Stuff

Gratitude

Thanks go to The RSA for connecting me with people I genuinely like and respect and creating opportunities to discuss things I see as important. To Chris Hughes who I admire in a reluctant sort of way...which is the point. He and Charles Leadbetter, amongst others, made me see what I wanted. Although they didn't realise it. To the girls for all their support...To Pandora for creating the idea that lead to so many more and gave me a place to stand. To Sara for her unconditional support and belief in the work. To Andy for his creative eye, helping me bring ideas to the real world...to Gavin for his steady hands, to Randa for her cut through red tape and get to the goal in a hugely charming way, to Soha for her unswerving strength of character...to Noël for partnerships, rigour, uprightness, clean line thinking mixed with warmth and genuine humour, to Jim for creating a wide open field in which I can play, to Ann for introducing me to Jim and to The RSA for introducing me to Ann when we all went to Voices In The Vaults on the heady topic of How to Change The World using Open Space Technology or some such title back in 2007 or even before. To Simon who I met on the very same day for introducing me to Damian who may or may not be part of the story - too early to say.

Every step along the way there are people and challenges you mix with and rise to...these form your journey and these, in turn, form your destiny.

Sitting by the side of the road right now in 2012 I am looking at the journey so far and highlighting just a few of those who have made it what it is...who have paved my path...now heading out to meet Cathy who is too generous for words...

Clearing Out The Mental Clutter

So you've already got a head full of stuff. Big stuff, small stuff, random stuff. It's filled to the beams with shelves of knowledge, experience, attitudes...

Every day you wake up and your eyes and ears, your senses fill it up again with more. The shelves are spilling over with new information, ideas, thoughts...

Now with social media and so many new images your head is ready to explode.

Add to this that you know there are big problems mounting up for each and every one. The planet, the economy, old age, pensions...your mind's getting like a pressure cooker.

So you have to do something about this.

You have a few choices. Do you...

a) Manage to get through your day until you can veg out on the sofa and watch something entertaining

b) Eat or drink constantly to keep up with the demands of your life

c) Buy things you don't really need and sometimes even want, to distract you

d) Moan about how the world is such a dumb place

e) Overwork just to stay in control of everything

f) All of the above

Of course I am going to say 'it doesn't have to be like this'.

So how do you make sure your head doesn't feel fit to burst?

1    Daily relaxation habits (no screen) - time out, meditation, quiet, nature

2    Variety of food including all the colours - slow food particularly

3    Find a hobby that you love to do just for pleasure - (TV isn't a hobby)

4    Regularly write down your uppermost thoughts to clear them out of your head, organise them into different areas, clean them up, discard the ones that are out of date and put back the ones you need.

Your head is your loft, it can easily get dusty and crammed with stuff that's out of date and you haven't had time to throw out. 

Clear out you mental clutter monthly, weekly, daily if possible. 

 

Proposition, Product, Price, Promotion

Oh I know the world's all brand shiny new and some of the old ways are so out of date. There are complex models for marketing and now they include a social dialogue dimension and the consumer centric model...

So here's just a little easy one - it's not the advanced version...but it's a start if you just want to get off the blocks and do a brief test on your business...ideally suited if you are revising your marketing and communications.

1    Proposition - what do you do and what use is it to another being on the planet? Why do you do it? Why do they want it? Why don't they want it? Is it something they already need? Is it something they don't yet need? Can you explain it quickly and get people's eyes to light up?

2    Product - or service - how do you deliver this proposition - do you do it well currently or do you need to sharpen up your act? Where are the weaknesses in your set up? Which ones can be easily fixed and which ones will take more time? Who are your best customers currently? What do they think of you? Are there new ways to create your products and services with apps and technologies? Are there new audiences that you can adapt your products to serve?

3    Price - can you live from the prices people are paying currently, can you deliver better quality for higher prices? Could you be more successful if you dropped your prices? Do you need a new product for a new price-point? Do you need to be more efficient to ensure your margins are better?

4    Promotion - how do people learn about this stuff? how do they find out? what do they want to know? how do you build your audience with the host of new social media channels?

Of course wrapped up in these four are an awful lot of thoughts and discussions and re-evaluation. Sometimes there are more questions than answers.

In today's world where there are new kids on every block and new disruptive technologies hanging on every street corner it's daily business life to re-consider your business and its value in the world.

Although it's challenging to most business owners to get under the marketing bonnet of their business - it's key to running a business you love and a business that thrives. Go on get out your spanners.

 

 

Disintegration

The opposite of integration. Integration is bringing things together - disintegration is when they fall apart.

We know that organisations can be disintegrated. One side not knowing what the other is doing. Differing goals and missions.

Can people be disintegrated? Can a human being do things that create disintegration? How can that happen? Surely that is so dumb no sentient being would allow itself to become disintegrated?

But millions of people are disintegrating. They are working on projects they don't believe in, working for people they don't respect, sending out products they dislike. 

If a cloth disintegrates the textile loses its binding, the ties perish and the material breaks into pieces.

Same with people, disintegration has become so normal that we don't notice, that we don't recognise the signs...numbness, weariness, cynicism all become the norm.

Integration of your values with your work is a tough road. It's not easy to get paid for the work you were born to do. The world tries to push you back. It's not for the faint hearted.

Working with heart takes its toll, but the alternative is bleak. 

If you know you are working with people and ideas that inspire you, then keep looking for the value, the thing people will pay for...upskill where necessary, get the recommendations you deserve.

If you know you are working with people and ideas that bore you, do not back down. Face up to the signs of growth that you know are hidden...find a way to express them, verbally, physically, creatively. 

Disintegration is not for the living. 

 

 

Before You Start, Project Out 3 Years

When you are building up your organisation, your business, your venture check the route you are taking with this simple test...

Based on the path I am treading where will I be in three years time?

In life there are so many permutations, so many diversions, so many variations on the theme that we can easily get to the wrong place without realising. It's very easy to take a wrong turn along the way and end up lost.

Recently I worked through with someone their chosen direction. At the beginning of the conversation they didn't really know which way to turn. They hadn't any clear understanding of the choices in front of them. They were in the fog.

As we discussed their skills, their background, their perspectives a clear direction emerged. When I then described in detail the way that direction would evolve in the next three years, when I imagined their future along that path, they were underwhelmed. It was OK but it wasn't setting them alight. Then they said, 'well actually there's something else that has come up recently...' and they went onto describe meeting with an old friend and a possible venture - when I described that in a more fully formed way - thinking 3 years out - they were alive with the possibilities, excited by the challenges and raring to go. When I asked 'so is this the way you want to go' it was obviously the way that they felt more inspired by.

The first scenario that we imagined was perfectly logical, it made sense and would make a good business model, the second was where the passion was.

Every day we take another step forward and another piece of the puzzle falls into place. We can build so many wonderful futures it's important to spend time really thinking through the future life you are creating with what you are doing today. 

By spending time in this way you will quickly know which direction is right amongst the many that are possible.

It's Friday and it's sunny for the moment, I have a day ahead full of telephone calls and research. Then I am working up the language for Candied Thinking with Noël and Cathy. I have a mountain of papers to go through and I have a creative positioning piece to uncover. I am mindful that this day won't come again. 

How's your Friday shaping up - have a great one.

Lucky Socks & Other Very Important Items

Imagine you are searching for a lost sock just before you leave for an important interview, a life changing opportunity. Now imagine that particular lost sock is your lucky sock, the one you wore last time something really good happened. 

You know that the more time you hunt for the lucky sock the later you will be for your interview. Or you'll be on time for the interview but sans lucky socks. How much time will you invest in an intangible?

How often do we chase down our lucky socks and jeopardise what's going on right now in our everyday life? No lucky socks, what about a special pen, or an imposing watch? What other signals and symbols do we use to bolster ourselves, how about the fast car, or the slick suit? What else do we chase after to bring us good fortune?

Obviously we want to head out on time for our very important date wearing the lucky socks of destiny on our feet or sporting our impressive car. Obviously we want to be champions and have the super powers that lucky socks or cars or watches give us. Obviously we want our dreams to come true. 

But what if the lucky sock or any other symbol were red herrings, what if we had the luck already? What if we were a little more relaxed about our luck and our socks (and cars)? What if they weren't tied to each other so very tightly?

Then we would skip along to our meetings and interviews in our everyday socks knowing we took the luck right along with us, with or without the socks. Then we would realise that we make our own luck every day, every moment, every which way.

We are spellbinding by nature if we only realised it. We have the force already, we don't need anyone or anything to give it to us.

So my thought right now is don't waste your time looking for your lucky sock or any other thing you have to have to make your world right. Don't separate your dreams and intangibles from your everyday life. 

Go off to the meeting or the interview or the world stage knowing that you carry your dreams right there with you. That every little, tiny speck of what you do and who you are is inextricably linked to your dreams, your visions, your destiny. There is no gap between you and the magic that is you. 

When you are 'on point' it's just that you realise your potential right here in the moment, you know you are fulfilling your dreams and visions here and now. You understand that they are with you and not sitting on the shelf somehow separated from your daily stuff.

For some people dreams come true and this is because for those people their dreams are true. Their truth is their dream. Not separate. 

If this concept or thinking seems out of sync with where you are right now or somehow fantastical then you could do with more presence of mind, more in the momentness, more reality. Tune in your dial more carefully, get your frequency more crystal, your dreams are dancing in front of you, they aren't over there, over the hill. Wake up.

 

3 Little Questions

Q Am I doing my utmost level best to craft my skill?

Q Am I doing my utmost level best to share my knowledge?

Q Am I doing my utmost level best to listen to those around me?

If the answer to all these is yes then I bet you are doing well.

---

If all your time is taken up with the first one only, then either you are finding your feet or just indulging your passion.

If you are focused only on the second one only then, without continual crafting you are already out of date.

If you are doing the third one only then possibly you aren't centred in your own experiences as well as those of others around you.

The key is bringing the three together and making time for each during your day.

Time to listen to those around you and think about what the world needs from you, time to create better skills and refine your knowledge and then time to create platforms and ways to share your experience and expertise around in just the right places.

Sure you can get on with fewer than three, many do, but one or even two 'yeses' won't create a flow, a way of living that is full and vibrant. Put the three in place and you're bound for greater heights.

Have a great week...

...why settle for an ordinary one?

 

Taking Your Life In Your Hands

This phrase is usually about a potential real life and death situation, 'the pilot took our life in his hands', 'I took my life in my hands and jumped', but what if we consider the phrase on a more moment by moment basis?

Every time your life intersects with anothers we each take each other's life in each other's hands.

Yesterday we went to Greenwich to see the Royal River Exhibition. We went by river on Thames Clippers. The day before we had been to the Olympic Park to see the opening of the Athletic Stadium. Each event was an experience - a very special moment in our lives. A memory of our time here in 2012. 

There were thousands of moments making up the two experiences. Each moment was our life in our own hands and more often in the hands of someone else. The ticket seller, the boat driver, the security fella, the coffee grinder, the lighting technician, the narrator...literally thousands of people interacting with us and our life experience.

Most of the encounters were OK, a few were better than that and a few more were awful. The coffee I tasted in the Olympic Park definitely needs a little work. The point I am making is that if we are to enjoy our own lives fully we can really work on where our lives intersect with each others on a moment by moment basis. 

If we deal with the public are we really giving them our full attention? If we are riding the bus are we really being thoughtful of our surroundings and the driver and othe passengers? If we are making dinner are we really considering our family and friends?

There are so many opportunities to enrich our lives and those around us by simply realising the impact we have on a moment by moment basis. 

I know you're tired and overwhelmed with the world about you. I know you can't take on more responsibility. That's why this is even more relevant. But shifting your perspective, the world comes to meet you. You start a virtuous cycle of goodwill. The world begins to behave more courteously in the main.

Most of us want to do great work and we feel like the world sometimes isn't interested, but if we do great work anyway and if we live constantly noticing the best around us, a better world magically comes into focus. One that was there all the time just waiting to be seen.

It works, just try it.

Enjoy the Bank Holiday, a day off to do what you want. What could be better than that.

What Are You For?

I often meet frustrated people. People who want the world to be somehow different. People who are amazed at the choices others are making. People who want a different government, a different policy, a different attitude, a different perspective.

Then I meet people who like stuff just the way it is. Status Quo, with the emphasis often on 'status'. They want the world to stay the same. To keep the boat from rocking. They don't understand or relish new ideas and new values. They don't like the new pop stars or the new lyrics. They don't like the new clothes or the new art. 

I watch myself and check when I am being anti something or frustrated about something else. Every day I notice ideas, news, products, adverts that rub up against my way of thinking.

Several years ago I believed in an IDEA so powerfully that anyone who couldn't see the value of this IDEA frustrated me. Over time I have relaxed. I still believe in the IDEA but my way of working with it has relaxed. I don't take anything quite as personally. I know the IDEA will come of age and then...

So if anyone I meet is über frustrated about something they want, something they want to see happen, something they believe in, or something they see needs to stop happening...the question I ask is,

'What are you For?' - 'You have told me what you are against, but what are you For?' This opens up a new line of thinking and a creative line of thought. 'What are you For' allows the imagination a chance to tip up and suggest new ways. 

Often people raise objections and fight against something, but if we decided earlier 'what are we For?' then many of the daily battles would disappear.

What am I For? 

I am for people finding, expressing and honing their talent. I am for people helping others to find, express and hone their talents. I am for sharing ideas of what a robust and thriving society looks and feels like. I am for creating beauty and craftsmanship every day as part of our daily routine. I am for grace and elegance and gentle strength. I am for wit and humour and brilliance. 

What am I Not For? I am Not For - being Not For. 

The world doesn't move forwards whilst facing backwards. Society doesn't grow and adapt with its back turned away. 

Being For is a subtle but profound shift in thinking.

It is far less stressful and much more fluid. And I am all For that.

PS: Don't forget to vote if you live in London. 

What's This Blog About?

Every time I sit to write a post, I think is this any use to anyone out there? Is this just my stuff - what do people want to read, what do people need to know? 

As this blog is a somewhat mixed bag, a deliberately broad church of thoughts, ideas, concepts and small beginnings, then I have allowed myself some latitude compared to other blogs.

If this blog is anything it is a social experiment. It is evidence of my involvement in, and willingness to adapt and roll with the culture in which I live.

If this blog does anything it challenges the readers to think, 'well I could do that, I could definitely do better than that, I have far more to say than that'. It challenges you to be bolder and more far reaching.

I know that the boldest and most far reaching of us are not yet reading this blog. I know that my readers either know me and are curious or don't know me and have looked up something and randomly come across a post wot i has written. I know in the bigger picture this blog is not even on the radar.

But this blog allows a potential contact, a possible shared thought, a closer understanding of me and what I do, what I deliver, experience, what I perceive, challenge, create, design and just what it means to live, to be shared.

It's the typical paradox, no big thing yet the most important thing. No big thing because it's just a little bit of flotsam in the huge cyberstream, yet the most important thing because it's a global shop window into my mind and world. 

Just as Bill Shankly said of football,

"Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that".

blogs aren't a matter life or death...they are far more important than that.

slip ups, recovery and the underlying truth

The old saying 'the truth will out' means that no matter what we think on an everyday basis the truth will find its way through and will eventually become evident. Think about the Rupert Murdoch case. If it's a total misunderstanding then it will be known as such. If they are cynical media tycoons who lost their way and took a lot of people with them, then that will become obvious too.

As we sow, so shall we reap... is another old saying...'live by the sword, die by the sword', the list of phrases goes on and on to the same effect - our habits and behaviours, our way of living in this world is self-evident, you can run but you cannot hide.

The truth will out. 

Social media only makes this more accurate. We can see by every tweet you make, by every line you cast your general direction of travel. We can see who you are and what you're about plain as day.

There is no point in trying to fool us mister or mistress, because we see you. And that's good. It's good particularly for the 'good guys'. The people who in the past went unnoticed because they didn't rise to high positions in society. The good guys who used their lives purposefully and well but did so quietly. Now good deeds and good intentions can be seen by many more, the light can be shone ever wider amongst the crowd of us sharing today. Of course, we all make slip ups, we all get the odd thing wrong and make simple errors, the social media we share today can help us to show who we are in the round and what we're about and what we are doing in our daily lives. 'We see you mister and mistress, we see you good and proper.'

It's a bright Monday morning in London, the storm over the weekend has blown away the few clouds that were building up and this week there's another chance to get our lives together and to create a world we want to leave our children.

A friend of mine left us on this part of the journey on Saturday morning. She was a teacher. She was here last week and this week is one she won't see. Not that we know anyway. She is leaving this a better place than she found it. She was a teacher in more ways than one.

"Do good or at least do no harm" is a phrase linked to the medical world. That thought popped into my head this weekend.

Go on, have a 'good' week, why don't you and then... share it with the rest of us.

PS went to see Jonah Lehrer on Sunday - more good stuff.

 

Social Media Demands A Lot - Have You Got What It Takes?

I took to social media fairly quickly. That's because as a marketing 'bod' I clearly saw social media was the next big thing. I also took to it because as a student of psychology I knew that it was part of the next stage of human progress where increasingly we 'actualise'. It wasn't going to be a 'flash in the pan'. It was a longterm trend, so better get onboard. 

Social media is a force, a train that's not stopping any time soon. Sure it will change, adapt, grow and shape-shift but, unless we go dark and run out of electricity, it will continue onwards and upwards way out there into the future as our vehicle for expression and shared knowledge.

Part of my work involves encouraging people to adopt marketing ways for their businesses. To adopt the skills and drive to present their work and talents to their wider community in order to thrive. Therefore I often discuss social media. 

Generally there are three positions regarding social media - the fans - they love it and live online, the uninitiated - those who have not yet taken to it in any meaningful way and the resistors - those who build arguments to show it is not for them.

For fans generally the work is about direction and strategy. Fans tend to create a lot of content, and have variable levels of professionalism. Fans also tend to adopt every new platform but can leave some quickly and end up looking a little ragged. Fans also can find it difficult to hold back and to edit their stuff. Also fans can feel run dry sometimes as they have so many conversations on the go at any one time. Time management can also be an issue.

"Just because you can doesn't mean you should" is the thought here.

For the uninitiated, it's a slow process of induction. Social media is pretty overwhelming to those who haven't yet got involved. It's everywhere and it can feel a little bit daunting. So this is a gentle introduction to the basic do's and don'ts and then the practical set ups and links and creating the routines and the inspiration for content. 

"the sooner, the better" is the thought here - it takes a while to adopt the behaviours and to really understand the platforms.

For the resistors there is another part to the work. To really understand what is driving the resistance, what is preventing the adoption. There are obvious barriers such as 'lack of time' or 'what's the point?' and then there are more subtle issues, such as 'perfection' - the need to present something so perfect. The strictness of what's right and wrong in social media. The judgement and critic of how it should be done perfectly. The fear of failure, the fear of being seen to fail on an epic scale. The fear of looking stupid. Of sounding like a t***. Resistors can be super successful and talented. They can have a wonderful contribution to make, but they lock themselves out because they don't want to trial something new. In this case my work is to simply keep shining the light on social media. Helping resistors to see the real benefits to being in a world where they can connect with some of the brightest, kindest, most helpful human beings on the planet freely and fluently. To understand that it's OK to fail, to fall down occasionally, that doing anything new involves the willingness to fail.

How would any of us survive if we couldn't tolerate lapses in success sometimes?

If ultimately social media is not for you, good on you. Go your own way, certainly don't conform. That's not the way at all. Don't do it because someone tells you for goodness sake. Heart and intention is everything in social media. If you go to social media just to fit in with what's expected and to perform functionally you really will miss the mark. Then you will have failed no matter how many tweets, pins, posts or likes you create on a daily basis.

Social media demands so much more from you than that. And it's my job to help you deliver. 

 

 

So Do You Think It Was Easy?

Do you think Isaac Newton had an easier time of it? Do you think it was any less of a struggle for Einstein? Lord Sugar - had an easier time of it, fewer distractions maybe? Oh yes it was much easier for Obama. 

You can tell yourself all you like that you'd be more successful if things just either went your way or got out of your way. You can tell yourself that you just don't have time for twitter or marketing or reading a trend report on your industry. You can tell yourself that other people just got a break and you didn't. You can tell yourself any number of bedtime stories - at three o'clock in the morning - justify your situation to 1000 judges all lined up in your head.

They'll believe you. Just like your Mum, your friends, your accountant.

But deep down, inside, right in your tiny pit of a stomach, you, yourself will know the lie. Like a speck of sand it will irritate your soul and create a stream of bile which will flow upwards to toxify your mind and your spirit. Which will change your nature and your worldview. Which will permeate your very being and you will be another one of those 'couldabeena contenders'.

Or you could just lighten up, sit up, get connected and go out and have fun making new ideas come to life with all the brilliant people that are sitting there, right now, waiting to connect.

Life's a breeze and you're in flight - face forward, pick up speed and enjoy the ride.

 

Conversation

When we're in conversation we need to get a roughly even balance of airtime. I get to say my thoughts, they spark your thoughts, you get to change the subject, I listen to your ideas and so it goes on.

Monologues are different, the speaker gets stuff off their chest. They pretty much start speaking and never stop. They speed past any oncoming contribution to their final destination, the speaker feels better and you feel...exhausted.

We've all done it. It's just human to need to vent every once in a while.

Our best friends understand and listen, knowing that it's a rare occurrence and isn't who we are.

Blogs can sometimes be like that - a one way splurge. Off the keyboard onto the screen and away into the cyber. 

So to avoid being just a bloggy bore, it's important that the reader does get something for their time and attention.

The reader needs to get some information, or some stimulation or perhaps simply entertainment.

Blogs aren't there just to get stuff off your chest, although sometimes you will do that. 'Sometimes' is a key word - with blogs. Texture. Layers. Your readers are getting to know you a little better. Getting to understand your ideas, thoughts, knowledge, experience, personal style, take on the world.

Blogs are access to you and to your business or enterprise, sometimes even to your lifestyle.

When people gain access what will they find? This is an important part of the conversation about blogs and you.

For me, I hope my readers find someone who is thoughtful, insightful, knowledgeable, someone willing to share and to support and nurture new ideas and new growth.

For me, I hope to prompt people to take a deeper look at certain ideas they have, to snout out the hidden aspects of their work and their talents and expose these to the light. 

For me blogging has a certain intimacy, a quality of ordinariness. Just a tiny fleck of dust glinting in the light - there and then gone.

For me, I hope readers think 'I'd like to have a conversation with Sarah', knowing that they would get shared space and unlock some new thinking along the way.

Have a lovely Easter if you celebrate it and if you don't well there's the chocolate eggs. What's not to like?

 

Getting Picked Up

The key to being successful in social media is a) having something meaningful, truthful and valuable to offer and b) getting this known and remembered by the right people.

So let's just say for the moment that you have those amazing nuggets that everyone is just dying to know about, how do you get them noticed?

First - who would really be interested? Who could really do with knowing about this stuff?

Bored housewives, Chief Execs, teenagers, small businesses going for growth?

Now who do you know that is this type of person?

Don't expect much readership from friends...nice if you get it but it's not really the main point. However, you can get a lot of feedback from the right friends. 

Ask your friends who fit in with your perfect reader - bear in mind, not to ask a friend who is anti-blogging or 'can't see the point', we know what they are going to say anyway. Ask a friend who regularly tunes into different online resources / blogs / twitter etc - this is not about converting people to social media - it's about better serving an audience that already exists.

Ask your relevant friends / associates to help you with a bit of research - for the price of a pint or glass of Chardonnay. 

Pick out a few blogs / twitter types you love to read...not vaguely enjoy - but really like...or those you remember.

Take an hour to think about what you think they are giving you and why you value it.

For me, Seth Godin keeps me posted on his take on the world - and I trust his connections are way further ahead than mine. I don't always agree with his take, I don't always relate to everything I read, but I do feel I am getting a future view...

Then I like the vibe of Chris Guillebeau - it's just very relaxed and real. A young guy working his talents really successfully. Personable, charming and fresh.

Tim Bryce - rants on - and I often recoil from the tone but often there's some uncluttered truth being written out loud.

Maria Popover of Brainpicker - great scoop on a cornucopia of stuff - all well researched. A real treasure chest.

Fast Company - quick view of hot new business stuff 

Mashable - Pete Cashmore just seems sexy - no really it's packed with the latest stuff

and so on...

Then when you have a few to consider pick out what you would love to do like them...and what you would hate to do like them...

Now - blogging and social media is not a 'me too medium' - so you need to put in your unique and individual spin on the world. 

Your unique blogger-print...

Think about this one - long and hard - then work with a friend or professional to get this defined.

When you have this stage sorted...and you really believe your blog is uniquely you and of real value to the world...now start to comment on others' posts, join webinars, start playing with the crowd you want to be part of. Join in nicely, just as you would in school. 

Don't sell. Don't tell. Just be there. Offer insight and value. Link-In, retweet, focus on the destination.

Underpinning all this effort is the belief and the desire that your shared understanding will add to the conversation. Becoming known is not the same as becoming worth knowing. Don't skimp on this work - you're in this for the longterm, not to be a one hit wonder.

PS - what I dislike most about some blogs is over-intellectualised writing. Simplify.