Do I need to be passionate about my blog? I keep seeing this question and the boiler plate answer seems to be “yes! You absolutely must be passionate about your blog for it to be successful”.
For sometime I believed it. I tried with various blogs previously to get them up and running but gave up after a few weeks after seeing zero traffic and no hope of getting any. Reflecting on why I gave up and reading content online I would come to the conclusion that it was a lack of passion. If only I could find a topic I was passionate about then I could make it work.
Except fast forward to today and with two sites up and running, I can see the idea that you simply have to be “passionate” about your blog seems off the mark.
What you need to make start and sustain an endeavour is not passion alone but rather commitment alongside it.
What Does It Mean To be Passionate?
Let’s take a look for a moment at what it means to be “passionate”.
The Cambridge dictionary defines passion as “a very powerful feeling, for example of sexual attraction, love, hate, anger or other emotion”. Whilst it defines passion for something as “an extreme interest in or wish for doing something, such as a hobby, activity, etc”.
When you look at the definition you start to see why it should not be the main driving force behind launching your blog or indeed any serious venture.
Blogging can be incredibly rewarding but takes a significant amount of effort especially in the early days as you try build your content to critical mass.
Beyond that you then have to have the discipline to write quality posts consistently, monitor the performance of your site(s), engage with your audience and what often gets forgotten, continue learning how to be better at it.
As we know, passion can be fleeting, it can come and go with us having seemingly no control of it (ever heard of the term “a crime of passion”?).
Passion is all you need for a summer romance by the beach. Passion alone will not sustain a marriage for decades.
Passion will get you to sign up for a hosting account, crack out a few posts and share it with your friends and family.
Passion alone will not have you waking up an hour earlier before your regular day-job each day to write a blog post consistently for 6 months.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying passion has no part to play in launching a blog or any other successful endeavour. What I am saying it should not the main and only criteria with which people decide whether or not to launch into a particular area.
What I’ve realised with my own journey is that what’s made the difference is not a new found passion. But rather a commitment to stay the course and put in the required effort even when things seem like they’re not moving.
Why Is The Whole Passion Idea So Popular?
So with that said, why is it that so many sources out there answer the question “do I need to be passionate about my blog?” with a great big “YES!”?
Saying you have to be passionate about your blog sounds cool and its easier. It romanticises and introduces emotions to what needs to be a conscious decision to commit rather than an impulsive reaction to a fleeting emotion.
It makes the whole thing sound so much more sexy than it otherwise would.
Let’s be honest – what’s going to get more views – saying “you just need PASSION for your blog to be successful” or “you need to be real dedicated, super committed and willing to do things you may not always enjoy, day in day out to give yourself even half chance”? Yeah, thought so.
Do I Need To Be Passionate About My Blog?
So, do you need to be passionate about your blog? Yes you do but you also need a whole lot more than just passion to take you from just starting a blog to sustaining it.
Alongside passion you need to build in commitment and discipline backed up by a clear purpose.
Put those factors together and you give yourself the best chance of lasting the distance.