Stadler and Waldorf. Most inner critics are not as fuzzy.
Charlie Gilkey’s amazing post on Becoming Yourself and Growing Your Blog profoundly affected me. This post is a combined response to Charlie’s article and an announcement about the direction this blog is going to take.
Like Charlie’s post, this may be a longer one than usual. I hope you’ll read to the end.
Reactions
Charlie – though he would probably deny it – is a fantastic blogger.
In the post, Charlie talks about himself and 5 other fantastic bloggers (Naomi Dunford, Leo Babauta, Sonia Simone, Steve Spalding, and Jonathan Mead) who have experienced enormous growth in their reach and readership in the past year or two. His thesis? These bloggers who you look up to were where you are now just a couple of years ago.
Which is obvious… and not. It’s obvious in the fact that everyone comes from somewhere. Naomi Dunford, for example, did not spring with full voice and full following onto the internet just three days before you found Ittybiz. But… how often do you remember that? How often do you say “[insert great blogger here] has a huge following. They write awesome stuff. But nobody reads me and I’m not happy with what I’m putting out there. I’ll never be like [insert great blogger here]!”
What Charlie’s post does is to provide that perspective.
Nobody read [insert great blogger here] either when they first started their blog. Their voice surely wasn’t as developed as it is now. Their content probably wasn’t as good. But they’ve built their blog and their following into something you look up to through a lot of balls-to-the-wall hard work. And you can too.
Things like:
You will feel like you’re writing in the dark with no one listening, but that will change – only if you keep at it. You will write masterpieces and you will write crap – but you only get the masterpieces if you’re willing to write the crap; the crap will sink to the bottom and remain hidden in your archives, whereas the masterpieces will rise to the top. Your blog will grow, and you will grow with it – but only if you learn to sit down, write, post, and keep yourself open to new opportunities.
… and…
To connect with your readers, you’ll have to develop the voice and style that is unmistakably you. And you probably won’t know who that person is unless you start writing; living is not about being – it’s about becoming. Between where you are now and where you want to go stands a lot of writing. Not thinking about writing. Not worrying about writing. Not figuring out what you’re going to write. But writing.
…are exactly what I needed to hear. And – probably – what you need to hear, if you’re just starting out like we are.
Charlie is bringing value to other people by being passionate about what he does, and expressing those passions.
Realizations
The posts that I’m least proud of on this blog are the posts which read like they have something to prove. The posts where I took other people’s advice or the advice of my inner critic over following my heart. Do I think that Gmail Labs plugins are cool? Sure. Was that post very helpful, and did it come out in my own voice? No. It probably wasn’t helpful because it didn’t come out in my own voice.
To be successful – and to even be sustainable – I (we, once James and Greg finish up the pieces they’re writing) have to write about things we love. About things that give us joy. And from that love and joy will come help for other people. And value for other people. We’re not writing for ourselves, per se. We’re writing to bring value to others.
So what is this blog about?
Fundamentally, it’s about problem-solving. Technological problem-solving. Entrepreneurial problem-solving. And (as in this post) psychological problem solving – at least as it regards technology and entrepreneurship.
Problem-solving is what inspirIT is about. It’s about technological problem-solving and entrepreneurial problem-solving and – yes – psychological problem-solving. In a forthcoming blog post I’m going to argue that every problem (of technology, of entrepreneurship, and of psychology as it relates to those two) is solvable – and often the reason why they’re not solved comes from a deeper block. From what Havi would call a stuckness.
A short analogy
What does a physician do when he encounters a sick patient? He cures them, of course. But a cure has three parts:
Technological – The medicine or surgical procedure or whatever mechanical process will make a patient well. This heals the body.
Psychological – The empathy and understanding that the physician provides. This puts the mind at ease and contributes to the patient’s healing.
Business – The money side of things (insurance, etc). This ensures that the patient gets care, and the doctor gets rewarded for his cure.
All of that is in there. So while the doctor may only be seen as a medicine man, he is also fundamentally a therapist and a businessman – just by the nature of his work.
The same with us.
What to expect
Three posts a week. Usually on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. On one of those three topics, or (what’s more likely) the interactions and dependencies between those three topics.
The posts will get better and the voice will get deeper and richer as time goes on. Which is ok. Which is good.
Thanks for coming along for the ride.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for such kind words, Charlotte. And it really does make my day that that post had a positive effect on you.
Dead on. Once you write about the things that you give you joy and about the things that are a part of you, you’ll develop a voice, style, and passion that’s sustainable. You’ll reach that stage where the default option is to blog, rather than to not blog.
And, if this post is any sign of things to come, you’re well on your way. So: why was this post so good, Charlotte? What did you do differently today?
Thanks so much, Charlie! I really appreciate all you’ve said.
As to why this post was good… well, I didn’t “force” it this time. I just started writing, and tried like hell not to self-censor. Sure, the usual “There’s too much YOU in this post” voice was driving me insane… but I put him aside for once. It’s amazing how powerful an exercise that was.