Shadow Sneak is out of PP

​January 5th, The Grown-Up Pkmn Trainer officially launches!

I can’t believe that this is my final Shadow Sneak Peek and 2016 is out of Leppa Berries.  The Shadow Sneak Peek posts have helped me prepare over these last couple of months.  They have taught me a lot about blogging, promoting and getting the website to do what I want.  As we welcome the new year and say goodbye to Shadow Sneak Peeks, I want to share some different strategies I use when I start something new and how Shadow Sneak Peeks used them to help me start this blog.

Learn to work it into my routine
A big part of starting something new for me is figuring out how to work it into my routine and making it a part of my life.  With my cash-only plane ticket resolution from this year, it's lack of routine helped it be successful.  I only had to remember it when I was planning a trip.  I didn't have to try to add it into my daily routine and remember it.

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The Shadow Sneak Peeks have been really helpful in learning the best way to work blogging into my weekly routine.  Like when I start anything new, the first post was easy to do and complete on time.  The four-day weekend false swiped what I thought I could accomplish.  The following two posts were difficult to complete on schedule, while also working a day job.

I learned that I have to work smarter, not harder and daily.  Now I divide the work up throughout the week like I am using nightmare on a sleeping post.  Even if it wakes up by the end of the week, I don’t have to do as much work when Saturday arrives.  Since then my routine continues to improve incorporating blogging into each week.

Not paying when I don’t have to
A strategy I try to use often is to practice doing something new before putting up the money for it.  Spending money to force or "encourage" myself to do something usually turns out to be a waste of my money.

I have been retraining my mind to stop saying, “If I buy X, then I will actually do Y.” I don’t need a new laptop to write for my blog, I have a desktop.  I don’t need a dog to go for walks, I have Pokémon Go.  I don’t need new fabric to design clothes with, I have bags of fabric.  Until I know that Y is going to be a part of my life, I just have to use what I have.  Purchasing X should be improving Y, not getting me to do Y.

Before ever planning on putting the blog online I started writing.  I needed to practice blogging before doing it to justify to myself that getting on the web was worth the fees.  After about a month of practicing, I felt like this was something I would continue to do.  Then I started researching how to get it online.

As I was researching hosts, I learned that I can host three different websites on my plan with Weebly.  The plan I have been already paying for and using for the last five years, so I started this blog as my second Weebly website for just the price of the domain name.

Weebly doesn’t do everything that I wanted it to, but for the price, it does what I need it to for now.  This blog’s life is only beginning and only needs the basics.  As it grows and evolves I can start looking at paying for TMs or Vitamins to meet whatever needs I may have in the future.  Until then, Weebly is perfect!

Adjust my expectations
Another strategy is to feel free to adjust my expectations while rollouting toward the overall goal.

This year’s resolution also included doing drawing exercises weekly and doing a couple of theoretical designs throughout the year.  I felt like I failed after they both fell by the wayside throughout the year.  However, as my ideas for this blog started to come together, I found myself drawing and designing daily.  Although it is not originally what I had in mind, I reached the overall goal.  I am drawing and designing now much more frequently than I was at the end of 2015.

When I first decided that I would launch The Grown-Up Pkmn Trainer on January 5th, I wanted to be able to post something new the same days of the bug-catching contest in Johto.  The Shadow Sneak Peeks have really put things into perspective.  Although I have a cheek pouch full of prewritten posts, it still takes a lot of time to develop, edit and promote each post.  I have learned that doing three posts a week is too much for me right now.  My expectations have changed to posting once a week, but the goal of posting weekly is more attainable.

Start by taking it slow
The Pokémon games always start slow.  Mostly because they are designed for a younger audience who may have never played Pokémon, or video games, before.  New players need to be explained the simpler things because it’s all new to them.

I spent the first two months of the blog reading and learning about blogging.  I was also figuring out art direction and practicing writing.  Taking those two months taught me the simpler things so I could progress through my first gym badge of blogging.

Taking these six weeks to work on everything I had learned earned me my second badge, the Shadow Sneak Peek Badge.  By earning it I was able to learn new things about blogging and blogging for this blog.  Working on the blog over the last four months has led to some great discoveries, and I am eager to share with you what you can expect from the next four months.

Saturdays will continue being the standard day for weekly new posts.  Depending on how January goes, February and May I may begin slipping in a few extra posts on Tuesdays.  I will share anticipation with Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram when an extra post is expected.  I want to slowly work up to the point when I will be posting on Tuesdays and Saturdays regularly.

The first monthly series, my net worth updates, will start January 7th.  Expect to see the other monthly series bubble up as the regular posts become more frequent.  Once a monthly series has been running for a couple of months, they will get their own page for easy access.

Starting at launch, the six Shadow Sneak Peek posts will be made accessible from the home page.  The home page will also get a facelift to keep current with the six most recent posts.  Readers will also, hopefully, be able to access blog storage from the drop menu.  The about page will also receive a facelift.

As with starting anything new, I am super excited and think I’m going to be having a lot of fun in 2017 with The Grown-Up Pkmn Trainer.  I hope you have a fun and safe evening and I’ll see you next year!

What strategies do you use when starting something new?  Do you have a New Year’s resolution?