This year, I’ve been trying to channel my inner Jada Pinkett Smith. Have you guys seen the most recent cover of Shape Magazine? Yeah. That.

I wanted flat abs. I wanted lean legs. I wanted a firm butt. And I wanted it all within one month.

Unfortunately, all throughout 2014 I ate pancakes for breakfast, burgers for lunch, and pizza for dinner, so I wasn’t exactly close to my goal of looking like Mrs. Smith.

After a month of little progress, I had to realize something: she’s been doing this for over 20 years, while I’ve been doing this for 30 days.

I got discouraged when I focused so much on the numbers that I didn’t embrace nor appreciate the journey.

I forgot that tiny progress was still progress, and a little progress each week leads to some serious results over time.

I got to buy cute new workout clothes and tennis shoes.
I took fun and entertaining dance classes.
I met great, new people who were also trying to channel their inner celebrity body.
And I even lost five pounds!

Great things don’t happen overnight. You have to allow yourself to grow into your ambition.

The blogging journey is not all that different from the weight loss journey.

Your first year in blogging is kind of like being that girl who dreams of having a fit bod. When you first start out, you bookmark awesome blogs in the same way you’d scour magazines for “fitspiration” from hot celebs.

Unfortunately it’s not that easy, kids. (Believe me, I’ve tried.)

Even if you write seven blog posts in one day, it’s important to pace yourself, because results don’t come overnight. If I hopped on a treadmill for five hours, I would still be the same size as before I got on the treadmill. I would also just be exhausted and less likely to put in work the next day.

Set mini goals for yourself.

Your first week, you might want to write two blog posts and be more active on Pinterest. The following week, you may share three posts and join a Twitter chat. After two weeks or so, track your growth. There’s nothing more devastating than working out for three days, then hopping on a scale to learn that you haven’t lost any weight. The same disappointment arises when you try to track your blog’s growth on a day-to-day basis. Be realistic. It’s when we take a step back that we see how far we’ve come over time.

If you’ve been going at it for months and you’re still not getting the results you want, don’t give up. Consider hiring a coach. Fitness and nutrition coaches help get you to reach your physical health goals while blogging consultants/coaches help you reach your goals as a blogger.

Finally, give yourself a break.

Don’t worry if you miss a day of blogging that you had scheduled. There’s always tomorrow. The blogging world, like the gym, isn’t going anywhere. Keep pushing. Keep striving. Keep blogging.