It seems to me that most people start out blogging with the idea of getting rich quickly.  Heck, if you are familiar with the make money online niche, you can see that an entire niche has been thriving because of this mindset. 

What I’ve learned in my two years of blogging is that set obtainable goals and patience is the most important skill you can have.   You will have to put a lot of work in early on to develop the readership you are looking for and that is often without any monetary compensation.   Once you meet a few of your goals, readers will come and the money will follow. 

Today I came across a quote that I felt kind of sums up the whole idea of finding success with obtainable goals.   It may seem a little lame, but if you step back and think about it, it really does describe finding success in anything:

By Mac Anderson, Simple Truths

When I was a freshman in college I learned an unforgettable lesson.
I was having a rough week when there was a lot to do and very little
time to do it. I was overwhelmed. I panicked.

That night a friend stopped by my dorm room. When I told him my problem,
he said, “Mac, I’ll share something with you that my grandmother told
me a few years ago. She said to always remember: ‘Inch by inch, life’s
a cinch. Yard by yard, life is hard.’”

I said, “Bob, here I am drowning in work and your lifeline is a quote
from your grandmother. Come on!”

After he left, however, those twelve little words kept dancing in my
head. I took out a piece of notebook paper and listed all the things
I had to do in the next three days. That night I began knocking them
off one by one.

Three days later I took out that paper and marked through the last
thing on the list. It felt great! And then I took out another piece
of paper and wrote down the words: “Inch by inch, life’s a cinch.
Yard by yard, life is hard.” I then folded the paper and put it in
my wallet. As many of you know, I’ve been collecting quotes ever since.

You see, over the years I’ve learned that success doesn’t come cascading
like Niagara Falls; it comes one drop at a time through short-term,
realistic goals.

Experts on motivation disagree on a lot of things, but one thing they
all agree on is that your levels of motivation are directly tied to
your expected probabilities of success. In other words, if you believe
you can do something (the goals are realistic), you’re likely to be
highly motivated. If, however, you think you can’t (because the goals
are unrealistic) your motivation level falls greatly.

The lesson here is to continue to dream big dreams, but realize that
the short-term goals that take you to the next plateau are the real
keys to success.

I think this applies to just about anything where you have goals, whether it is making money online, losing weight, quiting smoking, or spending more time with family.  

When you start out blogging, set realistic goals, then allow yourself to meet them over time, then create new goals that you can achieve.