You can be anyone you want to be, or what I’ve learned from 1 year of blogging

When I started out blogging about fitness, I felt extremely embarrassed. Yes, embarrassed. I felt as if I was doing something bad that I should hide.

I was hiding it as much as I could. At least I was hiding it from the people that know me. I was actually quite comfortable with strangers that I have never met in person.

Facebook is a good example:

• Even though I launched the site in July 2011, I did not create a Facebook page for Fitness Reloaded until 6 months later, January 2012.
• Even when I did create a Facebook page, I only invited a few of my friends to join.
• I invited all of my friends to like my page just this past week.

It took me 1 year to be confident enough to invite everyone (or almost everyone) that I know to see my work.

[Btw, if you like Fitness Reloaded, you should like it on Facebook as well!]

On top of that, there were many times through this year that I thought I should quit. I had every reason to consider that:

• I created this website because I felt I had a message that people should know about. I wanted to teach people that living healthy is actually easy and that they should not feel guilty if they are currently not living as healthy as they would like to. Yet, when it comes to what I would gain through blogging…I did not have a specific purpose.
• Since I had no specific purpose, I was full of doubts about this endeavor – why devote all this time? I could just focus on my MBA…
• Plus, blogging = exposure. Why expose myself? Again, it was the lack of specific purpose that made me have all those thoughts.

Ahh, blogging is lonely and sometimes harsh. Yet, I kept on. After all, I had a message!

And I can tell you that blogging has its own unique highlights.

First, I did things that I would not have done otherwise:

1. I created my own report on Exercise Habits. I had more than 540 people participate in my research and the results were fantastic.
2. I was featured on Chicago Tribune, and on a lot of other newspapers of the associated press.
3. I launched my first office exercise mobile application.
4. I used the knowledge I gained from Fitness Reloaded to create another website from scratch.
5. I collaborated with awesome people, like Dr. BJ Fogg from Stanford University.
6. I shot and edited more than 80 exercise videos…

Second, I learned A TON that I would not have otherwise:

1. Copywriting.
2. SEO.
3. Branding.
4. Grassroots marketing.
5. Public relations.
6. Blog outreach.
7. Html, CSS.
8. User Interface Design.
9. Networking.
10. Social media marketing.
11. E-mail marketing.
12. Interviewing.
13. Podcasting.
14. Video editing.
15. Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere.
16. The art of overwhelming people with way too much nerdy information on behavior change (best skill ever!).

If you don’t understand what I just talked about, then please keep in mind that this is normal. I wouldn’t get many of those words as well before I got into blogging.

Third, I became an expert in habits creation.

Ok, I may not be a habit-focused university professor, but (yes I will dare to say it) I am good. For example, a few days ago I gave a workshop on creating healthy habits and one of the participants told me with excitement:

“You make the most sense in 20 years!”

Fourth, blogging is empowering in its own unique way.

You have the power to talk about anything you want. If you feel that things are not done the way they should be done, like I do with healthy living, then blogging is a great way to refine your thoughts and spread the message on what needs to change.

For example, I believe that there is way too much guilt when it comes to health. I believe change is easy, not hard. Sorry, I don’t just believe it –  I know it is easy..!

What most people do:

• Common way of embarking on changes: I will go from zero exercise to 4 days a week. =>NO PLAN, TAKING TOO MUCH RISK.
• Common result: Quitting after the first few weeks. Feeling guilty. Demotivated and discouraged.

What smart readers do:

• Fitness Reloaded way of embarking on changes: I want to go from zero exercise to 4 days a week. But I have to think first…how will I support myself once my motivation decreases? What are my limits? =>STRATEGIC THINKING, CREATING A SYSTEM OF SUPPORT BEFORE ACTUALLY EMBARKING ON THE CHANGE. MINIMAL RISK.
• Fitness Reloaded result: Success! Guaranteed.

Fifth, building a community is amazing.

It is just so  wonderful when someone tells you “thank you”. When I had first met Steve Kamb, he had also mentioned the same thing – his favorite kind of e-mails are the ones that say “thank you”. Knowing that you have had an impact on people’s lives is AMAZING. It really is. Every time someone thanks me or tells me that they get value from my tips I feel surprised but blessed!

Finally, I have changed my lifestyle into a much healthier one.

It seems unbelievable. For example, my latest achievement is eating salads & fruit salads, and preparing them myself. Now this may seem easy to you, but I was the kind of person who would prefer to just eat cereal (takes 1 min to combine the milk with the cereal) rather than spend 5-10 min to prepare a salad. It felt too much of a hustle. I was thinking like that for many years. Yet I am now doing it, and I am doing alright. I am not suffering as I thought I would. Feel free to laugh at me, but sometimes we do get overwhelmed with relatively simple things, and changing that is not trivial.

At the same time my exercise habits are top-notch. In the last year:

• I have been exercising 4-6 times a week (usually 5) without miss. Really, I didn’t even miss one week, not even at Christmas or while traveling.
• I have expanded into learning basketball and squash.
• I added more exercise minutes to my life on top of my workouts by getting the FitDesk and cycling throughout the day.

Looking back I feel like I changed a lot. It was a year of growth. I feel like I am a different person, and the best part is that I feel in control.

If I have learned anything from this one year of blogging is that you can be anyone you want to be.

• If you want to live healthier…you can do it.
• If you want to learn a new skill…you can do it.
• If you want to change your life, know that you can.

There are very few things in this world that you cannot do, yet trillions of things that you can do. Any habit can be changed. You have the power to make that happen!

The sky is the limit. Thanks for being part of this journey.

P.S. 1 I am celebrating Fitness Reloaded’s one year birthday with this giveaway. The giveaway ends tonight, on Friday July 20th. There is still time to participate!

P.S. 2 Want to wish me happy birthday? E-mail me…and make sure you tell me what you like about my site, or how my site has helped you 🙂

Birthday cake photo credit: basheertome