If you aspire to become some kind of writer someday, blogging might be an excellent path for you in life. In this post, I have outlined all of my reasons and motivations as to why I find it worthwhile to pursue in the hopes that you might give it a try as well.
1. I was already doing it without even realizing.
I have always had a deep passion for writing my emotions and events and for reading essays from people I admire. This realization set me up perfectly for blogging, because it enabled me to just carry over with this habit with minimal additional conscious effort. Whenever I would think of ideas or thoughts throughout the day that make me happy, sad or angry I would just write them down. If you grew up writing in a personal diary, you will relate to this immediately.
2. Having a successful website was always a very fond dream of mine.
I created my first website at 15 years old entirely through Web programming and design. After that experience, I always had deep aspirations in the far back recess of my mind of doing it better someday. Instead of letting my life just go by me always longing after it, I decided to take action!
3. Action produces information.
This follows from the previous point and it is a quote I learned from reading Paul Graham’s essays. Whether I was contemplating starting a blog, writing essays just for myself or seeking high-quality advice, the real value was created when I took action and launched my website publicly. I also took a lot of inspiration from elite performers in other domains like chefs, athletes, musicians, etc. and I learned how they perfect their crafts. For example, athletes improve significantly through competition experience instead of just training and drilling at the gym. Musicians also improve better by performing regularly on smaller stages instead of just rehearsing in their basements or in studios. Chefs also cook meals for food critics and grow from there instead of memorizing cooking books or watching many cooking videos. In my case, keeping and perfecting every essay for myself or learn any other complementary skills amounted to far less than just getting them out there and learning from any reader. It is about embracing the chaos upfront while remaining methodical.
4. Since I was already accustomed to social media, why not apply that into my own blog?
I realized that chatting on social media already counts as a form of content sharing to someone else because it amounts to just writing opinions, thoughts or observations. I told myself why not just create my platform and post it there, because it would require exactly the same amount of time, energy and resources. The worst case scenario is that I have a creative journal/album of my journey that I can always be proud of. Plus, in my opinion, just using social media on its own feels unappealing and depressing, but leveraging it to drive more traffic and audience engagement to my blog feels more productive!
5. At the very beginning, I knew no one would care.
I already wrote about why a minimum viable product is crucial for blogging. If you are very self-conscious like I was when I started, just understand that almost nobody will read your blog. Even though you post something somewhat embarrassing (although I would caution against posting anything intimate, violent, illegal or delicate information about someone without their consent or anything inappropriate in some form or another), nobody will truly know, remember or care. I used to fear that everything online was permanent and even adults around me were constantly telling me that growing up. Although it is very true, you need to understand that deep down subconsciously, nobody truly cares. EVEN if they come across it, they will shrug their shoulders, laugh momentarily and move on with their lives. Even better, if you solicit any kind of reaction from them, it will at least improve audience engagement with your content. Any hater who takes time to rant about you has at least read your content and is promoting it to others indirectly. Especially if they begin discussion threads on other platforms, they are spreading your name and people will check into it out of curiosity. Haters know a whole lot more about you than you do about them so they would feel bummed out they wasted time out of their lives to know you AND to write long paragraphs about you while you will never do so about them ✌️. Once you realize that, you will become an unstoppable force of nature! I am not trying to suggest that you should not listen to anybody, but understand that it should never hold you back from blogging at least. You can do this!
6. Conversely, AT LEAST one person will genuinely care
If you are worried that your words will only sink at the bottom of the Internet abyss unreachable and lost forever, think again. Because the Internet is accessed by almost the entire world population, it is perfectly guaranteed that at least one (perhaps lunatic) person will find your joke funny or your story worth reading. The Internet is a way for anyone to express their deepest and darkest fantasies and you will be astounded at just how many different interests exist out there.
7. It was one of the easiest and most accessible occupations for me.
Blogging requires no permission from any authority figures (publisher, editor, government, family, teachers, etc.). Unlike many formal jobs requiring proven work experiences in writing from reputable organizations and some level of innate talent probably (I have never applied for one nor do I know how it works, but I am just guessing here), you absolutely do not need any of that to blog! You do not have to be the best writer of your class, of your school, best-selling author, literature graduate, Nobel prize winner in literature to blog successfully in ANY language. You do not need to be at some location with the latest editing software tech or have anything other than a functioning laptop with Internet connection. If you want to write about ANYTHING, just DO IT and click PUBLISH. It is so empowering knowing that I can just wake up without having to work somewhere at any time of the day and just get to work while feeling productive. No authority figures will scold you, no publishers with random delays, no teachers to grade you unfairly, no editor checks with heavy proofreading, etc. It is just you and your life.
8. I have better control over my destiny and happiness.
You do not need an official position within a large recognized organization, student club or anywhere nor a fancy network with prestigious connections to publish your articles (Although there is nothing wrong if you do. In fact, more power to you!). If you can’t land your dream job at a dream organization, realize that what you want fundamentally is to express yourself creatively and freely to anyone in any language through your writing. If you feel unimportant or unaccomplished unless you join or get acknowledged by some popular individual/entity, realize that they are taking hostage of your self-esteem. Never wait after anyone’s acceptance and stay active!
9. I did not need any hard technical skills.
Nowadays, unlike when I started my first website years ago using Web programming and design, you could set up your website and start blogging almost instantly. If ever you need to learn anything, you can do it for free online.
10. I can leverage my daily life while honing my writing skills
Any disastrous, embarrassing, incredible or funny experience can make a good blog post. This means that regardless of what my days look like, I can provide blogging content while improving my writing skills in the languages I know. By explaining my thought processes and actions, I inadvertently reinforce my knowledge in any domain whether it is finance, cycling, content creation, self-development etc. Your life is much more interesting than meets the eye no matter what people around you say and writing about it makes you unconsciously want to improve it.
If you are still unsure whether blogging will make use of your writing passion or not, just understand that you do not need anything incredible really to succeed in it. Remember that you define what your success looks like and if you find creative ways to enjoy the process, you will love it too!
Subscribe and follow these!