When we blog or write daily and we don’t have success, we can easily get discouraged. We put in a lot of work on the post and no one came to see it or our words are garbage and we throw away the chapter.

At this point we can either give or keep going. Giving up makes the most sense because the blogging/writing/artistic/creative life is tough. We must work harder than most to push ourselves to the next plateau and the cliff is straight up.

But what if you don’t want to give up? What if you want to fight through the tension, go out on a limb, and dance in a minefield?

Each year I ask myself these questions at least a dozen times. What’s the point? Do I really want to keep doing this? Is writing for me? Then, I write the next post. Why? Because I am focused on the goal ahead not on what happens in the day to day.

Don’t get me wrong, daily success is thrilling. A strong day in sales, a great day in the comments section on your blog, or a promotion. Shortly after that though, roughly eight hours later most likely, the day is fresh, the achievement has faded, and the blank page is there again complete with blinking cursor.

We need to develop the march of the everydayer. You and I must come prepared to put in our work, but not looking at the ground below and the daily miles we have to traverse but instead be fixed on the mountain we want to climb, far in the distance, and move forward with jaw clenched.

So, friend, I ask you this question. Are you looking down at your feet? Or are you looking ahead at the goal you set at the beginning of this year or the last. You want to reach ___, right? Then focus on the long haul.

Where do you want to be in one year?