For me, 2010 looks to be a year of living tri-polar. I am deep into the process of launching a new company, and just putting finishing touches on my partner group. In November, I was also brought into an extremely important non-profit initiative, which I hope to announce in mid-January. Add to this continued promotion of The Leap (I gave a keynote speech today for BlackBoard, Inc. in Nashville, and will deliver another in Baltimore tomorrow evening for a senior training group). Whew.
These two new initiatives have been all consuming through the holidays (had a conference call Christmas Eve evening) and into January, and things are likely to continue this way. All this has caused me to be severely delinquent in my blogging, and despite this flurry of activity, I hope to get back to a more regular pace soon (stress: hope).
All this commotion, and a brief reprise from blogging has allowed me to reflect on what I have learned from the last year of actively participating in social media. In the coming days, I will share these reflections.
Here is the first: Blogging is about Self-discovery.
People often tell me that they want to write a blog, but they are not sure what to write about. I tell them just post something – whatever comes to mind, twice a week, for three months. Then go back and read it – the answer will be obvious, and it may surprise you.
Blogging is really about glancing at the brief flashes of insight that all too often come and go in our lives, and capturing them. It’s not about writing things for other people (at least not for most of us). It’s about articulating a idea that is floating around in your head. As such, looking at your posts over a period of time is like reading an EKG of your thoughts, your inspiration, your passions.
Blogging is as close to authentic expression as you can get in print. It is a great way to talk to yourself, and to be able to stand back and genuinely listen. It is a fascinating process of capturing thoughts, expressing them, and then understanding what that tells you about yourself.
There are many things that blogging will not likely deliver for you (I will discuss later), but creating a unique mirror with which you can genuinely reflect on and learn about yourself is one of the greatest benefits.
