I’m not a top blogger, a thought leader or industry expert, and probably won’t be any time soon. No big deal. I’m not out to take the internet by storm. I don’t worry about my daily traffic stats, I don’t stress out about posting every day and I don’t blog for money (although I do make money doing it that supports the habit). I originally started blogging just to become a better writer. I’ve been blogging consistently now for over 2 years and I’ve learned that blogging itself is not a means to any end. The real value is in the process – it’s about continuous learning, connecting, collaborating, and growing as a person. In many ways, it’s a lifestyle choice rather than an activity or a hobby, and the people who are doing it for the right reasons are generally in it for the long haul.
Seth Godin and Tom Peters recently weighed in on why they blog at an AMEX OPEN forum. There were some great points made by both on the value of blogging that really resonated with me — I particularly appreciated Seth’s comment on developing humility, and Tom’s on how it changes your emotional and intellectual outlook. These are two of the most successful bloggers on the web and even after years of blogging and thousands of posts they still site growth, dialogue and openness to change as the top reasons they’re still writing. I find a lot of comfort in that. I’ve included some video highlights from the forum below…
The content of the first clip, which was taken from the forum, is transcribed below. The second clip is a segment of a post-event interview where Tom Peters elaborates on what he said in the first clip.
“Blogging is free, it doesn’t matter if anyone reads it. What matters is the humility that comes from writing it. What matters is the meta cognition of thinking about what you’re going to say. How do you explain yourself to the two employees or your cats or whoever is going to look at it? How do you force yourself to describe in 3 paragraphs why you did something? How do you respond out loud? If you’re good at it, some people are going to read it. If you’re not good at it, and you stick with it, you’ll get good at it. But this has become much bigger than “are you BoingBoing or the Huffington post?”. This has become such a micro-publishing platform that basically you’re doing it for yourself to force yourself to become part of the conversation, even if it’s just that big ::makes a “small” gesture with his hand::, and that posture change changes an enormous amount.”
- Seth Godin
“I will simply say, my first post was in August of 2004. No single thing in the lat 15 years professionally has been more important to my life than blogging. It has changed my life, it has changed my perspective, it has changed my intellectual outlook, it has changed my emotional outlook…and it’s free.”
- Tom Peters
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Fantastic stuff as always Steffan! I really like your perspective here, and also Seth and Tom's.
I used to get stressed when I hadn't posted anything on my personal blog, but I realized it is primarily an outlet for critical thinking, and almost a 'time capsule' I can refer back to when I need a touchstone for how I viewed a particular technical or open source topic in the past.
I also realized that as I blog more now on my work blog (OnCollabNet), I can release creativity that way. In the end, I agree that the process of blogging is one of the most important things – I find it 'unblocks' me in a creative sense, and the act of having to sit down to critically evaluate and comment on something forces your brain to get beyond the day-to-day tactical aspects of your life/job and really focus in on strategic things.
I still sometimes gets stressed if I haven't put out a blog (work or personal) in a while, but the stress isn't so much about others expectations of me, but of my own need to 'flush the cache', so to speak.
Thanks for your thoughts and the summary of Seth and Tom's!
The first year I was doing this I used to stress out about posting daily. It drained me emotionally sometimes, which is counterproductive. This was before Twitter and other now-dominant social media tools came on the scene and shook things up. Twitter in a lot of ways helped me shift my thinking about presence and eliminated any stress I had about maintaining my blog – I think that's the beauty of the platform…it allows you to venture out into the blogosphere and spend time reading, discussing and interacting on other people's sites – people can follow you to where you are having those discussions and creating that content, in context. That's true “blogging” to me – it's not just about my blog – it's about constant engagement and forcing yourself to participate and be part of the important conversations that are happening where they are happening. In other words, I work on my writing and I grow wherever the conversation is, not just here – the process you described above (critical thinking, unblocking etc) happens wherever you find yourself engaged.
Btw – love the “flush the cache” analogy.
I have always found the writing process to be both inspirational and insightful. Just putting my thoughts down on paper (or hard drive) creates a paradigm of thinking and exploration that brings forth ideas, questions and revelations that otherwise would remain hidden.
If you get feedback on your blog, so much the better, as those comments will foster continued dialogue (both internal and external) and take you in directions you hadn't considered before. But even if no one reads what you write, it's all about the process – ultimately it's a personal thing.
Well said, Mark. I'm curious…have you found that writing on GlobalPatriot.com has changed your intellectual/emotional perspective on how to address global issues? Interested to hear your thoughts…
Well said, Mark.
The articles I've written for GlobalPatriot.com have profoundly changed my perspective of the world. From the writing aspect, the research I've done and the connections I've made along the way have broadened my view of world events.
The feedback I've received, not only through the blog but through Twitter and Facebook, have given me insights that have served to shape my understanding of this very complex planet. The lesson I've learned, is that it's not enough to have an opinion…we must strive to understand the opinion of others…we're all in this together.
You just reminded me of a great talk given by Jonathan Haidt at TED. One of
his main points was on the importance of understanding the opinion of
others… he says in the talk:
“You can’t just go charging in saying “I’m wrong and you’re right”…because
everybody thinks that they’re right. A lot of the problems that we have to
solve are problems that require us to change other people. And if you want
to change other people, a much better way to do it is to first understand
who we are, understand our moral psychology, understand that we all think
that we’re right, and then step out…even if it’s just for a moment…and try
to see it as a struggle that’s playing out in which everybody does think
that they’re right and everybody has some reasons (even if you disagree with
them) for doing what they’re doing…and if you can do that, that’s the
essential move to cultivate moral humility, and get yourself out of this
self-righteousness which is the normal human condition”
The full video is here. Very insighful points made by Jonathan.
http://blog.steffanantonas.com/the-real-differe…
The first year I was doing this I used to stress out about posting daily. It drained me emotionally sometimes, which is counterproductive. This was before Twitter and other now-dominant social media tools came on the scene and shook things up. Twitter in a lot of ways helped me shift my thinking about presence and eliminated any stress I had about maintaining my blog – I think that's the beauty of the platform…it allows you to venture out into the blogosphere and spend time reading, discussing and interacting on other people's sites – people can follow you to where you are having those discussions and creating that content, in context. That's true “blogging” to me – it's not just about my blog – it's about constant engagement and forcing yourself to participate and be part of the important conversations that are happening where they are happening. In other words, I work on my writing and I grow wherever the conversation is, not just here – the process you described above (critical thinking, unblocking etc) happens wherever you find yourself engaged.
Btw – love the “flush the cache” analogy.
I have always found the writing process to be both inspirational and insightful. Just putting my thoughts down on paper (or hard drive) creates a paradigm of thinking and exploration that brings forth ideas, questions and revelations that otherwise would remain hidden.
If you get feedback on your blog, so much the better, as those comments will foster continued dialogue (both internal and external) and take you in directions you hadn't considered before. But even if no one reads what you write, it's all about the process – ultimately it's a personal thing.
Well said, Mark. I'm curious…have you found that writing on GlobalPatriot.com has changed your intellectual/emotional perspective on how to address global issues? Interested to hear your thoughts…
The articles I've written for GlobalPatriot.com have profoundly changed my perspective of the world. From the writing aspect, the research I've done and the connections I've made along the way have broadened my view of world events.
The feedback I've received, not only through the blog but through Twitter and Facebook, have given me insights that have served to shape my understanding of this very complex planet. The lesson I've learned, is that it's not enough to have an opinion…we must strive to understand the opinion of others…we're all in this together.
You just reminded me of a great talk given by Jonathan Haidt at TED. One of
his main points was on the importance of understanding the opinion of
others… he says in the talk:
“You can’t just go charging in saying “I’m wrong and you’re right”…because
everybody thinks that they’re right. A lot of the problems that we have to
solve are problems that require us to change other people. And if you want
to change other people, a much better way to do it is to first understand
who we are, understand our moral psychology, understand that we all think
that we’re right, and then step out…even if it’s just for a moment…and try
to see it as a struggle that’s playing out in which everybody does think
that they’re right and everybody has some reasons (even if you disagree with
them) for doing what they’re doing…and if you can do that, that’s the
essential move to cultivate moral humility, and get yourself out of this
self-righteousness which is the normal human condition”
The full video is here. Very insighful points made by Jonathan.
http://blog.steffanantonas.com/the-real-differe…
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