A couple of weeks ago, I had the privilege of speaking with Darren Rowse from Problogger.net, who has been more than a true inspiration to me ever since I started blogging. If you’re insane and you don’t know who he is, he’s like the Michael Jordan of the blogging world – he’s original, he’s got mad skills and he’s bald.

No offense Darren. I would gladly shave my head if it meant I could get to your level one day. Although, maybe that’s the trick. Think of Seth Godin, ShoeMoney and Leo Babauta – all top level bloggers…all bald.

Hmm…

Anyways, what made our recent conversation really special for me was the fact that Darren was interviewing me! I still can’t believe it, but it’s true. The interview was announced on Problogger.net yesterday, so if you haven’t heard it already, you can listen to it by subscribing to Darren’s newsletter.

If you’ve already listened to it, thank you for the gift of your time, and thanks to any new subscribers coming over here from Darren’s blog.

Side note: I apologize for the low volume on my end. I’m in the middle of a move and was using a backup microphone that apparently made my voice very soft. When my podcast comes out later in the year, I promise the quality on my end will be much better!

At the end of the interview, Darren had asked me to leave one parting tip for bloggers, and this is what I said:

In order to get to that next level, you’re going to have to take bold actions…

This is a followup post to that very statement.

The Routine

Ahh yes – the routine. A lot of what we do in life is simply part of a routine, and it’s not a bad thing. In fact, a routine helps us live a healthy, stress-free and happy lifestyle. We’re comfortable in a routine.

However, when trying to progress online with our blogs or our businesses, falling into a comfortable routine can stop us from ever seeing the influential results that we want to see.

Doing the same thing day in and day out – whether it be simply writing a new blog post, updating your Twitter or Facebook status, or commenting on other people’s blogs – will definitely help us progress, but it won’t take us to that next level. It’s the bold actions that we take outside of the routine that help us get there.

Think of it like a mountain that you wish to climb. There’s a set of stairs that wind all the way around the mountain, circling hundreds of times so that you can slowly make your way up to the top. In order to reach your goal faster, you can get off the stairs and create your own path.

Yes, it’s uncomfortable.

Yes, it’s risky.

Yes, it takes more effort.

Yes, it’s not part of the normal routine.

But that’s what makes it a bold action, one that could help us reach our goals much faster than if we simply relied on the routine.

Bold Actions

So what exactly are the bold actions that you should take?

For me, it was filing papers for my LLC. It was joining a mastermind group and asking hundreds of questions until I understood exactly what I had to do. It was spending 2 months to write an eBook. It was deciding to be completely transparent on this blog down to the penny. It was personally emailing Darren Rowse and telling him my story.

It was doing things that I was not completely comfortable with, but knew I had to do get to me to where I wanted to go.

And you?

I can’t tell you what bold actions you should take. However, I believe that most of you already have an idea of what they are. It’s probably something that you’ve been wanting to do for a long long time.

So why not now?

Thanks again for your support – it means the world to me. Have a great weekend, and stay tuned for my January 2010 Monthly Income Report in my next post.

Cheers!

p.s. Congrats to Stephanie from EmptyNestRenesting for winning a free copy of the new 4-Hour Workweek from my last post! Thanks everyone for sharing your seriously awesome comments!