I hear the sound of someone calling me on Skype. I look at my clock. It reads 1am. I sigh, and ignore the call and lift the covers over my head.
I hear the sound of someone coming online. I again look at the clock. 1:59am. I shift in my bed and adjust my pillow. I again lay back down and drift back into sleep.
It’s now 5:15am, and my computer alarm clock is going off. In a sleepish daze, I turn off the alarm clock and head to fix my morning cereal. I find my glasses and sit down at my computer chair.
I check stats, browse through my feed reader, and respond to comments. Then I get ready for work.
Things can go wrong with a blog during the day. Earlier today, Simonne from All Tips and Tricks e-mailed me saying Bes and I spelled “Reader Appreciation” as “Reader Appreciton”. I felt extremely embarrassed and e-mailed Bes to please fix it since I didn’t have access to my blog at work. And the site has been live for over two months.
Other times, when I have made plugin releases, the comments come flooding in (especially bug reports) and I can’t do anything about it since I am at work. I rush to get home after work and the gym, but by then I am so tired, the energy to perform any band-aids or blogging is just nil.
The efforts made in blogging aren’t always justified, especially since I have a day job that already pays the bills. So I must ask myself, what is my gauge of success? I find that the success in the offline world is a little different than that of the online world.
Success in the Online World
Perceived success in the online world typically has to do with three things:
- The amount of traffic and subscribers.
- The amount of revenue earned.
- The amount of influence.
If you don’t have traffic, money, and influence, is your blog really successful? Is the success I mention the recipe for the mythical A-Lister?
Success in the Offline World
Some would perceive success in the offline world as:
- How many people you control.
- How much money you control.
- How much influence a person has.
Some of the most successful people are politicians, simply because they command huge armies and huge budgets.
Is the Offline Success and Online Success Practical?
Some would call their blog a success after reaching a hundred feed subscribers. Some would call their offline life a success after being married and owning a house. I have come to question what I consider a success, both in the offline and online world.
In the online world, am I successful because I have reached a certain feed count? Am I successful because one of my blogs is making some money? Or am I successful because I enjoy what I do and people are benefiting from what I write?
In the offline world, am I successful because I have reached my education goals? Am I successful because I have a good job? Or is there something more?
The Online and Offline Collision
There seems to be a crossroad where there’s a point where you might have to choose which world to achieve that success in. Is it possible to achieve success in both the online and offline world simultaneously? Is that what the mythical A-Lister has accomplished? Or does one have to choose at some point?
Conclusion
The weekend is coming up. I’m looking forward to it.
Thanks for reading.
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