’t until I was able to see that the choices before me were merely different ways of doing things, rather than ‘the right way’ and ‘the wrong way’, that I was able to start making decisions more freely.
And that included decisions about my blog. I used to think that everything I blogged about ‘should’ tie in with my business. I would find obscure angles to make something that wasn’t directly related to blogging ‘fit’, and I would leave a raft of subjects I wanted to blog about on the table. Which is a shame.
Because, even when you blog for your business, there is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ thing to blog about. There is no ‘should’ or ‘shouldn’t’. Of course there are topics that are more likely to interest your audience than others, but every time you publish a post you’re giving someone a reason to get to know, like, and trust you. And the odd personal post goes a long way to accelerating that process, because they give people an easy way to relate to you.
So the next time you feel like adding that personal anecdote, or writing about something that inspired you, go ahead. And don’t feel that you have to manufacture a way to bring it back to your business. If it naturally fits, do it. Otherwise just allow it to stand as it is, and let your readers take what they need from it.