Part of the guide: Blog Traffic
Not everyone is a great blogger.
In fact, blogging either comes naturally to you or it doesn’t.
Like all writing.
…and if it doesn’t come naturally to you, that doesn’t mean you can’t learn it. In fact, if you’re not blogging in your online business; you’re missing out on a whole list of benefits (from traffic generation to personal development).
That’s why I created this blogging system, to make it easy for anyone to blog daily. So if blogging doesn’t come naturally to you it just means it’s going to take you a while to really grasp and master the process.
Here’s the secret though; blogging without an Internet connection.
The biggest most fundamental reason why people suck at blogging is because of a lack of creativity and too many distractions. Kill the distractions, and you’ll get more creative and find more inspiration.
Here are 4 reasons why you should blog without an Internet connection:
1. Choices
You’re an entrepreneur now, you’re no longer confined to a single work location. Why would you want to blog from your small cramped office when you could be outside, on the beach, in a park or even a cafe?
For this reason alone, it makes sense to blog without an Internet connection, so you can get out and explore the place you live in.
2. Inspiration
You ever wonder why office workers in cubicles get crap all done during the day? The reason why most office works are unproductive? It’s because their environment offers no mental stimulation of inspiration.
Your brain gets stimulated by new environments, simple concept. Positive environmental stimulation causes inspiration. Breaking away from your usual Internet connected location will make you a lot more creative.
Changing your scenery gives you a broader view of the world and will result in many new ideas that wouldn’t have come to you in your apartment, house or office.
3. Kills Distractions
Ok, so being in your local Starbucks isn’t exactly not distracting, it’s quite the opposite. But it’s a different kind of distraction. When you’re connected to the Internet, you feel a constant urge to check for notifications.
Instant Notifications are the digital killer of productivity.
You constantly feel the need to check your Facebook, Gmail, Twitter and whatever other networks you’re connected to. Just to check out what other people are doing and saying.
You do not need an Internet connection to write a blog post. Think you need to search Google for a few references or ideas? A quick Google search often results in a pattern of opening Gmail, followed by Facebook and before you know it you’re talking to your buddies on Skype.
You were never meant to do this alone
Reading this changes nothing. Doing it with people who show up changes everything. That is the whole difference between the people who transform and the people who keep starting over.
Start free →You do not need other websites and programs open when blogging, it will kill your productivity. Blogging without a connection in a place where you cannot connect to the Internet will force you to adapt and get more creative.
4. Opportunities
When you’re outside, you never know what opportunities might arise. Perhaps you’ll bump into an old friend, you might meet someone new. Maybe you’ll find a new business prospect.
The point is, being stuck in doors all day connected to the Internet won’t do you any favors.
Ultimately, if you disconnect from the Internet when you’re blogging or doing any other kind of creative writing tasks; you will get A LOT more done in a short period of time. Try it out, I’m doing it right now and I’ve cranked out this blog post in about 20 minutes.
In Prosperity,
David Wood
P.S. Leave me your thoughts, comments and questions below. Also opt-in to the email list on the right for more blogging tips, tricks and secrets.
4 reasons to blog without an internet connection, blogging, blogging strategy, blogging without an internet connection, blogging without the internet, creative writing tasks, internet connection, new business prospect, quick google search, stimulation causes inspiration
Comments (carried over from the previous site)
TyronneRatcliff, September 2, 2011, 10:22
Solid content Dave, not having an internet connection is a great cure for writers block.
aleksbusiness1, September 2, 2011, 10:30
Wow!
I wish one day I will be able to write that well and that fast!
And you are spot on about the distractions. I have a constant urge of checking the skype and gmail.. And it sucks. Waste of time. I acknowledge the problem, but I still keep repeating the old habit. If I will disconnect internet, this problem will disappear.
Thanks Dave, you’re awesome!
Best wishes,
Aleks
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I enjoyed this very much, though I am curious how it translates outside the US context — “go work from a cafe” assumes reliable places with actual quiet and good chairs are common where you live. In Izmir this is not always so simple to find. Is the real point simply “change your room,” even if that room is not a cafe?
Tried blogging from the library instead of my kitchen table for about three weeks. The “no notifications” part is real — phone stayed in the car twice and I wrote more in an hour than I usually do in three. The “bump into opportunities” point, less so. Nobody’s approached me at a library table with a business proposal yet.
Sorry if this is obvious to everyone else but I am wondering — if you disconnect to write, how do you fact check anything or look up a word you’re not sure of? I feel like I stop every two minutes to look something up and I don’t know if that’s a bad habit or just how I write.
Bonnie, from coaching people through this a lot: stopping to look something up is usually avoidance of the harder sentence, not a real fact need. Worth testing which paragraphs trigger it.
Renata, that tracks for me actually, though I’d add something to it. The whole premise of this post — that you need a different physical environment to break through and get unstuck — assumes restlessness is the actual problem people have. It isn’t mine. I’ve never once needed a park bench, a beach, or a cafe with the right kind of light to write something worth publishing; sitting still in the same chair, same desk, same view out the same window every single day is exactly what lets me finish things instead of scattering my attention across four different “inspiring” locations before lunch. “Change your scenery” reads to me as one particular temperament’s fix being handed round as a universal rule, and I’d rather see it stated as what it is.
“Cranked this out in 20 minutes” is one data point from the person testing his own theory. Faster because of no internet, or because he had something to say that day?
Raj, can’t give you a study, only what I noticed running a diner for nineteen years — the days I wrote the specials board sitting in the dining room before opening, coffee going cold, always came out better than the ones I wrote at the register with the phone ringing. Might not be the internet doing it so much as just being somewhere that isn’t your usual post, like you say. Still noticed it every single time, ordinary as the coffee going cold.