Blogging is Good for the Soul
Posted by Random | Filed under Random Stuff
A few years ago, Stevey at Amazon wrote about the benefits of blogging, even if nobody reads what you write. Paul Graham said something similar when discussing how and why he writes Essays. Elsewhere, Joel related the same principle to writing specs.
So here’s the principle: one of the best ways to exercise your brain and explore ideas is by writing. This works even if nobody ends up reading your stuff, and works even better when there is any possibility (however likely) that your writing will be read by others. For some reason, we humans do better when we feel accountable.
When I ran track and cross-country with some friends in high school, we learned early on the value of having a running partner. When you have someone to “pace” yourself against, suddenly you have more motivation to run harder and longer (basically until you puke). Writing essays or creating software works the same way. You need a great team of people to motivate you and keep ideas fresh. You also need readers or users for the same reason.
Writing down your thoughts and creating real solutions to peoples problems not only makes the world a better place, but it also makes you a better person.
Share what you know. Be good.
Random Boy
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Tags: learning, specs, writing