At 14 years old, I built my first website.

When I initially started exploring the Internet back in the late 90’s (I believe the year was 1999, and I was in the first year of high school – year 8), one of the first things that excited me was the concept of having my own website.

The question was – what topic to pick? I started a fan based website on the Star Trek Voyager television series (yes, I will admit to being a Star Trek fan!) At the time, the series was in its prime and I decided to construct my own website in a cheap and nasty website creator program. Of course it was hosted on Geocities, and contained all the bad graphics coupled with poor navigation and layout that came with typical websites back then. My content was not unique and there was nothing to make my first website stand on its own two feet. Unknowingly my major hurdle started back then.

I hit a stumbling block. I didn’t have enough knowledge to proceed any further. My website was a fish out of water – alone – no links and no visitors. So I decided abandon the site.  Since then, I have repeated the process a few times, and had the exact same results.

Ten years later and I’m reflecting on where I’ve come from, and what decisions have stopped me previously from making my splash in the online world.  After some consideration, I believe there are three key reasons why my previous websites or blogs have failed.

The ‘If Only’ Excuse

It totally hit me recently as to the biggest excuse that I’ve used for not taking action. The ‘if only’ excuse. The ‘if only’ self talk created an excuse for me to put things on hold. The following list demonstrates some of my biggest ‘if only’ excuses that I’ve used in the past:

• If only I knew what to talk about online
• If only I had the time
• If only I had that one brilliant idea
• If only I had more specialist knowledge in a chosen field
• If only I travelled more
• If only I had more of a varied and interesting schedule
• If only I had the motivation to follow through

Self Identity

After identifying some the key ‘if only’ excuses, I identified that I wasn’t feeling very positive about some elements in my life. I’ve been very judgemental towards myself, and unknowingly my confidence levels had suffered. I was afraid to take further steps because too many ‘if only’ excuses were getting in the way of my progress.

I’m learning to break through these hurdles by dismissing my previous limiting beliefs. I’ve stopped that inner dialogue from telling me that I’m really not  interesting enough to be talking about myself online. I’ve come to the realisation that I don’t need to be a multi-millionaire, an expert or a ‘guru’ to share my journey and experience. I just need to be myself.  And of course that’s one of the reasons why I decided to set up my blog under my own name, it forces me to relate content back to my own experience and journey.

Frustrations

I’ve noticed that in the past I have easily given up on an opportunity after witnessing no initial results. I would jump from one thing to another. So my next challenge is to learn how to follow through with my online projects.

So as an example, my domain currently isn’t receiving a huge amount of traffic as of yet, but its slowly building.  I have to remind myself that it’s almost impossible to turn a new blog into an overnight sensation. Google needs time to get to know you before he/she starts recommending you!

So my online challenge begins. I’m learning how remain persistent and focused while removing all my previous limiting excuses. Most importantly, I’m enjoying the process. It’s taken me 10 years to act – but its better late than never!