DISQUS

Karen Lynch · 2 years ago

Great Post! Gave me some things to think about. I know I write and write just for the Love of writing! With a blog there is the "writing" and there is the "Blogging" and the activities and tasks for each are very different.

Aaron M. Potts · 2 years ago

Ben,

Quality stuff! This concept hit me so hard awhile ago that I actually took several months worth of my blog archives and made an information product out of them. In the course of reading all of the material to put together the product, I was reminded of A LOT of things that should be closer to my daily life than they had been.

I also recently started the "way back machine" on my blog where I go back to approximately 8 months ago and choose the "best of the best" to re-read myself, as well as to re-share with my audience.

It's a great practice for the blogger as well as the reader! After all, we don't want to get caught not following our own advice! ;)

John Wesley · 2 years ago

Ben,

You've let the cat out the bag with this one. I do my best to follow my own advice, but like any other human being, I occasionally slip. That's the problem with writing -- there will always be some hypocrisy. Just because you can say the right thing, doesn't mean you can do it all the time.

That being said, I think that writing a site about self improvement keeps the subject at the front of my mind and motivates me to practice what I preach. While I can't follow my own advice perfectly, I'm definitely doing better than I would be if I didn't write and think about those topics.

Chris Cree · 2 years ago

I suspect that when we blog from our passion it feels less like a obligation, "blogging for the sake of blogging." I find the posts I'm most passionate about are the easiest ones for me to remember too.

Dennis Bjørn Petersen · 2 years ago

OUCHIES!

I follow my own advice (if I by accident come to think of one), but sometimes I don't follow me own links and googles the info instead :-/

Ben Yoskovitz · 2 years ago

Karen -- What differences do you see in Writing and Blogging?

Bret · 2 years ago

Yes and no. Sometimes I'm very good about following what I advise in some of my site's articles. Other times, however, I mean to but just can't get around to it. I've been meaning to change my site design with my own custom theme but my day job and side projects keep getting in the way.

Jack Vinson · 2 years ago

Interesting thought. I have a dumb question: What, specifically, is missing from your practice of blogging that you tell other people to do?

Brad Isaac · 2 years ago

Ben, this is a great question for the bloggers out there. Personally, I'm a little paranoid that I will run into a reader and they will catch me not doing as I had instructed on my blog. Like everyone, I slip every now and again. But for the most part, I like to think that I would do as I preached on my blog.

A workaround if you do not intend on following your own advice is to clarify some people do the particular thing you are instructing your readers to do. That way, you get to give the information without necessarily having to follow it.

Let me give you an example. Recently I wrote a series on effective self-promotion techniques. In it, I did include some self-promotion strategies that other people use, but not necessarily me. Not every strategy presented is going to work for me personally. Since my readers are salespeople, entrepreneurs, students and people from other walks of life not all of my tips are suitable for every category of reader.

Having the perspective that you are going to give complete information means including tips and advice that doesn't necessarily pertain to yourself.

Stephen Hopson · 2 years ago

Ben:

What an interesting, thought provoking article. I'm very conscious of this subject because over at Adversity University, I write about ways of overcoming obstacles and adversity. As I'm writing, I'm always checking and re-checking myself to see if I'm actually walking the talk.

Like you said, we can't be "up" all the time and even those of us who are motivational speakers (like me) or writers (like me) need to go back to our own words for a little "pick-me-up" session.

Thanks for reminding me to make sure I walk the talk with the words I speak or write.

By the way, would you be interested in participating in an interactive experiment I'm conducting over at Adversity University? It's a tagging experiment about ways we face and overcome adversity - it is a common thread among all of us becuase adversity does not discriminate. I would love it if you were inspired to participate. If you click on my name, you'll be taken to this post with instructions.

Again, thank you for reminding me to follow my own advice. It was a very timely and important message.

Stephen Hopson

Ben Yoskovitz · 2 years ago

@Brad: I appreciate your thoughts on this and agree with you in terms of presenting other people's ideas, expanding on them, but not necessarily being beholden to them.

I don't think you need to be paranoid about not following your own advice - it's quite common in my experience, whether it's people giving advice through blogging or other means. Giving advice is easy, following it on the other hand...

Ben Yoskovitz · 2 years ago

@Stephen: I'll take a look at the post you're referencing...

Thanks for the comment, and I love the name of your blog: Adversity University - very cool.

Community Building Blog · 2 years ago

It is far easier to offer advice than follow it yourself!

- Martin Reed

Ben Yoskovitz · 2 years ago

@Martin -- I agree. So the next question is, does it even matter?

Do readers even care whether bloggers follow their own advice? Is there any expectation on a reader's part that writers follow their own advice? Any ramifications if they do or don't?

Sleeping Dude · 2 years ago

That's exactly the reason I don't want to blog just about random stuff that will go to archive in 2 weeks. I've selected for my blog the subject and type of content that will serve people for years to come. Well, maybe in this form it's not exactly what we used to consider a "blog", but who cares how you call it as long as it's useful for others.
Actually, "random stuff blogging" is absolutely fine with me too, as long as you have your community of people reading this stuff and get into discussion with them. Writing for the sick of building volume of content is for search engines, not for people. Now comes the tricky part - how to build the community without writing a lot... To me the answer is always the same - quality content is the king.

Ben Yoskovitz · 2 years ago

@Sleeping Dude: Writing a lot + building a community are in many ways exclusive of one another.

Paul Graham writes one essay every couple of weeks, if that, but he has a huge following and community. Granted, much of that is because of his name recognition and what else he does outside "web publishing" but the point is that frequency doesn't build community by itself...

At the same time, I don't think it's JUST about quality. Each post doesn't have to be perfect. It's about putting yourself out there, and exposing a bit, reaching out, communicating and participating...and all of that comes back in return.

Jenny · 2 years ago

I only write when I think of something half way decent. I try to put quality into it. But it doesn't always work. So, I have to say that I NEVER follow my own advice. xD

Ben Yoskovitz · 2 years ago

Jenny - That seems a bit harsh. *chuckle*

We should all be aiming for quality content, although it doesn't always work. Even for the best bloggers out there...

Max @ Houston Lawyers Direct · 1 year ago

This was my favorite part of your post "Part of what makes blogging interesting is the sudden nature of it - publishing content quickly, connecting with people easily - but it’s also easy to post and post and post and not follow through."

I maintain a couple of blogs and lately blogging has become more about the site and improving traffic than about the readers who make the site. Thanks for the friendly reminder!

Ben Yoskovitz · 1 year ago

@Max: Happy to help. As soon as blogging becomes less fun and starts to become a chore focused on driving traffic, metrics, conversions, etc. you're in trouble. Those things are all important, but the value of blogging is in the fun that people can have with self-expression.

Rom · 1 year ago

What I usually advice to others are how I do things - those that have given me some benefits in the past.

I am also open to some advices and also give it a shot when all else fails ;)

1800flowers · 1 year ago

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Anna · 1 year ago

For me, bloggers wrote based on their experiences. They share great information.