Chapter 2. The Wrong Mindset
"For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he. Eat and drink, saith he to thee, but his heart is not with thee."
In addition to all the other reasons I failed with blogging, the most significant was my mindset.
A mindset is not something we are born with; instead, it is built through experiences, environments, beliefs, and repeated thoughts.
Generally, the mindset begins in early childhood and is shaped by family beliefs and values, school and education, cultural or religious norms, and feedback from adults and peers.
For instance, if you are praised for effort, you might develop a growth mindset. Or, if you were repeatedly told and accepted that the world was square, you might create a square mindset and argue with whoever told you it is round.
A message we repeatedly hear and believe to be true without proof of its validity affects our behaviour. If I apply the above-mentioned Bible verses to my situation, I would say that the gurus reshaped my thoughts on why I blog with their powerful marketing campaign.
As I mentioned on my About Me page, they acted under the false pretence that they were helping me make money fast, but they were thinking of their own pockets. Whenever I started a blog, the thought of making money fast lingered in my mind and affected my actions at the keyboard.
What was I actually doing instead of blogging?
I was browsing the Internet. Driven by impatience and urgency, I searched for the magical formula to make quick cash, as if browsing the Internet alone would perform a miracle. I devoured articles like "How to Make Money Online Fast" with enthusiasm.
Each time I found one, I read it for fifteen minutes before hurriedly moving on to the next one.
It never occurred to me that I needed a plan to pick a niche, find inspiration, or find a meaningful reason to write. I overlooked the most essential thing - that through my writing, I could provide value, solve a problem, help someone, share an experience, and inspire others. All my good intentions were buried under the burning desire to make money quickly. Deep inside of me, there was constant unrest.
Replicating Blogs
I lacked inspiration and replicated other people's blogs. I never meant to plagiarise, but I figured I could tweak what others had written. Unsurprisingly, it did not work.
Copying blog posts—even with the slightest variations—was exhausting. Reading through post after post and trying to recreate them was tedious and uninspiring. I soon became demotivated. There was no originality, no joy—only a desperate attempt to make money quickly. But money didn't come, so I gave up.
Distracted and Procrastinated
Disappointed that I could not find the elusive "secret formula," I procrastinated even more. I'd browse the internet, make coffee, call friends, and look for snacks to munch on—anything to distract myself from the frustration of not finding a shortcut.
The constant search for a win was fruitless. The cycle became discouraging and mentally draining. The seductive promises of the Internet gurus echoed in my mind for years. It was like a virus, convincing me that success was just one "hack" away. That belief grew stronger with time, feeding a harmful cycle of false starts and unmet expectations.
Eventually, I quit blogging altogether, emotionally exhausted and disheartened.
That's The Power of a Wrong Mindset
Everything starts with a seed. Words—spoken, written, or heard—are seeds planted in our minds. Once nurtured, they shape our attitude and actions, for better or worse.
The seed planted by those gurus became a stronghold. It grew into a belief system, one not easily removed. That idea - that I could make money quickly online - took root and grew into a tree of bad habits and poor decisions, ultimately leading to my failure as a blogger. Unless we actively confront and uproot these false beliefs, they will remain, guiding our actions and shaping our outcomes.
I knew I was blogging only for money. But even knowing that, I could not break free.
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