Five Simple Steps to Reviving an old Hub Account

Anyone looking at my profile will see a grand total of one previous hub.  No joke, that's what it's sitting at as I write this.  If you look a little closer you'll also see that I've been a member for 2 years - so what gives?

Basically, I found the site two years ago, wrote, for whatever reason (no longer remember) didn't write any more, then I forgot about it.  Rather than beating about the bush with 'I'm sorry I haven't written more' I'm going to jump straight in with how to get back on your feet after something like this has happened.  The title says Hubs, however this can really be applied to pretty much anything you do online (or off).

Do you honestly want to revive this account?

Think about it for a moment, is it going to be beneficial for you to do so? Do you remember why you left in the first place, and if so, has the situation changed?

My reason for leaving was a peculiar mix of self-doubt, life pressures (ie. my course), and a lack of benefits to posting. Sure, I wanted to help people. I didn't know what to write about, and I certainly didn't see what I could get out of it. Hence I didn't bother.

Its important to know why you're doing this before you go ahead and do it; you should be doing it because its worthwhile for you, not for anyone else.

Maybe you've just read an email from your account and that reminded you.  Maybe you stumbled across the website again and remembered that way.  However you became aware of your account again, one question's probably running through your mind:

What on earth was my password?

If you're lucky its something standard and you can get it after a few tries, however for the rest of us 'Forgotten Password' links are a godsend.  As are 'Forgotten Username' links.  Use them, love them.

This one may seem a little odd, however I firmly believe that if you don't post the first time you're back on an account you're paving the way for 'forgetting' it again.  Take a moment to see what's going on, then start writing something.

It doesn't really matter what (I'm writing this post), but it does matter that you do it.  This is because, your first time back sets the tone for your account.  If you post, you'll negate that horrible 'I really should...' feeling before it has a chance to take root.  You want to do it, so hop to it!

With that first post out of the way (or whatever task you happen to be doing, if you're looking at this in a general way) its time to sit back and plan. The majority of people don't seem to like planning, but bear with me a moment while I explain.

When I say 'plan' I mean a few simple things; decide what topics you want to write about, decide how often you want to write, and decide how you're going to make it happen. This could be as simple as writing a couple of sentences somewhere you can see them easily, or as complex as creating schedules and to-do lists and integrating them with calendars. Its not important how you address these issues, its important that you know what direction you're heading in.

Take just a couple of minutes and answer these, you may even thank me later :P

Remember that plan you made in the last step? Here's the difficult part...

Now I want you to commit.  Not to me, obviously, chances are I won't personally see most of your work.  Commit to yourself, and your account. Right now.  Stick to your plan and do what you say, this is perhaps the most important part not just for your account but for you as a person. 

Stick to your promise.

Plans change, sometimes for the better, but the promise should remain.

So what do we think people, are we ready to commit to hubbing (or whatever) again? Is there anything I've missed?

I'd love to hear what other solutions you've come up with for geting around this. :)