A Head Buried in the Sand Gives a Bad View

It's been a while since I posted here. Summer hours took effect with nieces and nephews' freedom from school. Plus, I was getting ready for another semester teaching a class at a local business school. Plus, clients--new, potential, and long-term--kept me busy (yay!). Plus, friends and family were in town a lot. Plus, it was so hot...

See a familiar pattern there?

Step 1: Identify the problem or weakness.

Step 2: Identify excuses for it.

Step 3?

Keep my head buried in the sand and ignore the issue? I don't like this option because the issue keeps flaring up in the back of my mind, even while my head is buried in the sand. That's got to feel familiar to some readers.

Another choice is to get my head out of the sand to face the facts. Now, I'm talking about my performance as a blogger, but the same pattern of behavior exists for many business-altering issues. Leaders bury their heads in the sand rather than face the facts of their performance.

When one's head is buried in the sand, you know what those around can see, right? Yes, the site is not pretty and does not inspire change, innovation, confidence, or productivity. Whatever issue is flaring up in the back of your mind, face it today and improve the view.

With that in mind, I faced the issue of my poor blogging performance today by getting its score and ranking. My blog score is 47. Out of 100. That's an F! (Don't tell my dad and mom I flunked a grade.)

My blog ranking is 2,505 out of 9,388, is written at the 10th-grade level, and has 18 inbound links.

Ah! There's hope! It's not ranked 9,388! In fact, the number of inbound links indicates someone is reading this--or wishes they could have something to read.

Facing the facts--after all, a blog that has not been updated in more than two months should not expect much higher than a 47--was a little scary and painful. Even with reasonable expectations, I didn't like seeing that 47.

But, at least I can fix it now.

The joy of getting out from under the sand is changing the view for myself and those around me. I will do better and will keep you posted of the score improvement.

If you're stuck with your head buried in the sand, pop up and take a peak. The view is much better from above the sand for all involved.