Is A Brain Dump Interesting?
Every piece of advice on blogging will tell you it’s important to choose your topic before you write an article. You need focus, and you need planning. This post is an experiment on the opposite side of that rule.
I have no topic directly in mind. This post is not planned. I’ve given myself thirty minutes maximum for writing and editing, and will see what comes up. It’s an exercise sometimes used for creative writing and fiction. Wonder if it’s going to work for a design/social media related blog.
May as well try though. If it doesn’t work then it was an interesting exercise and I learned something.
Failing = learning, so long as you let it
Actually that’s something I’m enjoying about blogging in general. It’s definitely something I’ve noticed with the Traffic Growth series. I learn as much from failure as I do from success. Sometimes I learn more. Living things learn from failures in general.
It’s difficult to appreciate learning through failure though. Even if the lessons are important, it takes a special kind of person not to get knocked back. We all motivate ourselves to some extent on encouragement and success. But it’s the natural learning that comes through failure as well as success that leads to the most comprehensive skills development. It’s a slow burn.
Admit it, money is important
Strikes me that we’re all too obsessed by instant success. Corvida wrote a great post today about not being motivated by money. But I think most people are - whether it’s money now or money in the future. It may not be their primary motivation, they may not be looking to directly monetise what they’re creating, but financial success is a factor.
It’s a factor for me. I really enjoy writing my blog, and you’ll see no advertising here. But I can’t deny that I’m also looking to develop a profile that might lead to work in the future. I’m motivated…I guess…by the idea of working for myself rather than specifically by money. But the two are inextricably tied together.
Corvida’s post was great, but I don’t entirely agree with her point. Being motivated purely by money is a recipe for disaster. But thinking about benefitting material from what you’re already interested in and enthusiastic about - that can be a great driver. Dreams, in general, cost money. Money as a motivator isn’t the money itself, it’s that money allows us to fulfil our dreams and relieve many of our pressures.
Life lessons
Social media strikes me as a long term development. Let’s face it, barring the very small minority, we’re not early enough adopters. We’re early adopters compared to the world as a whole, but we’re still just one of many.
I’m still motivated by success, personally and financially. But I’m not motivated by instant success, I’m aware that it will take time. I’m lucky in that my general enjoyment of social media and networking is such that I have motivation in the meantime. Not only can I enjoy what I’m doing, but I can see an “end point” of success as well. I do want to get there, I’m just happy to enjoy the journey as well.
Hmmm, bit random
Which was kind of the point. I’ve read back through the post, and decided that despite its flaws (and I can identify some of them on a first read), I kinda like the random flow. It’s a useful exercise in general, the more so because I’m aware of the flaws.
May do this from time to time in the future, just as a kind of brain-clearing task!
June 7th, 2008 at 12:35 am
I can dig it.
Mark Dykemans last blog post..Five excellent bloggers that I missed
June 7th, 2008 at 12:35 am
Robin - I agree with how you put things. I also have a long-term view of things. I can’t say I even see the path of future success, but I figure things will sort out over time. As long as I’m enjoying the ride.
Hutch Carpenters last blog post..Social Media Consumption: You Want Signal or Discovery?
June 7th, 2008 at 9:11 am
Often the best ideas come from just rambling to yourself and seeing where the conversation goes. Although I generally have an idea of what each post is about they often change considerably from my first impressions of what they are to be about.
I tend to dictate thoughts on to my phone while walking the dog and can take advantage of just being able to throw thoughts around as they come to me - I can then make sense of it all later.
Colin Walkers last blog post..Ask not what social media can do for you…
June 7th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
@Hutch - Yeah, sounds about right. I might not be thinking about a specific step by step long term view, but I am thinking about the advantages the blog brings. But given that the long term is unfocused I can easily motivate myself with the short term enjoyment only.
@Colin - Dictation on those lines would be well worthwhile actually. Mind you, I usually come up with my ideas while out running, so not sure it’s the most convenient time!
One of the best things for the quality of my posts was getting myself out of the habit of editing while writing. Now I just let the words flow until I’m finished and then go back and edit, rather than writing in a stop/start way.
Robin Cannons last blog post..Is A Brain Dump Interesting?
June 7th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
I think you are right about trying something to see if it works, whether it is personal or professional testing makes sense for everyone. I often think of blogging as the style of writing most closely associated with New Journalism from the 1960’s except instead of individual posts, the whole blog is the story.
John Casss last blog post..Joining Forrester Research As Online Community Manager