How to Write Your HOW for Your WHY

It’s a new day! I’m ready for Step 2 of setting up my blog action plan for 2018 and beyond ~ which is how to write your HOW for your WHY. I hope you had a chance to read Step 1 ~ Finding Your Why. If you didn’t and you’re dropping into Bluesky at Home for the first time or you’re back to visit (yay on either count!), then I encourage you to go back and read that post. I hate coming into a movie in the middle and I don’t want you to be wondering what’s going on, so take your time, read Step 1, find your WHY and then come back and let’s work on learning how to write your HOW because HOW is the meat of your blog action plan and I’m here to show you how to write your HOW that is based on WHY and will fulfil your WHAT.

Just to give you a little review, in December I started reading Start with Why by Simon Sinek. Although this is not a book aimed at bloggers, it is aimed at showing anyone with a business why WHY is so important. We all tend to think about and focus on WHAT and HOW first. So let’s get started on step 2 ~ How to Write Your How for your blog action plan.

Every organization ~ be it a business, a non~profit, a foundation, a government or an army ~ needs the leader to set the vision ~the WHY. But it’s the people beneath the leader who believe in the WHY that implement and carry out the HOW. Think of a general, a CEO (Bill Gates, Steve Jobs), the president. They create the WHY. It takes the captains, the executives, the secretaries, middle management to make sure sure the vision comes true. They are the ones who know how to write your HOW for your WHY.

How to Write Your HOW for Your WHY

Since tomorrow is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, I thought it was apropo to tell you another story that Simon shares in Start with WHY. It illustrates the connection between the WHY and the HOW. In 1963, Dr. King gave his “I have a Dream Speech” before 250,000 people in Washington, D.C. I’m a little young to remember the event, but since then, I have read and heard it dozens of times. I get choked up hearing his vision for his children and all children to live in a society where we are all judged by the content of our character. Dr King knew with CRYSTAL CLEAR CLARITY the WHY. But did he know the HOW? Was he the type of person who knew HOW to make the WHY happen?  No, it was Ralph Abernathy, his mentor, who did. Dr. King instilled in Abernathy the passion and vision and Abernathy knew HOW to put in place the action plan to make the vision happen ~ he showed other people HOW to do it.

Sometimes, we have to be both Dr. King and Ralph Abernathy.

The Golden Circle

Before continuing, I want to share a major part of Simon’s explanation of WHY, HOW, and WHAT. He calls it The Golden Circle. According to Simon, “The Golden Circle finds order and predictability in human behavior. Put simply, it helps us understand why we do what we do.” The Golden Circle illustrates  that we can achieve much more if we remind ourselves everyday to begin everything we do with WHY. I like to think of WHY as the bullseye, what we need to hit first. Then we can proceed outward to HOW and then WHAT.

If you would like to read more about The Golden Circle, this article is very good.

Be Realistic about Your HOWs

For most bloggers, we are the captain and the crew. We envision  the WHY and we set out the HOWs. We’re a one~man band. We have to wear a lot of hats to make the WHY come true. It takes a great deal of discipline to complete all the tasks necessary. No one to delegate to (Do husbands count?) unless you have a willing partner, family or kids to help. I think it’s more practical to be honest about what YOU physically can do each day or week to make your WHY happen. Because once you write your HOW, you have to be willing to carry it out.

Graysen Bell of iMark Interactive lists “unrealistic posting schedules” as 1 of his “6 Mistakes New Bloggers Make”. Since blogging involves more than just writing and posting. Over estimating how much you can do can lead to frustration, stress, and burnout.

TIP: in writing your HOW, be realistic about your time frame. Don’t overcommit yourself. Be honest with yourself about how much you can do.

The HOW is the Blog Business Action Plan

What are the actionable tasks that you do daily, weekly or monthly to make your WHY happen? Although WHY requires some soul~searching, HOW means getting to the specifics of your blog business action plan. What will you DO to achieve your WHY.

Step 1 ~ Divide the HOW

I divided my action plan into specific areas of action that would impact my WHY. Each of these areas is an important “tactic” that pertains to my WHY. I’m sharing my HOW to help you figure out yours and write your HOW. For me, and I think, every blogger, your specific areas of action look something like this:

• Blog Writing
• Social Media
• Email
• Products
• Education
• Photography
• Video
• Marketing

If you have other areas for your blog, add them. If any of these don’t fit into your blog action plan, don’t include them. You have yours and I have mine.

Step 2 ~ Write the Actions to Each Area of Your Action Plan

You’ve probably seen these acronym for GOAL; we’re not talking GOALS here, we’re talking about action, but I think some of those mantras apply. Under each one of my specific areas, I wrote the actions that I knew I could realistically complete within a given time frame.

Blog ~ the blog is the means by which I teach and inspire

• post 3 times a week + weekly link party hostess
• write clear, concise content for readers with attractive photography that increases the understanding of the content
• write the best content I can that teaches the reader
• write content that inspires, teaches or engages my readers

      ~ home decor
      ~ tablescapes
     ~ DIY projects for the home
     ~ recipes and cooking information
     ~ party ideas and decorations
     ~ Cricut crafts
     ~ paint projects
     ~ blogging~related information

• always be honest and forthright in my posts about recommendations, products, projects and content
• complete Favorite Resources page by January 31, 2018

Photography ~ better photography will illustrate to readers what I am teaching

• spend 1 hour a week learning features of photography editing software and utilize them in my blog and social media content for improved photography and efficiency

     ~ Lightroom
~ Photoshop
~ PicMonkey
~  Canva

Education ~ the more knowledgeable I am, the better I can teach

• spend 5 hours a week on blog and related topic education
• complete all previously purchases courses by May 31, 2018
• attend Haven Conference 2018

E~Mail ~ the larger I can grow my audience, the more people I can teach and inspire

• write and post weekly (holidays and vacations excluded) newsletter benefitting subscribers with additional information on focused content not contained in blog posts
• offer value~added content for subscribers

Giveaways ~ a way to attract people who want to learn what I am teaching

• offer a product giveaway for readers and subscribers 6 times during the year

Printables ~ a teaching tool

• create useable downloadable printable for readers at least 6 times during the year

Product Launch ~ a product that provides concrete benefits to my readers on one of my core subject areas

• create a product that benefits readers of one area of my focused content
• launch product by July 1, 2018

Social Media ~ another way to teach and inspire more people

• use Tailwind*, Boardbooster and Crowdfire to post to Pinterest and Instagram
• post to Instagram a minimum of 1 time/day; goal ~ 2 times a day
• post to Pinterest a minimum of 20 times/day; goal ~ 30 times a day
• post to Facebook 3 times a day
• post to Twitter 4 times a day
• engage on social media with others and offer useful comments whenever possible
• be active in Facebook groups and offer feedback, suggestions and support to others

*My Affiliate link to Tailwind

Video ~ a tool to teach and inspire people 

• create videos in my focused content that are educational, useful and entertaining for readers
• post 1 video each month to blog and Facebook

Step 3 ~ Print Out Your HOW

Now that I’ve completed my HOW, I’m going print it out and keep it front and center in my office. In my planner, I have made list of each day’s and each week’s HOW. That’s my blog action plan. It’s up to me to complete each item. That’s what will get me closer to my WHY and WHAT.

Now it’s your turn. I sincerely hope that this lesson on how to write your HOW will help you in your blog journey. If you haven’t already written your blog action plan, now is the time. When you have written your HOW, please let me know in the comments. I really want to know what your HOW is coming. Next time, I’ll talk about WHAT. And then we can get really busy.

 

January Giveaway

One of my HOWs is a Giveaway and this month is appropriately a copy of Simon Sinek’s START WITH WHY.

I wish I could send everyone a copy, but I can only give one away. So please sign up below. The Giveaway goes through Friday, January 26th and I’ll announce the winner on Monday, January 29th. Click on the image below to sign up. Good Luck.