Of course there can be lots of reasons, but a common one is fear!

Here we go again (and probably not for the last time)

Why blog?

One of the reasons to write a blog is to write down what’s on your mind, to provide an outlet for your mind. But if it was only that, you wouldn’t have to publish it, right?! So, another neat thing about a blog is that people can actually read your works of art.

So, why don’t you then?

That last thing; that your writings is actually out there, in the open; that my friends, is the scary part. That’s what makes people afraid of putting pen to paper (or finger to key if you will). Out of fear of making a fool out of yourself – one of mans biggest fears in life – you wait and you wait and you wait for that perfect idea to come along for you to write about. And then you will probably wait some more for a divine outline and a heavenly disposition to come to you in your sleep. In your dreams.

Guilty as charged!

Sentenced but not jailed. Partly because I got an easy sentence – this is, after all, my 12th blog entry (in only 3,5 years) – but primarily because you don’t actually get jail time for not blogging. So, here I am; free to change; to try again. And again. And again. Failing, adjusting, retrying…

That is, instead of thinking about how to make it perfect, just do it. Really, what’s the worst that can happen?

An example

Last post I told you to stay tuned for my intentions “to try to map out an understanding of how to be great at something and have fun while you’re doing it“. That was, in my humble opinion, rather well put. Yes, I need to tighten it up a bit, but that is my intention for the not so distant future. However; having written that I suddenly felt the pressure to do just that, to do it really well from the beginning, and not “polluting” my blog with anything not answering to that mission statement.

A solution came to mind: I should start a new blog devoted to that statement. Of course, I would then need an appropriate (and smashing (and available)) domain name, the right theme and a …yes, you see where this is heading, right?!…

Don’t get me wrong though; Those are all excellent ideas. I will do all that.

Branding, marketing, designing your blog is essential to really reach out, but that’s not where to start. Start by creating (great) content. A blog is nothing without content, however shiny.

New game plan

In due time, I might spawn a new blog and start putting more effort into branding and focusing, on polishing my professional writing, but for now I’m just going to make a fool out of myself (more often)! Starting… NOW! …or rather 527 words ago…

So why then? Why do I try this again?

Let me spend this post exploring the metaphysics of blogging. A gazillion people have done this before me; there are twitterers(?) (rhetorically) asking Why use Twitter and bloggers stating 29 reasons to blog… There’s one thing missing from all these though: They are not my reasons! So here they are:

Why blog?

• I love to write. Hopefully it will make me better at it.
• Telling stories is interesting! No, not just interesting – it’s important!
• I suffer from input overflow. I need to output some too.
• I want to share. (It’s hereditary: Whenever my mom stumbles upon something interesting, she calls her nearest and dearest to share. It’s very sweet)
• I want to learn. (Hopefully there will be insightful comments here in the future, readers to interact with, to learn from)
• It’s a discipline. It disciplines me.
• I get to collect and articulate my thoughts.

That’s it for now. I will probably, hopefully find other bullets to add as I go along.

These reasons are not applicable just for blogging. It applies just as well to intranet contributions, actively taking part in study groups, workshops, discussions etc. (…and of course, to a far lesser extent; tweets…)

Also, these important reasons for me to blog are all part of a two-fold mission of mine: To share, engage and interact with my “tribe“, AND to inspire (and maybe help) others around me to improve in the same areas.

Now, officially setting out on this voyage, I’m really excited about getting another chance to listen to Linda Rising this weekend, as she joins us for our (Miles‘ that is) biannual “internal technical workshop weekend” in Oslo. Now that’s a story teller…