Hi. It's Monday morning. You realize I'm constantly wrestling with this weekly blogpost nonsense. There's times where I'm stoked to post work or recent projects I've been on, but it feels like there's plenty of other times when it's like a visit to the dentist. By no stretch do I enjoy having someone scrape the last six months of plaque off my teeth. It sucks, but I know it's a helpful and healthy habit.
I'm constantly questioning why I'm trying to keep up with this nonsense. Why I'm bashing my head into the brick wall of a blank page with no ideas. I've kept a journal since I was a teenager and don't plan on stopping that anytime soon. It's full of me working through whatever was on my mind at the time, daily to-do lists, and stamps and stickers tracking where I've been and what I've done. I feel like this blog is the public and hopefully more polished version of those black Moleskine notebooks I've been carrying around for years.
There was a New York Times article over the weekend asking "Have We Hit Peak Podcast?" A few things lines stuck out and obviously had me thinking about how it fit in what I was doing here.
It’s no wonder that the phrase “everyone has a podcast” has become a Twitter punch line. Like the blogs of yore, podcasts...are today’s de rigueur medium, seemingly adopted by every entrepreneur, freelancer, self-proclaimed marketing guru and even corporation.
We’re not necessarily sick of listening to interesting programs; but we’re definitely tired of hearing from every friend, relative and co-worker who thinks they’re just an iPhone recording away from creating the next “Serial.”
“Being a podcast host plays into people’s self-importance,” ...And it projects that importance to others.
“I love podcasting, and the more shows in the mix the better, as long as they’re done by someone who actually cares and isn’t just trying to get a piece of pie.” What needs to be created, he said, is “a real conversation that will benefit the audience, not the host.”
Surely it’s a healthy exercise to poke around at the “why” of what you do and how you choose to spend your time. I’ve not kept track of how long it takes to write these posts or the energy and effort spent doing the research, editing, and proof reading. I enjoy the writing process and the pressure it puts on me to try and understand what it is I’m trying to say.
I’m not looking to “start a conversation” or “engage with my audience.” Every now and then I talk to someone who’s read some of this nonsense, but I've yet to have someone hand me money afterwards; it's not the goal. By all means I keep an eye on the analytics and track the numbers. It's trippy as hell to see people finding my website from six of the seven continents, but by all means let's keep all this in perspective. If these posts help me process and polish what I'm working through I call that a success. If a potential client, peer, or anyone else looking to piece together a road map for their thing and even a small bit of what I've already worked through and processed is helpful, then hot damn. Glad to hear it.
All that being said, I'd like to wrap it up this week's post with some drag queen wisdom.
“I always had hopes of being a big star. As you get older you aim a little lower and I just say “Well, yeah you still might make an impression.” Everybody wants to leave something behind them. Some impression, some mark upon the world. And then you think you left a mark upon the world if you just get through it and a few people remember your name. Then you left a mark. You don’t have to bend the whole world. I think it’s better just to enjoy it. Pay your dues and enjoy it. If you shoot an arrow and it goes real high: hooray for you.” - Dorian Corey