How does one just start a blog?

There’s absolutely no point in searching for that awful statistic about how many blogs are started each day. The feeling weighing on my fingers and in my stomach already feels much heavier than the number reality can present on my screen right now.

Hundreds of thousands of hopeful people, doing what I’m doing, and feeling a touch of what I’m feeling.

What am I telling myself as I write this? The only way I can keep my fingers moving as my Resistance storms through upstairs, throwing a tantrum because she’s being ignored, is by repeating to myself:

Ira’s right.

My taste? It’s killer.

That’s what’s got me into thinking I could do this in the first place.

What I’m doing right now? It’s not that good, and that’s fine. Because it’s the building blocks of what’s to come.

I will share what really floats my boat with you over the coming months, but my main focus as I create for this website is to begin to say, more and more often, “that, behind me? That was me getting started. You should check out this new thing I made out instead.”

So I don’t know what the ‘this’ is, yet. But I know that I can only get to it by thrashing through the here and now. By getting started.

And everyone has to have a first.

So here’s mine.

If I were starting a blog today, what would I want you to know?

That a blank page scares me more than I ever want to admit.

That I’m not sure if putting my words out here will change anything.

That I want people to like me, and committing to writing something down, putting it online and standing by it, is not a sure-fire way to ensure that doesn’t happen.

I seriously value humility in others, and myself. I also think that listening is one of the most understated and powerful skills a human being can cultivate. How do I listen and create, together?

In spite of these things, I am doing this because I know there is value in what I have to say. Not for everyone, and certainly not all the time. But I have encountered ideas, cartoons, videos, thoughts and posts online that have taken my breath away, and do you know what? 100% of the time, that was written by a human being who sat down with their Resistance (otherwise known as the lizard brain) in tow, and thrashed through the weeds and mire and blinking cursors, and in spite of all the reasons not to, they published anyway.

I have a small hope that this can be that place for a few people, but like my good friend Peter put it so eloquently here, that’s not a win-win goal. I have such limited control over how people absorb, apply and interact with my work. Instead, I’m reframing my ‘why’.

My goal is to catch up with my ambitions.

And this is the space to do the mahi (work) to get there. It’s time to start exercising what’s now known as my ‘Ship It’ muscle. To stick to my promises of sharing what I’m doing, creating work that’s interesting, and connecting people. To put into practice what I learned in 2018 – the four pillars of my self-development in 2019. To read a bit more about them, I’ll link them below when I’ve published.

So, kia ora – thank you for joining me on this journey.

Our time is precious, and so to have you here is an honour.

Here’s to creating work that matters.

-JB

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