My first blog post: Why it took years and why now?

Welp… here we go!

For too long I have delayed the process of constructing thoughtful commentary for others to read via a blog. In college I created a Tumblr named something like the “Irrationality of Happiness” (does that even make sense?) because I drank wayyy to much caffeine when writing my psychology thesis and needed an avenue to express what felt like the ability to read minds. I wrote one post which I can’t even find anymore. Why didn’t I continue? I had just landed a job and thought more harm than good would come from blogging about my ideas. We’re not even talking about radical ideas - it just felt that anything not directly constructive for the job created unnecessary exposure. Psychology can be pretty provocative.

The next urge I had to blog was a couple years into my first job and I wanted to change careers. I wanted to blog in order to convince others that that although I have zero work experience in startups or technology I am capable of much more and they should hire me. After nearly a month of drafting, I realized I was writing original ‘fluff’ and regurgitating opinions to decorate my online presence. Although in theory I agreed with the “lean startup” methodology and had adopted technology market opinions - I still thought that HTML was a programming language and in fact had zero practical experience. My mind hadn’t spent nearly enough time thinking about entrepreneurship - at that point blogging just didn’t feel right.

Blogging is difficult. Speaking to a potentially unlimited audience (because that is the point of these things, right?) is frightening. What if I say things that people don’t like? What if I missed something in my research? What if I’m just restating something others have already nailed home? Well… I guess you have to anticipate that those thing are probably going to happen, and embrace them. What’s different this time? I’ve realized, I only stand to benefit should I communicate my ideas. I think if you blog with the intent to provide value to others, you stand to gain a lot from the conversation that follows.

I’ve always wanted to “map my mind” to see if the exercise gives me any insight into my ideas, thoughts, or interests. Individually, mind mapping is a useful exercise, but collectively through a blog - I think you stand to gain much more. Ideas are meant to be shared, they’re contagious by design, some become viral - if you think your ideas are interesting and others may find them useful - let it rip. You’ll never know what happens if you don’t :).