Is it possible to read too many blogs?

When thinking of what to talk about for this blogging tips.com post I began to panic because I was not coming up with any ideas. I thought that I’d go and read a few blogs from my feed reader including my list of virtual mentors. Virtual Mentors (list is on my right sidebar on my blog) are those people who are attaining a level of recognition and success online or in their personal lives that I wish to attain. I learn from them and they help me grow as a person and blogger. Most days.

On those days when I am feeling like whatever I write is garbage it doesn’t help me to read posts by people who are so prolific and inspiring. I begin to feel like whatever I’m going to write doesn’t at all matter because I won’t ever get to that same level. I wonder where they got their inspiration and whatever I write would pale in comparison to what they just wrote.

That thinking is crap!

The thing is that while you or I may not be on the same level as A list bloggers, or B, C, and D list ones for that matter, it doesn’t mean that what we are saying isn’t important. I think that we can get hung up on being intimidated by the success we see from others. Many of the people I read have at least 12 comments on each post moments after it is posted and RT counts in the 100s. That is intimidating. But, look at it this way. Every single one of these people had to start somewhere and sometime. The biggest thing they have on their side is time and a large body of work. But they had to get there day by day like anyone else.

What can you do today to improve your posts?

Read blogs – Ironically, read more blog posts. The thing is, don’t go reading and then compare yourself to the other blogger. Read each post and come up with ideas that you can use for yourself as jumping off points for your own posts. When you do this make sure you refer back to the post where you got inspiration. Do this for two reasons, one it is good karma and two that good karma may get you noticed by the original blogger where you got your inspiration.

Keep a notebook – You can either keep an open file where you write out ideas for posts or a physical notebook you can write in with a pen. By having some ideas that you can go to when you are in a writing drought you can get out of it quickly by picking one of those topics.

Wipe out distractions – Turn off Facebook, Twitter, the TV and any other alerts, distractions and roadblocks to focus. Being able to really focus on what you want to say will allow you to write highly readable posts. If you are unable to focus on what you are writing understand that the people reading it won’t be able to focus on it either.

What are your thoughts? What are ways to motivate yourself when faced with feeling not so confident? What keeps you keeping on?