Time to get back on the horse? 3 ways to make it easier

What horse have you dismounted (or perhaps fallen from) this past year?

What with one thing and another – U.S. political insanity, a pandemic, becoming best friends with Zoom – “normal” became a distant memory for most of us. We started doing things we’d never done and not doing things we’d always done.

Now, as we creep toward a “new normal,” we get to get back on those horses we may not have ridden for a while. Whether you got thrown from the horse or voluntarily dismounted, gathering the courage to get back on may take some effort.

One of my personal horses is blogging. I’ve strategically decided it’s time to start back up, but that doesn’t mean I was totally comfortable sitting down to write.

See how well these three tactics allow you to approach your horse with a certain degree of calm and confidence.

1. Ease into it.

You don’t have to opt for the equivalent of a 10-mile trail ride your first time back in the saddle. Set yourself up for success by allowing yourself to take baby steps toward your goal. To ease my re-entry into the blogosphere, I deliberately chose these clearly defined and manageable tasks:

• commit to consistently post (actually the hardest step)
• update my spreadsheet of potential topics
• choose the first few topics
• brainstorm content for the first blog
• schedule time to write

None of those steps felt overwhelmingly large, and each made it easier for me to actually feel good about sitting down at my laptop. And apparently this approach worked; otherwise, you wouldn’t have had this to be reading now. ☺

Ideally, you’ll be smart enough to continue this “let it be easy” approach once you’ve settled into your task. To get some further encouragement, check out one of my tastier blogs, Monkey Bread: It’s Not Just for Breakfast Anymore.

2. Be willing to do an old task in a new way.

I read enough horse books as a girl to know that you typically mount from the horse’s left side. But what if my right leg is stronger than my left, and can give me a better boost into the saddle? It’s certainly worth a try.

My new way, in the back-to-blogging context, involves writing shorter posts. They’ll be quicker for you to read and for me to write. We’ll both have to wait and see if I can figure out how to be more succinct. Wish me luck.

3. Don’t be surprised to find the damn horse has moved.

My “horse,” in this context, was the back room of WordPress.

Technical upgrades are the bane of my existence. Just when I’ve figured out the easiest way to take advantage of some program or platform, I’m presented with a “new and improved” version. That’s why I was less than pleased to realize that WordPress made my life “easier” by switching to block editing of posts.

I could wish I had paid more attention to my own “don’t be surprised” recommendation, because when I went back into WordPress in way too long, my first reaction was, “Seriously? Why?!?”

Since I hadn’t been prepared for this unexpected change, I got to move on to Plan B: whine and complain for a few minutes to get it out of my system, then sit down and figure out how to handle the changes.

So what horses are you ready to bring out of the pasture so you can get back on them? What’s helped you get back in the saddle? What may be preventing you? Leave your thoughts below; I’ll gift the first three (non-spam!) commenters with a copy of my ebook, Do It Now! How to Take Action, Get a Move On, and Make Things Happen.

Heigh-ho, Silver! Awaaaaaaay!!

BTW, thanks to Paul for posting the falling-off-your-horse picture in the Creative Commons section of Flickr.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.