Yesterday, I fell off the ship—for the second time.
The last time I fell off, I realized I needed a backup plan to recover and get back on the ship. The plan was simple—if I fall off the ship, I write 2 essays the next day, one describing why I fell off and what I learned from the experience and the other a new essay for that day. This time I learned something much more valuable after falling off the ship twice.
Here we go.
What I learned from this experience
I wrote a similar essay last time I fell off the ship.
The essay was rather easy to write—I just described why I failed to keep up with my daily writing habit. To my amazement, that essay was among my highly viewed pieces (relative to my other work)! The reason was simple—I was being vulnerable and describing an authentic personal experience that readers could trust.
Writing about your authentic true self and describing your personal experiences makes your content extra engaging for the reader. And it's the key to building trust with your audience.
Why did I fall off this time?
The reasons are simple:
No compelling ideas that made me want to sit down and write about. The process of writing every day is already challenging so make sure you remove all obstacles. Consistently generate ideas to have multiple ideas at hand.
Interrupted sleep schedule. I write my essays early in the morning. So when I woke up late yesterday I missed my chance of writing before my daily obligations started. I could have squeezed in an hour during the day and completed the essay but I procrastinated as I hadn't generated ideas beforehand.
Takeaways
Include authentic personal experiences in your writing to build trust with your audience.
Simplify the process to complete every writing session smoothly.