Among all, one of the most fundamental questions we can ask ourselves is: why?
Why am I doing this? Why is it important?
Having a clear idea about why you do what you do is a fundamental driving force, and what helps you go through hard times.
I took a long break from publishing because of Venezuela's crisis (my home country). I didn't feel good about promoting content in the midst of such a devastating situation. This gave me the space to think about the whole idea of it.
I dedicate lots of hours weekly to create these articles with no apparent comeback. It's not part of a sales funnel and I don't have specific products to sell at the moment. If you think about it that way it's not as exciting, you might as well use that precious time for something else.
Instagram post in my personal account from May 3rd, 2017.
So, should I continue? Is it worth the time and dedication?
While there is a lot of content online advising you to blog to support sales (and there is nothing wrong with it), there are other good reasons to nurture writing through blogging:
1. You will become a better writer
I have always liked to read a lot, yet beyond mandatory academic essays, I had never tried writing as a form of personal expression. I always thought it was too hard or that I didn't have a special gift for it. I respect the writer's craft profoundly and it is definitely a challenge but as with most things, practice is everything. And even if you don't think of yourself as a writer, if you cultivate words you will get better at it.
Because what is exactly to be a writer? What gives you permission to write? It is like the concept of "being an artist", all you need is a pencil and a paper to start with.
“When you can draw, you are always an artist.”
2. You will improve your thinking process
As writing requires you to express yourself through words it makes you stop and think in a much deeper way. You become more analytic. You learn to name and describe with more precision. You have the obligation to communicate with the purpose of being understood.
The beauty of writing is delivering a message and that goal is best accomplished through clear thinking.
“Describing how a process works is valuable for two reasons. It forces you to make sure you know how it works. Then it forces you to take the reader through the same sequence of ideas.”
The pyramidal neuron of the cerebral cortex. The Beautiful Brain (2017) - Drawing by Santiago Ramón y Cajal.
3. You will give yourself permission to explore
To me writing has also been a search mechanism, there are no preset rules on what topics you have to write about. It is your blog, your space, your journey.
I have been cultivating the art of learning through experimentation on various fields like architecture, design thinking, illustration and food design, among others. It is diverse, but exploring different areas makes sense and feels almost necessary to me. In order for us to create and contribute to the world integrally, we have to be able to connect countless dots from many disciplines.
Through writing you have complete freedom, and you will find more enjoyment if you write about something you care about.
4. You will learn
Besides the clarity you gain from the need to express yourself, writing is a wonderful tool to reinforce your learning process. I find enormous excitement in acquiring new knowledge.
I am nerdy and I have learned to be proud of it.
Writing helps you to synthesize, fix content in your brain and elaborate your own concepts of what you learn. Additionally, inside the structure of your article, you will inevitably have to fill in the blanks.
You will have to do additional research, validate your suppositions and look for words in the dictionary. It is a chain of discoveries.
The Big Green Book - Illustration by Maurice Sendak (1962)
5. You will get more comfortable sharing your work
Okay, you wrote an article for your blog. Now the next steps are publishing it on your website, sharing it through social media or sending it through your newsletter.
That is frightening. People could see all your flaws.
The good news is that nothing is perfect and especially in the creative realm. There is a lot left to subjectivity. Even though I have always been a shy person and doing these things feels weird, forcing myself to show my work on a constant basis has helped me a lot.
You will gradually grow more confident. You will get more comfortable with putting yourself in a vulnerable position, and you will learn that you don't have to be an expert to be able to contribute in some way.
MailChimp's animation prior to sending a campaign.
6. You will help people
This is essential for me. I always focus on delivering content that is not only valuable for me, but for others as well.
Perhaps I could achieve the previous points in this list through a different approach to my writing or through a different activity. Yet, in this short period, every positive feedback that I have received with the blog is something I treasure.
Making an impact on people, no matter how little – being it inspiration, teaching or giving courage to someone in a moment they needed it – is magic.
