My Learnings from Having Published My 1000th Blog Post and Why You Should Think About Writing One As Well!

Yesterday, I published my 1000th blog post on my blog, which you can access here .

When I started writing this blog on 19th March 2010 (my first blog post is here ) , I had no idea what this journey will entail for me.

What I knew for sure was that I wanted to share my insights and learnings and do it publicly, for no other reason but for myself, as a record of my thinking on specific topics (#Sales #Marketing #Innovation #Leadership #Entrepreneurship #Strategy ). I called them spreading #SMILES.

I experimented with different types of writing styles (stories , listicles , long form content , short form content , Images , videos , learning from (xxx) and my original thinking in the form of frameworks ). Along the way, I created a podcast , a YouTube channel , wrote three books (Your Startup Mentor , Thrive and Being Happy ).

This has been a long and rewarding journey for me.

Here is what I have learnt from this long journey:

1. All of us have something to say. All we need is a platform and the courage to say what we think. You will be surprised at how many people have so many great insights but are not confident enough to share them publicly.
2. I always thought of myself as someone who doesn't have the discipline to do something over a long stretch of time. However, this is one activity that I have been able to sustain (other than my actual job, which doesn't count as it is not voluntary) over almost 1.5 decades now.
3. I used to think that you write something when you have an idea about what you want to write. However, I have come to realise that the very act of writing helps me come up with ideas as well. There have been times when I have a clear idea that I want to share and write about it but there have been equal number of times when I start writing about a topic and the idea emerges through the act of writing.
4. My blog is now a public record of how my thinking has evolved over time about many things that I think are important for me - both personally and professionally. I can also see which ideas have stayed relevant and stood the test of time. This shows the progress I have made in my thinking.
5. The very intention of writing on my blog has helped me stay intentional about whatever I read or discuss with people, constantly exploring ideas to write about. This intentionality has helped me stay focused and continue to learn.
6. The act of continuing to write on my blog has been one of the best learning experience for me. I have always believed that adult learning requires us to reflect on our experiences and actions regularly in order to learn from them. This blog has been that medium where I have reflected and continued to learn from not only my personal experiences but also from everyone else's experiences as well.
7. There are a lot of people who ask me why do I write when I don't make any money out of it and neither does my blog have the kind of reach that influencers and thought leaders like Seth Godin or Tim Ferris have. They measure success differently. I write so that I learn. I write so that I see my evolution. I write for my personal satisfaction rather than any other vanity metrics.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, if I were to start on this journey today, I would still do it. I strongly recommend that every leader needs to be a writer. You may decide not to publish your thinking publicly.

However, you will be surprised at how impactful it can be for your leadership, if you only just shared your thinking with your teams every week. It could be an email every week on what's on your mind in the form of an email, a video or a post on your internal workspaces.

This gives you an opportunity to share your thinking, challenges that you see, opportunities that you spot and your expectations from yourself and your team.