 February 4th 2008
 Personal Development
 16 comments
I’m proud of this blog. I’m proud of myself for sticking with it and working on it nearly every day for over a year now. In some ways you could describe it as a second job. However, I don’t cover the topic of blogging here on Organize IT, so why am I writing about it? Over the last year a number of benefits have come to the surface from working on this blog that I never anticipated when I originally started it. These benefits are so profound in my life that I actually feel everybody should have a blog. Here’s why:
- You learn more
This blog is all about personal productivity and development. The key word is personal. What I have realized over the last year is that you can read all the books and tutorials you want, go to all sorts of seminars and listen to numerous podcasts, but at the end of the day you need to find out what works for you. If I didn’t have this blog I wouldn’t have developed even half the ideas I have come up with that have benefited my life, or dedicated so much time to the topic. I like to think that I am now more knowledgeable on personal productivity than I would otherwise be. Regardless of whether you do professional speaking or play wargames, start a blog, I guarantee you will become better at your interest.
- Understand self-promotion
Last year I posted my take on viewing yourself as a brand. I didn’t get it, I didn’t think it was an healthy attitude to take about yourself. Now I totally understand it. This blog is me and represents who I am and what I (can) do. Trying to brand myself offline in the same way would be an immense challenge. Thanks to this blog and what I write about I have the building blocks to be a person worthy of remark.
- Contact like-minded people
I’ve met a number of cool people online with similar interests to mine from doing this blog, whether it be through comments or guest post exchanges. While I readily admit this is something I have not made the most of, there are many successful bloggers out there who have gathered an whole address book of useful contacts which has given them great ideas, opportunities and feedback. It’s much easier to find like-minded people on the internet than it is in the real world, thanks to blogs and social network sites like Digg and LinkedIn. Check out my profile if you want to join my LinkedIn network.
- Opens up other opportunities
This is another benefit of building a network of people in your niche. So many opportunities can be opened up for you by having a blog. Leo over at Zen Habits is perhaps the best recent example of someone who has had new doors open up for him based on his blogging. Not only was he able to quit his job, he also got a book deal.
- Improves your writing skills
Look at the first posts I wrote and compare them to stuff I do nowadays. I certainly think my writing has improved a lot over the last year or so. It’s always advantageous to improve your writing skills, especially in this day and age when text speak (or txtspk…) has caused people to pick up a lot of sloppy, bad habits. The neat thing though, is that because blogging is typically done in a casual style, you don’t have that pressure to write like you were a professional.
- Easy way to make your mark on the internet
Despite the number of blogs out there, blogging is a comparatively easy way to make an impression on the internet with something constructive. I’ve have had a number of websites over the years and not once was I able to make much of a dent until I started my first blog. Maybe that was my lack of knowledge or experience, but blogging is definitely easier to get setup and running. The internet is the largest repository of information in the world and you can add to it.
- It’s a cheap hobby
Blogging at a basic level is very cheap, with only costs being internet access and hosting. Even those costs can be covered by the money you can make from it (while problogger income is unlikely it’s quite easy to make some pocket money from it). The main expense is in time but that’s far from a bad thing. What good is an hobby if you don’t take your time on it? A little bit of effort on a regular basis can pay huge dividends, having that one carefully crafted post break big and send thousands of people your way is incredibly satisfying.
- You learn time management and discipline
I used to look at my blog stats all the time. I used to browse for hours to find ideas for new posts and ways of promoting the blog. It was all really unproductive in hindsight, and while i can’t say this blog was the one reason I became better at managing my time, it certainly had an influence. Because I work on my blog most days it’s a great way of testing techniques and putting systems in place to keep everything in check so that I spend only an healthy amount of time on it.
It would be wrong of me considering the aims of this blog, to describe the benefits of blogging and not at least introduce you to how to start one. So below I have compiled a collection of useful links that will help to get you started:
Reader discussion
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Great post, James. I think a lot of people are coming into blogging as a money-making venture, and if they only have that tunnel vision, they’ll be missing out on all the other benefits you mentioned.
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So true, especially the time management and learning aspect. I didn’t know blogging would make such a fundamental difference but it does!
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Glad you like the post, I hoped I wasn’t the only one benefiting from blogging :) Al, it’s certainly true about people only going into it for the money, which is a shame, especially considering how the amount of work you have to put into a blog doesn’t match the amount of money you necessarily get out of it.
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I kept nodding my head “yes, yes, I completely agree” the whole time I was reading this! I’ve been blogging for about 3 years now, but only recently got serious enough about it to purchase a domain name and everything. It’s improved my life in so many ways, I want to kick myself for not getting more serious a lot earlier!
P.S. I can’t wait to read your blog nearly every day for over another year!
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Glad you like the blog Ayomide. As various hobbies and interests came and went I noticed that blogging stuck around. Then when I looked through my archives i realized just how much I’ve given to it.
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Reason number 9: It’s just good plain fun?
Good article though. I just kept nodding “yes” :)
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Hi James, an interesting read. My blog has opened up so many opportunities, that I don’t think I’d still be self-employed if I didn’t publish online. Best of luck with your own online endeavors.
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Wow, what a great post. It resonates perfectly with me and what I’ve been thinking about from my own blog. I definitely agree about the many reasons to start a blog aside from doing it for money, but I don’t recommend everyone starting a blog. People need desire to have the things on the list, not money. So many people seem to think it will be easy though, and don’t really have a plan or a hope that these types of things will be valuable from publishing their ideas.
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Wow. What a thoughtful post. I started blogging ten days ago and I must say I’m a little surprised at the amount of work it takes to keep up a blog. Not a day goes by without me doubting myself, wondering if it was such a good idea to start this, and whether I have what it takes to keep it up (basic writing talent, discipline and perseverance come to mind). Thank you for this post, I will keep at it for a while and see how I feel about the whole thing later on.
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Glad you liked the post Vered. It’s definitely worth sticking with it, just remember not to put too much pressure on yourself.
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You lessen the need to email people. “Here’s some useful links I thought you’d like to see.” How many of us get spammed with that every week? Also, you can share your thoughts with friends who can hit your blog instead, rather than you flooding their inboxes every other day.
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That’s a good point. It’s always good to cut back on the number of emails we send/receive.
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