I’m not into well thought-out blog posts. I usually hop into my feelings and ride that train. For me, that’s when my best stuff comes out. Plus, a glass of dry white, usually helps.

I am just ME.

Consistency and being on brand aren’t really my THANG, right now. I get all stressed out when I think about those things (at this moment in time, at least). It rips me right out of my jam.

I read those well-meant posts by successful bloggers in an effort to learn. And, you know, they’re probably right.

I should:

  • know my niche.
  • already have an autoresponder, so I can capture your emails with a super cool opt-in (ps. you can totally leave your email, but give me some time for the autoresponder – ‘m ‘kay).
  • probably do a whole bunch of other professional stuff.

SHOULDA. COULDA. WOULDA. (or whatever order you think it should be in…)

That’s, basically, why you haven’t seen me for the last 3 months, again. I lost my nerve, AGAIN. I was being too hard on myself. A.G.A.I.N.

I feel so pressured into doing everything just “RIGHT,” so I forget to be myself.

The result… A  WHOLE lotta stress for a whole lotta NADA

Right now, thinking about all that shoulda, coulda, woulda takes me away from being my own baddest self. In the end, nothing gets published: no work with me page and no posts – just a whole lot of pressure and self-criticism.

The moment I become f*ckwithable when all I really want is to be UNf*ckwithable.

Probloggers, basically, tell you that you need to have all ‘them ducks’ in a row with a neatly tied bow on top, or just don’t even get into the game. (At least, it sometimes feels that way. It’s probably exactly the thing I need to get out of the way to grow as a person.)

That’s when I lose the UN, and just become plain old f*ckwithable, worrying if my sh*t’s good enough for you.

My not so humble opinion… Just put a clobber to that freakin’ duck

Because you gotta start somewhere. It might as well be based on your own conscious intentions

Imperfect and sucky is the first station to get on that train (this is my mantra for the new year). 

What I R.E.A.L.L.Y. want is to just do it. Just skip all that shoulda, coulda, woulda pressure.

Doing that THANG that you R.E.A.L.L.Y want shouldn’t feel like a chore.

Starting a business shouldn’t ONLY be about Strategy. Consistency. SEO. Content Marketing. Shiny. Perfect. Sellable.

It should start with you and me focussing on being, a  human being.

Take yourself and your sh*t seriously, but don’t be too serious about it. Be you. I’m also trying to. Go forth and do it. Get that idea off the ground and into the ether.

So let’s get back to writing for pleasure and building up that business, one brick at a time.

P.s. You can read this as a rant to a girlfriend, which would be you. And this is me, in my own pretty crazy* way giving you permission to let all that advice you got from the interwebs GO and just be yourself

* I call it ‘prettig gestoord’ in Dutch, which translates to pretty insane when you post it into google translate, but a more accurate translation would be: nicely crazy.

FYI: I should probably set a bangin’ SEO keyword for this post, but I just don’t have one right now. Start… Wherever you are. That’s another motto for 2018.

What are your conscious intentions for 2018? Share them here, on my FB page. It would be fun to interact with another real human being.

The Mangrove Concept