As you might already know, I don't have an actual blog or a website, nor do I intend to start one in the foreseeable future. I just don't see a need for it.

Sure, it would make me look more serious/professional/credible, but it would also mean that I would have to constantly worry about sticking to a regular schedule, making my content SEO-friendly, and so on.

A friend of mine, however, is serious about having it all and has been trying to start a blog since Christmas. Our recent conversation went something like this:

Me: Where are you with the blog?

Friend: Still not started. I need to find the perfect domain name first. And need a perfect photo for my announcement post on IG. After the announcement, I'm going to start posting about travel, food, health, etc.

Me: I think you're stalling.

Friend: You're right! I don't know what's holding me back. I feel like I don't have an inventory of content.

Me: Excuses. Excuses.

Friend: And to blog, you need to post consistently and I feel like I'm not there yet.

Me: Then don't get a blog. This is why I don't have one either. Start writing on LinkedIn, Quora, Medium, whatever.

Friend: 🤔

Our brains and certain industry experts have a way of making things seem more complicated than they should be.

This article, for example, is literally saying that you need to complete 21 'critical' tasks, all at the same time, the very beginning of your blogging journey.

Please tell me I'm not the only one getting anxiety simply from skimming through the list to see what the 21 tasks are! And I'm not even thinking of starting a blog!

I can easily see people like my aspiring blogger friend having full-blown panic attacks and feeling discouraged from consuming thousands of 'best' tips like these!

Want my advice?

Stop wasting hours upon hours looking for the 'best' ways to achieve X.

Focus on the most practical and simplest actions you can start taking right now!

Want to start a blog, an email list, or a book but don't know where to start?

The obvious way is by starting to write every day, no matter what!

Don't worry about content, style, branding, or anything else that the 'experts' expect you to have figured out from Day 1.

Don't even worry about publishing!

Just focus on establishing your writing habit.

In Better Than Before, Gretchen Rubin often says that 'the habit of the habit is more important than the habit itself'.

When I was focusing on re-establishing my writing habit, I experimented with several techniques and tools, but ultimately decided that most of them weren't for me.

One of the things that helped me was 750 Words, which uses gamification to get you to write 750 words every day. Usually, I just ramble about anything and everything until I reach my word count and then see if any of my ramblings could be turned into shareable content. If so, I copy and paste those bits into Grammarly, where I might spend anywhere from a couple of minutes to a couple of hours trying to make it look pretty.

That's it!

Your writing process doesn't have to be any more complicated. It might look slightly different, but you won't know what works or what doesn't work unless you try it.

I especially love how my new process doesn't rely on a strict content calendar but rather provides fresh ideas regularly. Using different apps for different types of writing also helps me stay focused. Plus I would hate to lose my 58-day streak on 750 Words, especially since I'm paying $5/month.

Oh, and one of the best things about not having an actual blog is that no one will notice or care if I don't publish for weeks or months at a time.

Are you having trouble with your writing goals?

Just respond to this email and I'll share some perfect PB&Js to help you take the next step!