One of the first questions I asked myself about doing this whole daily thing is “why make it public”? Why am I doing this on a public blog where anyone can come along and read … and judge?
Because of course judge, they will.
A couple of reasons came to mind.
First, it challenges me to write more clearly and more completely. It challenges me to not make assumptions. Rather than a private writing habit (such as the popular morning pages exercise), posting publicly on my blog forces me to write with an actual audience in mind, and as such forces me to write more clearly. Since one of my goals for this is to indeed write better, for some definition of better, that clarity is something worth striving for.
Second, it represents risk. As I said, people will judge. This is the internet, after all, and people will judge – big time. It’s an exercise for me to continue to be who I am and express who I am without regard for that eventual judgement. Unlike Seth Godin’s blog, the model that inspired me, I currently have comments enabled. As long as that’s not a problem (heh … for some definition of “problem”), I’ll leave that be.
Finally, it represents a … legacy? That feels like the wrong word, but like that post I made 50 years ago I hope that at some point in the future I or others will find these daily musing interesting and of some value. That might be ego talking, and don’t think I haven’t considered whether this is all just an ego-based exercise. But then, even if I’m the only one that ever comes back to read these, it’ll have had value for me.
Today’s gratitude: that any of this is even an issue. What wonderful problems to have.
T-320