Blogging is an art. Does one get it right the first time? Mostly no! Is every blogger quite confident with their first post? Nope (at least, not me)! Is everyone that tad bit afraid of the feedback? Absolutely yes! Does one need to be a know-it-all / better-than-someone-else to start a blog? No [English]… Non [French]… Illai [Tamil]… Nahin [Hindi]… Nope [1850’s no]… Nah [Gansta way]… (Hope you got the point :p)

It was quite a relief when I recently learnt from an experienced colleague that I am not the only one who is afraid of doing it. Well, it has taken me years to unwind from those shackles [and laziness, of course] and get started, even if it be in a very small way. If you would ask me what helped me with that change, here’s the list:

• Great online communities:
  I am an active advocate of Twitter. When you follow the right people, they unknowingly become your virtual mentors. You may be a part of other useful social mediums that go beyond daily life and venture into important lessons once in a while. Make the best use of it, by learning from others!
• Conferences:
  Attending conferences and meeting people who are not so different from you but have achieved a ton, is really inspiring. I learnt about how blogging needn’t be that hard from an amazing red hatter.
• Technology:
  Daily journaling used to be an age-old discipline that is slowly dwindling away. Maintaining a physical journal has its own caveats – requires a lot of storage space, need to carry around while traveling, need to remind yourself to pen each day and so on. Today, technology has made this discipline so much easier. Blogging is one. You can blog on the go (While you are stuck in Bangalore traffic for instance) and share it with pretty much anyone in the world.

Here are some reasons that got me started with blogging:

Blog to catalog your thoughts
Have you had an inspiring idea one morning, you realized that that was the most needed piece of your success. You got out of your bed with so much of motivation until the smell of a scrumptious breakfast prepared by your spouse hit your nose. “I can write this down later. How can I forget such a great idea” you thought to yourself. The yummy breakfast made your tummy full. You stretched yourself on the couch for a while. Then you remembered you had an amazing idea. Took a sheet and a pen [Or your phone] only to find that you have lost your precious thought for good. I have been there! I have had thousands of ideas to make the world a better place; lessons and learnings that could have helped someone else or even myself later. Wish I had cataloged them. And that’s a great reason to blog!

Blog to develop your portfolio
If you are someone like me [an efficient introvert], there’s no way you can sell yourself by talking [At least I haven’t found one yet]. Writing is sometimes so much easier than talking for people like me. Blogging about what you do, your passions, your achievements, life lessons can speak volumes about who and what you are than your own words to your future recruiter. It would also help you build your confidence. And this is my attempt to build mine [Will keep you posted on how it goes] Isn’t that a compelling reason to blog?

Blog to teach yourself
Richard Feynman beautifully put it, “If you want to master something, teach it”. That’s how I started my first blog on children’s ministry. Not that I was an expert but I wrote what I knew. Did I learn something of out it? Oh yes! I always returned with more knowledge than what I had before writing a post.

So, it is never too late to start a blog. It is not that hard to start one too. Comparing yourself with someone else’s writing is never a good idea. Show the world your uniqueness with your blog.

Happy blogging! 🙂

P.S
If you have read so far, thank you! Hope I have preached well to my future self. 😀