About 1 year ago I lost my luggage.
On the way from Istanbul, Turkey to Cyprus.
I didn’t get my luggage until 7 days later.
Thank goodness the folks we house sat for allowed me to wear the husband’s clothes.
But if they hadn’t I’d simply have bought a few day’s worth of threads for the desert-like environment in Cyprus and would have been A-OK.
I developed a trait that all successful bloggers own.
Watch as I discuss via video from my days in Cyprus:
I am a pretty chill dude.
But I became chill over a series of years.
I was not always this way.
When I waited calmly and patiently for my luggage – through a series of mishaps, miscommunication, language barriers – I showed the trait that successful bloggers own: flexibility.
If I was not flexible I’d have complained like a little baby when the luggage didn’t roll off of the conveyor belt in Cyprus, at 1:30 AM, after nearly 24 hours of travel from NYC, between layovers and flights.
But since I am adaptable I simply talked to the airline luggage dudes, submitted a ticket for lost luggage, left my cell phone number and followed up the following day.
After 7 days – through which I remain composed – I found myself sprinting to the border crossing in 105 degree, desert-like heat in Cyprus, to reach the guard house so I could pick up my suitcase.
I made it. Without panicking. Calmly and confidently.
During the week I completed my blogging work, enjoyed Cyprus and simply wore different duds. When I could have easily moaned and whined, letting the lost luggage spoil my travel week and eat into my blogging productivity.
Flexibility
Successful bloggers go with the flow.
Even if the flow moves in an unexpected direction.
You may have built your entire blog monetizing strategy on Google Adsense yet after an algorithm change or some other important factor you may need to change your tune.
Maybe you write and self-published eBooks which you advertise on your sidebar to increase revenue through that income stream.
Or perhaps you do away with Adsense all together when your blog and brand are no longer a match for this income channel.
Wherever the flow goes, follow it. Hold your fun, freeing intent but go with the flow as far as strategies, income streams or other ways and means to help make your dreams come true.
Being Adaptable
Be adaptable.
Think of blogging in terms of evolution.
The most adaptable bloggers survive.
Bloggers who do not adapt go extinct, or fail.
I used to place guest posts on unclear blogs for a minute, earlier in my career.
When Google did away with this type of guest posting – or well before, because I saw the handwriting on the wall – I ditched the strategy and moved on, building my freelance writing business from an adaptable space.
There Is Always a Way
There is always a way, even though the way may be different than the way you wanted to take.
This is how flexible, successful bloggers navigate around obstacles, roadblocks and other forms of resistance.
When the hosting company I use took my blog offline because I broke some TOS I had a choice: delete 1,000 blog posts to keep the blog online or take down the entire blog to begin a new blog and new brand.
Even though I felt scared I ultimately found the way to keep succeeding online, and it didn’t involve working my old blog or those old cash flow streams. I trashed that sucker and created Blogging From Paradise, never looking back.
Be flexible. Understand that there an infinite number of ways to reach your goals and to make your dreams come true. Just be open to different ways and means through which you will manifest your dream life.
Your Turn
Are you a flexible blogger?
Why?
Why not?