Why you should blog
Do you remember what it feels like to write something without using AI? For me, it’s becoming a distant memory. Most of my emails, pitch decks, ad copy, and outlines all have an LLM’s grubby little fingers on it somewhere. Whatever I do write is now structured as a prompt, a task for Mr. GPT or Claude. But in reality it’s just a task for some distant processor to accomplish as it wastes fresh water and poisons our communities.
But I need to start writing again. Without AI.
I haven’t written a blog in a long while. So what’s the topic of today’s blog?
why you should blog.
Advice by me, for me. And maybe a few real humans who need this advice too. Let’s jump into it:
Reason #1: Do it for yourself
It’s basically a journal. And journals are good. All a blog really is is someone taking their knowledge and distilling it on a page to be shared with others. It’s how we share ideas and communicate. But most importantly, it’s how we communicate with ourselves too. It’s how we make sense of what’s in our heads. So don’t blog for others, blog for yourself.
“Well then why isn’t this just a private journal entry then?”
Reason #2: why it should be posted somewhere
We need to give something to train the AI bots with! Duh.
I’ll stop with the AI references… but the real reason I think it’s beneficial to post your thoughts somewhere, anywhere, even if no one else reads it, is the power of reframing your thoughts into something structured for others.
My journal entries are a bit different than something I write to post online. When I’m writing for an audience, even if it’s nobody, it changes how I write. And I think that’s powerful.
There’s also the accountability aspect of it. When it’s truly private, there’s nothing to hold you accountable, but when it’s public, you feel like you are being held accountable. Accountability is a cornerstone of the military, sports teams, AA, scientists, and so many other fields. And there’s a good reason why.
So hold yourself accountable.
Reason #3: It feels good
It feels good to accomplish things. Hitting post means it’s done. The task is complete. It’s an accomplishment. And accomplishments feel good.
I also think it helps with motivation. Motivation is a feeling. And it isn’t always a consistent feeling. So I ask, what does motivation feel like? What does accomplishment feel like? Do they feel similar?
If you can make the feeling of accomplishment an iterative task, then you create the environment for motivation. I like to view it as the snowball effect.
The accomplishments & small wins are the start of the snowball.
The iteration is the hill that helps the small wins compound.
And then motivation is the feeling as you’re rolling down the hill, growing bigger and bigger as you go.
Bonus Reason #4: Feedback
Feedback doesn’t mean negative comments. But some feedback could be helping someone out, hearing someone else's perspective, starting a conversation, earning recognition. Getting feedback is so important. It’s largely why social media is so successful: views, likes, and comments are all feedback.
However, this creates one of the biggest challenges. Obsessing over the feedback component. This can be a whole other topic but try to view this reason as a bonus. First, do it for yourself, and let feedback be a bonus.
Are there more reasons than this? Probably. But this is all I have time for today.
I’ve accomplished my task! Thanks for reading my advice that I wrote for myself. If you have any more reasons, I would love to hear about them.
Make it a great day or not the choice is yours.
T
