Editor’s Note: As a few of you might already know – I’m currently travelling and on vacation :). Actually, I have been for the last week in case my online absence didn’t give it away already. I’d tell you all about and where but then you’d dislike me a little more so let’s just say it’s sunny, sometimes windy and the sea is as blue as they come.
During my absence I asked my very good friend Mufasa if he’d honor my community and I with a guest post (the first ever on this blog) and lucky for me he said YES :D! In true nittyGriddy style, please join me in welcoming Marcus Sheridan from The Sales Lion and his fantastic article on why you should never quit writing, blogging and believing.
If you don’t follow him already, then head over to Twitter right now and stalk the crap out of that lion. His roar is a friendly and gentle one and you’re sure to love him, his amazing blog and the incredibly engaging community that he’s built.
Mufasa the Mane Man!
Something very interesting happened on my blog a few days ago that made Griddy and I raise an eyebrow. Basically, one of our very good friends in the blogosphere, Mark Harai, openly discussed his decision to stop blogging. Much to our surprise, Griddy, me, and many others chimed in, showing Mark our support and letting him know how much we appreciated his past writings.
But as I thought about Mark’s decision to quit/take a break (which is mainly due to what he feels is his inability to produce as much great content as other bloggers), I began to ponder all of the wonderful benefits to blogging that we often times overlook, likely because ideas of ‘fame, fortune, or ‘world dominance’ (not in Mark’s case though) cloud our perspective. So without further ado, here are my thoughts, and I very much look forward to hearing yours below.
8 Reasons You Should Never Quit Writing, Blogging, and Believing
1. A Diary of Your Life
Most folks don’t keep journals these days, which is really a shame, because they can tell a person, and their posterity, a heck of a lot. But for those bloggers that actually integrate personal ‘stuff’ into their writings, their blog in many ways becomes an ongoing journal of their life, one that will be treasured down the road as a history piece to look back on and enjoy.
During my many months of blogging, I’ve written many, many articles that discussed my family, especially my 4 children—like the time I built a sandcastle with my 4 year old or the experience I had with my oldest daughter coming back from an all-star baseball game. Without question, all of these stories will be treasured by our family for many, many generations.
2. Forced Cognition
Have you ever had a problem and the minute you sat down to write about your thoughts the answer you were looking for just came? For many writers, this is a common occurrence, and it really stems from the fact that the brain is like any muscle, and at times needs to be activated. But once it has been ‘turned on’, great inspiration and ideas can follow. This is also why some of my greatest ideas in business and in life have come as I was sitting in front of my monitor, slapping away at the keys, only to have an unexpected idea bolt into my head, just waiting to be made a reality.
3. Enhanced Writing
Raise your hand if you’d like to be a better writer? <Pause here, I’m counting everyone’s hands> Yep, looks like it’s unanimous, we ALL want to be better writers. But as our fellow blogger Paul Wolfe often says, the only way you get better at writing is, well, writing…
I don’t know about you, but when I look back on my original posts from 20 months ago, I find myself cringing at my writing style, but at the same rate, it’s quite rewarding to know I’ve improved quite a bit since those initial days. That’s the beauty of blogging. Yes, for most folks, the writing is tough at first, but without question it gets easier and easier—and more enjoyable too!
4. Relationships
Some of my best friends in the world have been formed online. I really had no idea this would be the case when I started blogging, but it’s only a natural result of reading someone’s constant thoughts, mutually supporting each other’s works, and maybe even meeting in person—as I did with Aunt Gini and Uncle John in Blog World New York a few months ago. (Griddy was supposed to come too, but claimed to be ‘too busy’ when the date finally came. Griddy busy??? Yeah, right! 😉 )
5. Virtual Resume
Within the next few years, resumes as we currently know them will essentially be extinct—and well they should be, because they’re antiquated and inapplicable when it comes to showing actual performance in the 21st century. This being said, recruiters and business owners in the future will be hiring more and more based on ‘actual works’. In other words, instead of listening to a potential employee talk about how much they know about ‘their field’, candidates will be forced to ‘show’ their works, and if someone has a blog which is essentially a platform for the world to see how they think and what they know, they’ll have all the advantage when it comes to the hiring process.
6. Discipline
Who can’t use a little more discipline in their lives? I think most of us will answer in the affirmative to that question and I can personally attest to the fact that I’m a way more disciplined individual now than I was 2 years ago when I started blogging. Having set posting schedules, working until late in the night, and nurturing community are clearly activities that require quite a bit of good ‘ol discipline—and there’s no way around it.
7. The Things You’ll Learn About You
There is something absolutely powerful about putting our thoughts to pen (or in this case, keyboard) over the course of months and months. As we do this, we learn more about ourselves, our strengths, and our weakness than we would with just about any other activity. We also confront issues that we may never have otherwise dealt with nor discussed. This is the power of blogging, and it’s certainly real as it gets.
8. You Will Change Lives
If you’ve been blogging for a while, there is a very good chance you have touched and change lives—the majority of which you’ll never even know. I’m always amazed when I get an email from someone explaining how they’ve been reading my blog for a long time and that it has greatly impacted their life (even though I’ve never even seen the person in the comments section or received contact from them previously). It’s moments like these that make all the hard work, long hours, and sleep-lacking nights well worth it.
So there are my top 8 reasons why we should keep blogging despite our perceived lack of ‘success’. I’ve intentionally left out a few other thoughts that came to mind because I wanted to leave room for Griddy’s awesome community (that’d be you guys) to share all your great reasons as well. So c’mon and jump in everyone, let’s see what else we can come up with.
Did you like this post? If so, then please subscribe to my blog and join one of the best communities on the web (next to Griddy’s of course 😉 ) (Editor’s note: Awwww, thanks M. I would say Mufasa’s community rocks, roars and then some!)
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