Why I Started a Blog, And You Should Too

Long time, no see, huh?

Since my last blog post, This Student Graduated With a 2:2 and It Completely Ruined His Life, which kind of went viral, I haven’t published anything for almost four months.

It’s not that I didn’t have anything to say, actually, quite the opposite – after I left India, I spent the next three months traveling around Malaysia and Thailand, and there were at least 10 other blog posts that I wanted to share.

But I didn’t.

Why?

Truth is, writing is f******* * difficult. And publishing is even more so.

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It’s difficult because I don’t think I am good enough, heck, I can’t even call myself a writer. I don’t think the topics I want to talk about are important to others.

I tell myself I don’t have enough time or that I can’t write without having a well-defined theme for my blog (‘A youthful take on social media marketing’ – seriously?..).

Then, I’m terrified of what other people will think about me, my writing, my ideas.

What if they don’t like them? What if they disagree? What will happen if I make a mistake and completely mess it up? Because, you know, I am just making my ideas available to the entire world in a matter of seconds – what if it will be used against me, to laugh at me or discredit me in the future?

If you ever considered writing and publishing (yes, there are so many people who write but are scared to death to share it with others), I’m sure some of these doubts crossed your mind once or twice, or a hundred times. Worse, maybe it stopped you from even trying…

One thing I know – it sure is stopping me.

And it sucks.

It sucks because at the back of my head I know exactly why I started my blog, and why I should keep writing.

I already made a vague attempt to explain why I am writing a blog, but it didn’t cover many reasons why I started it in the first place.

Before www.adomasbaltagalvis.com, I tried blogging twice during my journeys to Venezuela and China. I shared about my experiences and learnings, and it was a great way to keep my family and friends updated on my adventures.

However, the biggest mind-shift came after reading this brilliant masterpiece by Michael Ellsberg, 8 Steps to Getting What You Want… Without Formal Credentials, which completely blew my mind.

I already had doubts about starting a Master’s degree immediately after my Bachelor’s, so this blog post resonated very, very deeply within me.

What’s the relevance of the course content for a BA or MA program to a typical corporate job? In most cases, absolutely zippo.

In the formal job market, there’s no easy way for employers to rapidly assess all of those traits without some kind of objective screening tool. Educational attainment has become that screening tool.

And he goes even further to say:

Saying that a BA and MA is “required” to do a certain job is BS. These degrees are not actually required to do the job well. Rather, they serve as convenient screening tools for recruiters needing to wade through piles of cold resumes on the formal job market.

Wow, just WOW.

Then, he punches you right in the face with a concrete step-by-step process of how anyone can hack himself into a career he wants without spending $100,000 in tuition fees – and it all starts with creating your own website. A website where you can share your ideas, showcase your work and experience, build trust and, consequently, grow a platform that will kickstart your career.

Doesn’t sound too bad, right?

So there I was a few months later, buying my own domain name, looking for hosting services, free premium themes, and ‘Top 20 Plugins for WordPress’ – and that’s how www.adomasbaltagalvis.com was born.

Actually, I’ve been so obsessed with this idea of building a personal platform, that I’ve already managed to convince at least five of my friends to create their own blogs and start sharing their ideas with the world. The number could have been even bigger though, if my friends had managed to break through the biggest obstacle of writing.

No, it’s not the creation of a blog itself, as it’s never been easier to do it – you can have an operating website in less than twenty minutes.

The biggest obstacle is fear.

So many people I talked to (you know who you are) shared the underlying fear of making their ideas public: ‘What if I’m not a good writer? What if I don’t have anything valuable to say? What if people will judge me? What if….?’, they went on and on, and they were right.

Most probably, you are a terrible writer. If you’re anything like me, you’ll be writing about some random things, like promoted posts, buying Facebook likes, perfectionism, or reasons to hate apple, that no-one really cares about. And people will judge you, always. But it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t start.

I’m writing because I want to become a better writer and this will help me to achieve it. I am certain that I will manage to grow this website into a thriving platform which will help me in the future. And… I don’t give a crap if 99% of people who visit my site think that it’s complete nonsense.

What I do care about though, is the 1% of people that will appreciate my thoughts, will relate to my experiences and learnings, and maybe, just maybe, I will be able to make their life a tiny bit better through my writings, no matter how random they might be.

You don’t need to start big. Start with a single post and dedicate it to the person that you care about most, be it a friend, a lover or a family member. Don’t share it with everyone, send it to him or her individually. But do write, and start now.

If you manage to break from you insecurities, truly wonderful things will start happening, believe me.

So leave away your fears and start building your personal platform today.

Will you? 

 

*freaking

P.S. And if you needed any help, you know how to find me 😉