Putting the Horse Before the Cart

Posted December 6th, 2006 by

So as you can see, not much has changed here since I made my first post several weeks ago. The reason why really comes down to two words that both begin with the letter P.

Purpose

I initially decided to re-launch my personal web site for two reasons:

1. to give me an excuse to do some web design work; and
2. to better promote myself.

As a creative person I find web design rather interesting, so I immediately dove into Paint Shop Pro. After mocking up a design I was content with, I chose a color scheme around the source material I had and went to it. That was the easy part.

Sure, a blog can provide a way for friends and family to keep abreast of what you’re up to. But as somebody who is currently in the job market, I realized that it can also provide a nice supplement to one’s resumé, allowing recruiters to get to know me better, communicating what it is that I’m passionate about. Ultimately, I also wanted complete strangers to be reading my site, hopefully learning something or inspiring a conversation. With that, I decided that I wanted a web site with a purpose.

So, I went on to read articles about successfully launching a blog (this is one of the best). The main message I took away from those articles was that you should choose some subject matter that you are passionate about, and go with it in order to gain and maintain a readership. This is where I got stuck.

Procrastination

David Allen notes that one of the reasons why bright people procrastinate the most is because they visualize the possible negative end results of something before they even start. As a consequence, these people just quit right away; I would add that this may not even be a conscious decision.

Sure enough, my thinking went like this: Hopefully my friends will read my blog, so I should write something that appeals to them. But I also want to write about what I do for a living (or rather, what I would like to do for a living). What could I write about that would appeal to both audiences? Is there anything I feel that passionate about that hasn’t been covered before? What will people think of the new site? What will people think of what I have to say?

After getting tired of asking myself questions and realizing I was going nowhere — putting the cart before the horse, so to speak — I decided to write this post, and just get on with it. In the end I came to the realization that the site’s theme will evolve over time. I have several ideas on the drawing board for things to write about in the future, and I am also open to suggestions.

It’s time to get this cart moving.

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