I am really feeling the need to write these days. Recently I opened my blogger account and what I discovered was a little disconcerting. In 2006 and 2007, I posted a blog just about every other day. But then came 2008 - only 16 for the whole year. Then 2009 - only 3. Then 2010 - only 3. Then 2011 - only 1 Then 2012 - only 0.
Did I produce anything during those years? Well actually I did. But I got away from the discipline of systematically putting the work down in a place where it could be consumed, read, where it had the possibility of helping someone else, changing a life, building someone up, teaching an important concept or principle. In reality blogging for someone like me - in a thinking job - is accountability. A metric that can be seen and, well, measured.
Now I am using Evernote to track my touches with clients around the world, Feedly (at the moment but looking for something better) to research now that google reader is gone, Drafts for writing all content, because it is perfect on the mobile devices that I use, and I can then chose over 20 other actions with whatever I write, and back to blogger to publish the best content. The challenge of a thinking job is that no one else but me will hold me accountable for producing something of value. And we all need to bring value into the lives of others and into our work. We all need to extend our reach.
