I’ve been working with business blogs full-time for over three years. I know the secret to easy blogging success.

Trust me: I’ve learned this easy lesson the hard way.

Ready?

Here it is. Here’s the grand secret to smooth sailing in your business blogging.

Hard, hard, hard, hard, HARD work.

…What’s that?

Not the answer you wanted to hear?

Well, sometimes I don’t like it either.

But it’s the truth.

The path to maximum business blogging success is paved with work, work, work.

Compared to work’s spiciness, every other ingredient for successful blogging tastes as bland as bleached wheat flour.

Here’s my mantra: “I will do my best to work harder and smarter today than I did yesterday.”

So look closely at your professional blogging skills and habits. Evaluate what you did yesterday and ponder what you will do tomorrow.

And then get out there and work like a beast.

The easy way is the hard way.

So if you want blogging to become easier, just work harder.

Photo by Gio JL

Learn more about our professional services.

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Welcome to Part 5 of a 5-part series on the elements of visionary blogging. This article will help you become a more diligent blogger so you can increase your blogging success.

• Part 1: Increase Your Awareness (the ability to see)
• Part 2: Sharpen Your Focus (the ability to look)
• Part 3: Hone Your Discernment (the ability to evaluate)
• Part 4: Excite Your Imagination (the ability to create)
• Part 5: Strengthen Your Diligence (the ability to endure)

Recognize this mountain?

Look closely at the colossal peak in the photo above. Can you name it?

• Hint: It’s bigger and taller than Mount Everest.
• Hint: It can be seen from two cities that are more than 350 miles (560 kilometers) apart by car.
• Hint: Its name in Athabaskan means “the Great One.”

You’ll find the answer at the end of this article.

What’s with the mountain shot anyway?

I showed you the mountain photo to help you ponder two things.

First, the incredible diligence required for a mountain to rise up from the earth over millions of years.

Second, the incredible diligence required for a human to climb it in a matter of days.

What is diligence?

Diligence is zealous, intense, sustained effort. It’s refusing to give up no matter what. It means never forgetting or laying aside your vision for your blog.

Why does diligence matter to business blogging?

A lack of diligence has killed more business blogs and ruined more bloggers’ efforts than anything else, with the possible exception of self-doubt.

I’ve seen hundreds of professional blogs start out well, like hikers setting out for a summit on a clear summer day.

But then the weather begins to rage. One by one the mountaineers turn back, exhausted or afraid.

Only the bravest and stubbornest of souls can conquer the highest, loneliest peaks on earth.

So it is with blogging.

If you haven’t wept over your blogging, maybe you are not diligent enough.

If it hasn’t physically hurt, you might not be working hard enough.

Do you know what it’s like to clench your teeth in frustration because your blog is not making the difference you had hoped?

Or what it’s like to bite your lip and push forward, whatever the consequences and no matter the obstacles?

Without diligence, none of the other visionary blogging elements can guarantee your blog’s success.

It is diligence alone that seals the deal, making sure that your blogging vision finally becomes reality.

How can you strengthen your blogging diligence?

It’s simple. It’s hard, but it’s simple.

1. Look in the mirror. Becoming a harder worker is impossible until you examine yourself carefully. When are your least productive times? Your most productive times? What do you waste the most time doing? What causes you to work harder? What leads you away from blogging diligently?

2. Decide. Set an ultra-specific goal that tests your utmost limits as a blogger. If it don’t make you hurt from the strain, it ain’t gonna make you more diligent.

3. Work like a burro. Or work like a banshee. Take your pick. Either way, make up your mind to put one foot in front of the other nonstop until you stand on the summit – the roof of the world.

If you do these three things on a daily basis, I promise you that you will always be a little more diligent than you were before. And your blog (and your blog visitors) will thank you for it.

Remember These Words

I once sang them in front of a crowd. They mean everything.

I can climb up to the mountaintop
Touch the stars out in the sky
And I can change this cold world to a better place
Brother, you can bet I’m gonna try
Just watch me fly

Thank You

You have now learned the fifth element of the Visionary Blogging method for blogger self-improvement.

And whatever makes you a better blogger will also make your blog better.

I know that awareness, focus, discernment, imagination and diligence are vital to long-term blog success.

I challenge you to set a goal right now to work to become a better blogger in one of these five areas over the next seven days.

If you stubbornly strive to achieve that goal, you will make yourself a more skilled, more successful blogger. I promise.

I invite you to subscribe to Visionary Blogging so you don’t miss future updates on how to speed up the blog improvement process and make it more effective.

If you’re serious about improving your blog, I also urge you to try my Iris blog consulting service. Your blog will never be the same.

Thank you so much for reading and responding to me. I appreciate your support, your questions and insights.

My next post will reveal the ultimate secret to easy blogging success. Unless you already know it, of course.

I wish you the best as you strive to become a more diligent, perseverant blogger.

Enjoy this inspiring video.

Photo by Unhindered by Talent

Learn more about our professional services.

Related Articles

1. Elements of Visionary Blogging, Part 2: Sharpen Your Focus
2. Elements of Visionary Blogging, Part 1: Increase Your Awareness
3. Elements of Visionary Blogging, Part 3: Hone Your Discernment

Visionary blogging is blogging with vision, of course!

Ah, but what is vision?

When it comes to using blogs and social media, I think vision consists of these five things:

The 5 Elements of Strategic Vision

1. Awareness - the ability to see.
2. Focus - the ability to look.
3. Discernment – the ability to evaluate.
4. Imagination – the ability to create.
5. Diligence - the ability to endure.

Vision is not money, power or success – but it will help you become richer, more powerful and more successful.

In fact, you must improve your vision in order to achieve maximum blogging and professional success.

Without vision, you damn yourself to blogging hell. You kill your ability to improve and progress. You shut off and shut out the light.

As you learn about and hone your “visionary blogging” skills – your powers of awareness, focus, discernment, imagination and diligence – your blog will improve and you will become a better blogger. And that improvement will come faster and more naturally than ever as you practice this method.

The Visionary Blogging Method: The 5 Steps

1. Increase Your Awareness
2. Sharpen Your Focus
3. Hone Your Discernment
4. Excite Your Imagination
5. Strengthen Your Diligence

Using the Visionary Blogging method, you can improve your blogging vision and reach your ultimate potential as a blogger and professional.

Your company or organization deserves to know what it’s really accomplishing with blogs and why. This step-by-step strategic approach will help you through every part of the blogging process, from planning to launch to promotion.

I can help you do it. Learn about my blog consulting services.

Please join me in the quest to become a visionary blogger.

I promise you that it will be worth the effort.

Any questions?

Photo by vshioshvili

Learn more about our professional services.

Related Articles

1. Elements of Visionary Blogging, Part 1: Increase Your Awareness
2. Elements of Visionary Blogging, Part 2: Sharpen Your Focus
3. Elements of Visionary Blogging, Part 5: Strengthen Your Diligence