Not a true title, but it might as well be. Think about what professional athletes do. Now think about what bloggers do. Do you see any similarities? If you don’t, don’t worry because the idea is a little abstract. Here is why you should consider yourself as an athlete if you are a blogger (or any kind of writer):
Athletes do not learn to play a sport. No, they don’t! They practice, practice, practice, rinse and repeat x3. What do bloggers (and writers) do? They write (practice), write (practice), write (practice), rinse and repeat x3.
This is a pretty interesting idea that should knock any “learn to blog” name out. I am damn glad this blog is titled with “The Process of a Blog,” or I would just be contradicting myself. Any bloggers out there might want to change their“learn to blog” niche, to a “practice blogging” niche, or something. I’m not exactly sure what kind of blog niche you could list it as. (If only “the process of a blog” wasn’t already taken, right?)
Back on topic, let’s think about this idea. Who tells you or teaches you how to write? No one! Your teachers in high school and college helped you find your own practice methods and voice with those tedious writing exercises. That is all. If they taught you how to write, you would be writing like them. In fact, everyone in your class would turn in the same papers. Every blog would be the same. Instead, we are just training ourselves to write with our own style.
An athlete trains. They swing their bats differently, no spiral on a (American) football is the same, and every bicycle kick in soccer is incomparable to the next. This is because they form their own style, which is what every blogger should practice to do. Find your individual voice in your posts and let it flow. Train yourself to be continually optimizing that voice by practicing, and practicing often.
You all know that childish saying: “15 minutes a day and you will be perfect in no time,” or something like that. Well, we can conclude that you will never, ever be perfect, but it is something you must always be training yourself to obtain perfection (or the closest you can get to perfection). There are always little failures in our blogging we can train ourselves to improve, just the same as any Olympic athlete would do. Here is how I train and how you can train to improve yourself to Olympic blogger status:
Who knows? Maybe someday we will see the geek Olympics or something. Blogging could certainly be a part of that. And if that day does come along, just keep in mind of what other athletes do to prepare themselves. Blogging is not always easy, but you can train yourself to become a better blogger, indefinitely. Blog daily, review your blog, get criticism but don’t let it affect what you want to do, use your connections, and practice writing in all different styles.
These are my tips on Olympic blogging. Do you see any more connections between blogging and the Olympics?
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This is one insane article, great post. I am definitely stumbling this one.
I appreciate that! Thank you
Justin
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