Should I Start a Blog?

Apparently, yes! Here it is, such as it is. Let me explain how I reached my decision.

For the last 10 years, I've had a writing practice that consisted of writing anything that came into my mind for 30 minutes a day in the morning. I started this after listening to a Tim Ferris podcast where the guest recommended everyone write something, anything, first thing in the mornings. I tried it out and liked it, and have mostly kept it up since then.

Just the writing itself is valuable. It offers an opportunity to give form to the thoughts bouncing around in my head, that potentially influence me. Left alone, without the benefit of the critical reflection that may be necessary to lend the thought a mooring in reality, morality or rationality, these thoughts could be downright destructive! Or potentially life-changing ideas may never receive the attention to flourish from their incipient state into fully formed notions.

One of the best things about starting a blog is, whatever you're hoping to achieve, it may still be a good idea. A blog, at its best, is something like an essay, and essays have been around in some form for thousands of years. Why? Because people find value in writing them, and people find value in reading them.

Blogs are an amazingly resilient form if you define them as an evolution of the essay. They have remained a viable business model unto themselves, in the 21st century through all manner of disruptions, technological and otherwise, proving that there is an inherent value to the form that will survive into the foreseeable future.

However, I'm not trying to persuade you to start a blog--if anything, I'm trying to persuade you to read mine. And with good reason. The hope is that more attention, more eyes on my blog, will lead to more opportunities.

But, honestly, I think what appeals to me most is the notion that my thoughts, the stuff of my conscious existence, will be shared with and maybe even processed by other people.