I finally decided to blog
It’s always been difficult for me to write.
When I was younger, my brother and I were never encouraged to express our opinions in writing. It simply wasn’t part of our family culture, so we never grew up with a need to debate a particular point of view on paper. My struggles continued in high school, this time in English class where I coined the phrase “36-hour paper.” As the expression suggests, it would take me about a day and a half to slog through 4-6 pages of an essay, laying out an argument with which I often had little emotional connection. Good grades were a priority then, so I took a very pragmatic approach to secure them. More recently, I’ve felt there weren’t very many things in my life that I was truly passionate about. Without that inner motivation to share my voice with others, it’s been difficult to justify the time and effort required for writing.
The irony is the that everything I’ve written has been top notch. Those 36-hour papers in high school earned me some of the top marks in a quite rigorous honors class. The few times that I’ve been inspired enough to actually write about something (e.g. my first official review on Yelp, or my Fast company article about hiring for startups), the results have been impressive. The delivered product was interesting, engaging and useful, and I did it with my personal brand of humor and wit.
So it’s a not a question of whether I can do a good job - I know I can do a great job - it’s more a question of whether I’m giving myself the opportunity to do it.
As I started thinking about the things I’d like to accomplish in 2012, it became clear that writing is my number one priority. I want to express my perspective on topics like entrepreneurship, startups, creativity and life hacks. I want to build confidence both personally and professionally by becoming more comfortable with my opinions and convictions. I want to showcase my creativity and sense of humor, because that’s how I engage readers and keeping things fresh. Ultimately, I want writing to become second nature, something I enjoy - not a task I slave over for hours and hours without end.
So how will I make this happen? I’ll start blogging, of course. But I also need some specific goals for my writing to make everything a little more tangible and a little more measurable. Here’s my approach:
/ Write at least one blog post a week. In other words, a few paragraphs of text that present a structured argument and opinion. I want to make writing part of my weekly regimen, no different than after-work drinks or Sunday brunch. And the key to building good habits is repetition and consistency.
/ Act quickly when I get inspired. I was surprised by the amount of ideas that came to my head the moment I seriously considered blogging. Unfortunately, ideas quickly lose their power if they’re not quickly developed into robust thoughts. You forget the context of your inspiration, the examples that support your argument are not as vivid, and the idea itself may no longer be timely and relevant, especially in the fast-moving tech world. It’s always easier to strike while the iron is hot, so I need to minimize the time between the idea and the execution.
/ Focus the writing a few key topics. While I’ve yet to determine what these will be, I’ve narrowed them down to a few general areas: entrepreneurship and startups (this is what I live and breathe every day), creativity (I’m fascinated by lateral thinking and how it can influence business), and life hacks (so much of what makes people successful is how they optimize their lives). I’ll start with these and then build more focus as I discover what interests me most.
/ Minimize the perfection. As Steve Jobs once said, “Real artists ship.” I have a tendency to overthink things and make them too perfect for their own good, often at the expense of time. I need to stop constantly editing and rewriting my thoughts - it’s just another barrier to GSD (getting shit done).
/ Write something that will help others. There’s too much crap on the Internet already, so it would be a disserve to others if I produced more of it. And if I’m already taking the time to write, why not make an extra effort and do it with an external audience in mind? I’m in a unique position to share information most folks aren’t privy to, so in the classic entrepreneurial spirit, I’d love to give back to the online community.
So there it is, a public commitment to start blogging and some guidelines to make it happen. These are first steps of a long journey, one that I hope will be fruitful and rewarding. And while I can’t be certain where my writing will be by the end of 2012, I am sure of one thing: it can only get better.
Here’s to an insanely great year of blogging.
