Comments on: Where I’m At

By: bethh

bethh — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 21:34:40 +0000

hmmm I noticed that my feed for your site had been REALLY quiet lately. The last thing that arrived in my reader’s inbox was dated May 20.. so I suspect some of your low traffic is because your feed is broken!

Unfortunately I have now exhausted my diagnostic skillz.

I’m sorry you’re in a lull but I hope you get your groove back! And that is a large number of positives you’ve got up there.

By: Metroknow

Metroknow — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 19:37:00 +0000

Update to previous comment: Sorry Glen. Typo – meant LifeDev.Net.

By: Metroknow

Metroknow — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 19:34:35 +0000

I have really struggled with this exact situation (less the being hacked) for the last 6 months. I burned myself out last fall and have been in the biggest writing slump of my life for the last 6 months. I also have very similar pitfalls with fitness as you and J.D., as well as a similar propensity toward depression as J.D. has expressed. And in fact, I feel as though the slump has carried over not just in fitness and writing, but a lot of other personal things.

My point? Even in these slumps I find your story highly encouraging, inspirational, and mostly: REAL. It helps me to know that I’m not the only one in this situation, clearly. I know others have faced this recently as well (Glen at LifeDev.net went through it too). You guys are not alone in this, and you are making a difference for many, many of us.

And for me, things are starting to turn around. I took a significant break which helped somewhat (though not as much as I’d hoped). But most importantly I’ve decided to take action. I have committed to carving out time to read just 5 other blogs per day as a means of inspiration (this is 1). I’ve also decided to try to meditate for just 5 minutes a day to try to quiet my mind a bit and find that “inner writer voice” that eluded me for a while. I’m also starting back on the fitness trail with exercising just 2 times a week as “baby steps” to a more serious fitness plan. You get the idea.

I say start small, as other commentors have mentioned. It’s what I’m doing; and hopefully, on my site and in comments here, I’ll keep you posted.

By: Scott

Scott — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 20:50:17 +0000

website and blogging slumps happen to all. I agree that action after a mental break can be a good way to recover your mojo. Take a break, then act.

I do have to say, I’m not as big a fan of this design as the last site design. Just one man’s opinion, but I also know you have to put your time where you can.

By: Alissa

Alissa — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 20:13:39 +0000

What came to mind as I read your post is the idea of ‘Progress, not perfection.’ Almost every time I see you put up a post like this it sounds to me like you’re trying to do this perfectly. But really what matters is that you make progress, not that you get it all “right”. And you are making progress! The sooner we realize we’ve had a setback, the sooner we can do something about it.

By: Sean

Sean — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 16:03:27 +0000

Re: hacking. It’s very unlikely you were specifically targeted. You probably had an old version of your blogging software running with an unpatched security hole that an automated scanning program detected. Most of these things are completely automated. If you keep everything up to date it probably won’t happen again.

Re: the rest. It just sounds like you’re starting down the path of burn out. Give yourself a break and cut yourself some slack. Also, it’s probably not necessary to write an essay every time you post. Write something short and fun to get the momentum going.

But please keep going. It helps me to read about other average guys going through the same ups and downs. We’re all in the same boat…

By: brooklynchick

brooklynchick — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:30:36 +0000

We all have setbacks. Good for you for sharing with all of us. I know you will get back on track, and off again – as we all do!!

Sending best wishes.

By: Pam

Pam — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 03:56:11 +0000

By: AndrewE

AndrewE — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 02:17:40 +0000

I think these slumps happen to us all but like Greenman I think it is a question of taking action rather than hoping you’ll just find your mojo again.

By: Greenman

Greenman — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 20:23:19 +0000

Just to be clear, Mac, I’m not suggesting that you merely chat with JD. I’m suggesting that you call him every night at 8pm for the next two weeks. In that call, you cover three topics: whether you exercised that day; if not, why not; and what change you need to make in order to exercise the following day. He does the same. It’s not a social call. The idea isn’t to kickstart anything; the idea is to overcome your own resistance by being held accountable by someone whose support is valuable to you. You can reinforce it by involving Lauren. You can reinforce it further still by blogging about it daily. You can reinforce it even more strongly by betting $500 that you’ll lose ten pounds in the next ten weeks — if you lose, you donate the money to the political party you hate. (Give the check to Pam to hold: she’ll tear it up if you make your goal). Involve your marathon-training partner.

You’re a family man. You feel daily the responsibility and reward of coming through for the people who depend on you. Committment and keeping your promises are obviously important to you. These qualities are part of who you are as a person. Harness their power to your own advantage. The landscaping project can wait (I almost wrote “weight”). Redesigning the website can wait. Let’s make a date to talk about those things again in ten weeks, shall we?