I introduced the Shine Brightly Project in my last blog post, which is an initiative to try something new each month. For the month of January, I challenged myself to start a blog to encourage others. If you’d like to read more about the details and how I started it, you can read about it on my 1st blog post.
Towards the end of the year, I reflected on 2016 and I was pleasantly surprised of many accomplishments such as attempting to join Toastmasters’ club and successfully organizing Friendsgiving. I thought to myself, “Wouldn’t it be awesome if others could be successful and attempt to trying new things with me.” I enjoyed my projects where I worked with others such as Friendsgiving. Then, the thought dawned on me, “What if I created a movement, would others want to join with me?” So, I pitched this idea to my friends to get their opinions and I received positive feedback. I decided I am going to launch the Shine Brightly Project in the new year.
Go big or go home! I decided to go big with my Shine Brightly Project and create a blog that could highlight it. I did not count the cost of how difficult or time consuming it would be to start a blog and thought I could complete it in a month. I mean…how hard is it to start a website and write blog posts. I thought I could learn by watching Youtube, reading some books, and finding websites.
First, I went to the library to borrow books on blogging. Next, I came up with the concept of my blog. Some time had passed after my initial interest which caused me to lose motivation. So, I met up with my good friend, Jinnia, who has her own website about emotional health and fitness, to get advice about how to begin a website. Luckily, she gave me a step-by-step plan, so that I would be successful in reaching my goals. I was most challenged by trying to figure out how to use WordPress. Thank goodness for Youtube tutorials; they were lifesavers. As I learned more about the different functions of WordPress, I kept fiddling around it trying to make my website blog look perfect and my perfectionist side took the reigns. My blog was always saved as draft. I knew this blog wouldn’t launch if I didn’t set a deadline for myself, so I made a Facebook announcement to my friends that I was going to debut my blog on Valentine’s day. I hoped that would my Facebook friends would keep me accountable. I chose this date because I put much love into it as if I birthed a new “baby.” On Valentine’s day, my friends and family checked on my blog, only find a disappointing “coming soon” page. I appreciated that I already had fans who were excited to see my blog. By midnight, I finally hit the publish button and Light Shine Brightly finally existed.
I’m glad that I was able to reach my goal even though it took longer than my one month timeline. I’m grateful for my readers who encourage me to continue writing. Next time, I will plan better so I can finish within a month.
8 Comments
A one-month timeline for starting a blog is ambitious. And you pulled it off with flying colors. Way to go, Angie, for pressing through!
I didn’t know that 1 month is an ambitious goal. I really thought I could do it. I realized with this project that I need to plan better and use my project management skills. Thanks for your encouragements!
It’s hard to tell before starting something like this how much time it would take. I think you planned and projected a pretty good timeline actually. I only think it’s ambitious because mine took way longer to set up. You, on the other hand, honed in on what you wanted, took your skills and ran with it! Nicely done.
That’s true that it’s hard to tell how much time it would take because when I had a technical problem, I was trouble shooting left and right. I felt like an engineer. I think it could have gone faster if I watched more Youtube and followed instructions, but I like trial and error to figure it out. I suppose my project management class or my first real job out of college as a project engineer paid off to some degree. I think I need to hone in more with my project management skills and this new project would be a lot easier. Now, I see why there’s something called project management.
Interesting, huh, how no experience is wasted. Your past project management skills are coming in handy 🙂
Ambitious in a good way, according to this definition: having or showing a strong desire and determination to succeed. 🙂
Yup, that’s me. 🙂
It sure is. It helped me to create the my PDF monthly planner that I created for the following post. Check it out!