It’s hard for me to believe, but I’ve been blogging for a year — rain or shine, brilliant inspiration or shoulder-to-the-wheel commitment. Sometimes I tried to write a couple of weeks ahead and sometimes I couldn’t grind out a post till the very last acceptable minute; what has worked best has been writing one a week, every week.
The funny thing is that if I had planned to do a 52-week series of observations on any arbitrary topic, I’d be done! But in some ways, blogging is like a weight-loss program: You have to work really hard while you’re taking off the weight, and then you work really hard forever.
I never worried that I would run out of opinions, but delivering them on schedule and making sure they’re worth the time to read is another thing entirely.
Why blog? It’s not polite to go around announcing your views and lecturing people. Even my kids object. (Particularly my kids object.) As a consultant, I get paid to have views and share them, but only on specific topics, at specific times, and in specific places. Blogging is one way to take a stance on a subject, and then have people choose whether they want to know about it or not, without imposing on them.
What is there to blog about? I started blogging because I wanted to share what I call Workplace Wisdom — ideas about good behavior and practical ways to think — to make better both the experience and outcomes of work. We spend so much time working, or interacting with others who are working — and so much of work can be improved! Plus, whatever you learn or practice on the job, you can take with you wherever you go. Learn to do better or feel better anywhere, and you can do it everywhere.
I’ve been looking back to see how all this started, and here are a few representative posts from the early days, starting with the first posting on April 7, 2010:
- When the Going Gets Tough
- Make Up Your Own Mind
- When the Tables Turn
- Give the Minimum, Get the Minimum
- A Question of How to Say No
- How to Handle Spacing Out
I want to thank a whole lot of people who helped me decide that I could handle blogging, who helped with the process and the product, or who have been excellent readers. I’m listing them here in no particular order. Just know that I thank you: Dave Kislik, Lauren Norris, Matt O’Grady, Diana Murphy, Anne Schaeffer, Martha Toll, Don Breinlinger, Katie Wallace, James Chartrand, Susan Alt, Susan Piperato, Liz Neuberger, and Debbie Holland. (Anyone can join the “excellent readers” list; you only need to share your opinions about the posts.)
Whether you’ve begun reading Workplace Wisdom recently or you’ve been dipping in from time to time, won’t you share your feedback with me about topics you’d like to see covered; ideas for different positioning; things you wish I’d cut out; whether I should include guest bloggers, etc.?
It’s not communication — or relationship — if it’s only one-way.
Onward and upward,
LK
What a fabulous post, Liz! Congrats on making it to the 1 year mark! 🙂
I really appreciate your content and I look forward to much more in the future.
Thanks, Matt — so happy to have you on the team! There’s nothing like good work with good people. Upward and onward!