A goal was set for ACTIVE-DAD.com to attract 2,000 views in the first year. I now know this to be what Elite Blog Academy’s Founder Ruth Soukup calls a “Vanity Goal”, but a goal nonetheless. Thirteen months later, I FAILED! I came up short of 2,000 views. Just how much more did I fail? Let us count the ways.
I set additional goals:
- At least 1 blog post a week
- At least 2 Video post a week
- Build an audience of 999
FAIL! Succeed. FAIL Some More!!!
Based on the three goals set above…With 52 weeks in the year, 42 posts were published on ACTIVE-DAD.com (FAILED!) and 171 videos went live on YouTube (Succeeded). With no clear criteria set, no real way to quantify the “audience” was defined. Another Failure. One out of four ain’t bad, right?!?!
Failure Is A GREAT Option
Much like you, I don’t like to fail. With all this failure, you would think I’d feel like it’s time to pack it in and call it quits now. Except, I cannot, because that would be true failure.
True failure would be to quit and not use these lessons learned through this process to inform my future decision, clarify my message and focus on what actually worked. Now how would you know any of this if you never got started in the first place.
As much as failure can feel negative, failure has so many positive aspects. In the Physical Fitness and Exercise world, the concept of muscle failure is a useful tool. According to Men’s Health , overloading your muscles to a point of failure is an effective strategy to stimulate muscle growth. In this sense, failure is a FANTASTIC option. Al l you have to do is KEEP MOVING!
I Failed!
On April 2019, ACTIVE-DAD.com went live and the first post was published on this site. One week prior, my wife gave birth to our first-born son, Tiras Malachi. As much as I would like to say that he was my inspiration, the fact of the matter is, he was the catalyst and my daughter, Elliora Zyah, was the inspiration.
There were at least 13 weeks through the past 52 that I did not make a post. A lot of things have happened since Tiras Malachi was born in March 2019. I spent 21 days in Peru on a work assignment, I was promoted, I transitioned from that position to another role and moved my family from California to Maryland buying a house along the way. And that’s just the second half of 2019!
Define Success
The events of 2020 have been one for the record books. Any public health or healthcare professional can attest to how busy this year has been. All the above could be ammunition for failure. But little failures here and there don’t need to equate to a complete failure, unless you allow them to be.
I came up ten posts short of the goal of 52 posts (one post per week). I recommit to at least 52 posts for the next 52 weeks. This will be accomplished by sticking to an action plan and an editorial calendar.
In order to determine whether I am successful in building an audience of 999 dads, I must define how I will measure what constitutes an audience. If I would’ve defined early on that an audience would be determined by specific visitors to the site, with 1131 total visitors that would’ve denoted a success. Going forward, building an audience of 999 dads will be defined by subscribers to the ACTIVE-DAD email list.
The Point Of It All
You are going to fail from time to time, day to day, week to week. Don’t let those small failures accumulate. Snowball your little successes into an avalanche. Check out The Physical Activity Snowball Effect. Start with an Action Plan and define what success means to you and each goal. Keep the goals few, measurable and simple. But most of all, be ready for failure just as much prepared for success.