There are many facets to my identity: wife, co-worker, student, roller girl, daughter, friend. I thrive on never having free time. The very fact that I'm entertaining the idea of this blog is a testament to that.
Is my attempt to maintain a blog an effort to help balance home, work, school, roller derby, family, friends, art and everything else? There is no shortage of topics that might be covered, including the irony of a handwritten to-do list junkie trying to maintain an uber-techy to-do list blog.
I am a project coordinator by trade and spend the majority of my day writing, refining and completing tasks. In other words, I spend most of my day organizing. In my home life, however, I'm more of a natural disaster uprooting everything but the kitchen sink.
Why should I even try to compile this information for the vast sea of people who aren't even reading it? A lot of personal blogging is self rewarding. One of the most important rewards, those of discipline and commitment, are needed to maintain a successful personal blog. Let's say someone actually reads your posts and maybe even adds you to their RSS feed. You then become accountable.
The best part of hand written to-do lists is the physical act of scratching through a completed item with as much excitement as it took to complete the task; a sense of accomplishment. I'm not shy when I finish a project and it comes out better than expected (or in some cases when it materializes at all). I am my own cheerleader, grabbing the megaphone and gabbing to anyone who will listen.
Blogging will indirectly help complete another item on my to do list, specifically to write more and to write well. A good blog post includes organization and should be a reminder to yourself about what you have accomplished and what lies ahead.
So let's review:
I don't really have time to blog (due to all of my extra-curricular activities), and someone else has already written anything I might have to write about, and no one is actually reading this. I would benefit in the long run because I can increase organization skills, acquire a sense of accomplishment and self rewarding, consistently be reminded of said accomplishments, develop discipline and commitment in order to be held accountable, and improve my writing skills. Oh yes, and it's fun!
For anyone considering starting their own blog, these sites might be helpful.
- Keys to Great Writing by Stephen Wilbers
- This versatile guide will improve the skills of virtually every type of writer, from professional copywriters to students. Its interactive lessons entertain as they inform, encouraging writes to test their knowledge, learn new techniques and pay attention to detail.
- Dictionary.com
- They provide reliable, free online access to millions of English definitions, synonyms, spelling, audio pronunciations, example sentences, and translations from our Web properties at Dictionary.com, Thesaurus.com, and Reference.com and through our mobile iPhone, BlackBerry, Android and iPad applications and API data services.
- NaBloPoMo
- Essentially, it's a group of people who have committed to updating their blogs once a day for an entire month.
References: The School of Life: 7 Benefits of Blogging; Reason 4 Smile: Seven Benefits of blogging to your personal growth; Star Sunflower Studios: The Benefits of Creating a Personal or Business Blog
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