Before we begin, this post will not be a success bloggers guide to being a millionaire and sitting on the beach with your laptop. These posts are designed to mislead you into the false reality that success is often portrayed to be.

People have got to know me online as being a pretty open guy that likes to talk about personal development and entrepreneurship. I talk about these two topics to help you get into action and because they’ve transformed my own life.

Reaching people online through any type of content is something many of you aspire to do. I thought I’d share with you how you can be a blogger – whether that be written words, video or podcasting.

How I got started as a blogger.

When I about 27 I met a dude named Joel Brown. He’s super chilled and also loves entrepreneurship and personal development. I still to this day have no idea why, but he asked me to write for his blog.

Given that I used to hate writing, I have no idea why I said yes. Must have been one of those gut decisions I read about on some random success blog that one of my distant friends who may or may not have driven a Ferrari told me to read (sounds cliche I know).

So, I wrote some articles. The first one had the word startup and one of those ugly stock photos with guys in suits sitting around a table. What the hell was I thinking?

A few blog posts in, one of them resonated. It went crazy!

“It was like for a brief moment, everything I touched turned to gold. Until it didn’t. About 3.5 weeks later”

At that time, blogging was therapeutic. I’d read a self-help book, demolish it and then apply the lessons. I’d then reshare the lessons from my own experience. Three years led to not much action.

By year four, people started to read these short blog posts I was writing. Then I began writing on lots of sites, doing a few interviews and sipping green tea (well I did this beforehand too, but it makes for a nice story by a warm fire, doesn’t it?).

A couple of viral blog posts in, and I’d reached the tipping point. What’s interesting is that no one taught me how to blog. I’ve never run out of ideas to write about either.

It takes time, but if you’re patient, anyone can be a blogger or content creator and achieve the same results.

My career (outside of blogging).

There are very few bloggers that just do blogging. I’m not saying it doesn’t happen, but it’s rare. What many people never tell you about their online success stories is that they have a day job or business.

That’s me. I’m not going to hide it. I have a side business which is social media consulting and I work in a bank. There’s something about being surrounded by entrepreneurs, by working at a bank, that I like. Never been able to figure that out.

“Many people tell me to quit my day job but if the truth be told, I like meeting people and my fellow colleagues are fun. You don’t have to quit anything if it makes you happy”

What are the habits I follow?

Word of warning before we begin: I don’t take cold showers, make my bed or do high-intensity interval training.

I’m just an average guy from Australia mate with an Aussie accent, a sense of optimism and who likes to lick the cheese off the packet once it’s open.

1. Exercise three times a week.

It can be anything. The other day it was hot so I went swimming. The week before that I did 1000 steps with my girlfriend because she wanted to do it. Today I hit the gym for thirty minutes. Exercise helps get the blood flowing which essential in my creative process.

I think good content requires energy and exercise helps to cultivate that.

2. My TV remains off.

It’s been about 6-months since I fired the old girl up. I just have no use for it anymore. Books bring me everything I need and it’s how I get ideas for content. Creating content around lessons you learn from a book seems to be highly shareable as well.

3. Content starts my day.

When I wake up, I write and format blog posts before doing anything else. This helps remind me it’s my number one priority. Also, when you start the day doing your biggest goal, you feel like you have achieved something which gives you extra momentum for the rest of the day.

4. There’s the occasional bit of cheese.

Why? Because after you’ve poured your heart and soul into your content, you deserve a small treat. These happy moments help to give you a bit of motivation while you’re going through the marathon that is intense creativity, and states of flow.

Tony Robbins did teach me to avoid dairy, but he’s not watching me 24/7. Or is he?

5. Reading content from other bloggers.

Sometimes I read something that sucks and say to myself “Hey, I can write about that same topic and perhaps do a slightly better job.”

There’s other times where reading articles written by my fellow bloggers inspires me. Just like music, you can take bits and pieces from other people’s styles and add it to your own tool belt. Art, creativity and content are all borrowed. We’re all influenced by someone and it’s unlikely we’ll replicate the exact same piece of work even if we are inspired by another blogger.

There are days where you’ll have zero ideas. Other people’s content will help give you the seed you need to begin creating on those days. There will be other days when you can come up with all the ideas yourself.

6. Just do.

It’s now a daily habit to just do and not overthink. Blogging happens no matter what, even if it’s just writing a message to a friend via an email. The key to successful art (content) is in the doing. I got where I am today by doing it every week.

Did you notice that there weren’t many habits?

That’s because I gave up the following:

– Notifications from websites like Facebook
– Having my phone next to me while I write
– Junk food that sucks my energy down the drain
– Friends who are toxic and ruin my mood
– Looking at the price of shares, cryptocurrency and my bank balance
– TV, Netflix and those annoying memes
– Activities I suck at which didn’t inspire me
– Being afraid of putting myself out there
– Being lonely and unlucky in love

Conclusion

This blog post is designed to help you see that you too can create content. It’s also a reminder that I’m not some superhuman and that actually, I’m pretty normal. So, if I can do it, so can you.

I’ve stripped away the fakery and the PR stories so you can be inspired to get to work and create your own content.

I hope to watch, read or listen to that content one day and know I played a very tiny part in your success. Because that’s what I’ve learned success is through my blogging and content.

That’s what you can learn from a 30-something-year-old blogger.

If you want to increase your productivity and learn some more valuable life hacks, then join my private mailing list on timdenning.net