I finally reached Greenland! Now things get harder.
When I first started this blog back in 2015 I was a writer with no readers. But I wrote anyway. I shared personal and professional lessons I was learning so that other people could learn them faster than I did. It was my way of paying it forward, even when I was getting things backward.
I slowly started accumulating readers. I would check my WordPress stats every day to see how many people read my posts. But I became even more fascinated with where the readers were. I soon noticed that this little publishing platform I wrote my posts on could deliver my thoughts all over the world. Like Santa.
I kept writing, and my WordPress world map began turning pink as I reached readers in more and more countries. I couldn’t believe how far the interwebs could fling my writings. I found that so much of my map had turned pink that I started focusing on the countries I hadn’t reached. I realize that I had a map-half-empty perspective. But those were my growth opportunities. Like you hear about in your performance reviews.
Greenland
For years, the biggest emptiest space on my readership map was Greenland. Cartographically speaking, Greenland looks more important than it is. It appears on most maps to be the size of South America or Africa. It looks much bigger than the United States. Which is why being rejected from Greenland was so hurtful. And because it is centrally located between North America and Europe on most of the maps we use in the US, an obviously empty Greenland on my map was like a big zit on the middle of my forehead. Pass the blog post Proactiv.
But 2023 was a milestone year for me. I finally did it. Like Erik The Red, I made it to Greenland! Not once, but twice. It felt like a major mapial accomplishment. Now my readership map looks much more impressive. But it took a lot of work. By the end of 2023, I had published 944 blog post malones.
In 2023 I also added Cuba. And not the Goodling Jr version. The real, cigar making, Elián Gonzálezy, Castro-y Cuba. While Cuba is not nearly as big as Greenland, it is just 90 miles from the United States. Since I felt as if I could kayak there with a printed copy of my blog posts, not reaching Cuba by internet felt like my Bay of Pigs moment.
What’s Next
Now I set new, harder goals. Next, I need to reach Iran and North Korea. Yikes… I also have yet to reach Haiti. Which I hatey. In Africa, I still have to crack Western Sahara and the croissant-looking area that includes Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, Central African Republic, Congo and Equatorial Guinea. Then there is Eritrea, which sounds like a medication they advertise on TV.
I also need to add The Fualkan Islands (What the Fualk guys?) Plus, the ever-unpopular Tajikistan. Svalbard remains the white dandruff on the top of my map. It’s part of Norway. (Come on, Svalbard, I’m 25% Norwegian.) I also have yet to reach the Soloman Islands and New Caledonia, just east and northeast of Australia. So let’s make that happen in 2024 too.
Key Takeaway
Think big. But start small. Then just keep taking small steps. You accomplish your goals little by little. By plugging away every day it is amazing how much you can accomplish over time.
Some Greenland Perspective
While Greenland looks huge on most of our common maps, it is a maptical illusion. The United States is actually 4.5 times larger than Greenland. The total population of G-Land is 56,000 people. For a Green comparison, Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers, has a capacity of 81,000.
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+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.
Originally published at http://adamalbrecht.blog on January 12, 2024.