Three Reasons Why I Decided to Start a Blog
Having had a Medium account for a while now I still had not even published a single blog. Being honest, I was scared and the one thought that kept ringing in my head was — “subpar blogs, subpar writings”. Despite all this I have finally decided to venture out and share my thoughts with the world ✨. However, I still would not have been able to do this were it not for the reasons I outline in this blog.
Though blogging is not really much of a “thing” where I am from I was still inspired regardless, as an aspiring researcher, data analyst and computer scientist because of the reasons I outline here. Please note that the reasons are in no particular order. Let us hop into it!
1. Ideas flow more freely when expressed
This is probably the most powerful motivation that had me starting a blog. To me ideas are one of the most beautiful and powerful things humans can create. If you are reading this chances are you are using either a smartphone or PC — just pause and appreciate how all these, at one point, were just ideas. What made these ideas become a reality I believe is that they were allowed to find expression. What do I mean by this? Ideas are like minerals in an ore. Their splendor cannot be observed unless they are extracted from the ore and polished. From personal experience, ideas left in the mind are too abstract, and though they be the building block for the world we see and relate with, if they are too abstract and left as is they serve little to no purpose at all. How then can I make my ideas less abstract? — Simply take them out of your head (write them down) and be an observer and analyst of your own ideas. What this does is that it allows you to objectively see the feasibility of your idea and how best you can implement it. And also, writing down your ideas creates room for more creative ideas. Just like in a traffic infested highway, traffic cannot freely flow unless some of the vehicles make room for the others — this is exactly how ideas and thoughts work. Blogging offers me an opportunity to take my ideas out of my head thus making it possible for me discover even more creative patterns within my own ideas all the while sharing them with like-minded individuals. This allows for a free flow of ideas and thus, implying more creativity.
2. I want to be a better researcher and writer
Blogging is writing and good writing is the basis of good communication wherever one goes. As we all know, repetition is key in achieving mastery in any field and blogging offers me a platform where I can repeatedly learn that art of writing. As a researcher, I would infer that good writing is at the core of great research. Researching itself is a skill worth learning on its own, just like writing. But a great research is dependent on how it is presented (written) as much as it is on the content. This point simply implies that regardless of how good and exciting the content of one’s research is, it matters little if it cannot be well and simply shared or presented. My goal as researcher is simple: to help people understand that which is “said” to be complex in any field, and so communication is a key part of what I intend to achieve as a researcher. And blogging makes this whole journey of communicating knowledge via writing more meaningful, exciting, feasible and simple.
3. Building credibility as an aspiring thought leader
Being interested in a wide range of areas of study like philosophy, statistics, mathematics, science, psychology, anthropology and productivity in general, I have always had an excitement that comes with me learning and sharing new thoughts in those areas. The whole learning process as someone with a vast range of interests is dependent on my ability to research (as already discussed above). And again, as already stated, blogging improves my research abilities and written communication and this in turn improves my learning. If I am able to learn more efficiently, I am able to share knowledge more efficiently and the “learning-sharing” loop continues. An improvement in learning implies broadening of horizons and an encouragement of self-development because the new knowledge identifies new opportunities (professionally and personally). For example, being deeply interested in the subject of productivity, new knowledge broadens my horizon in this field as I will possibly discover new and more efficient ways of doing my work. The sharing of my knowledge with other interested individuals becomes an essential part of me transitioning into leadership roles in possible future projects. It is not enough for one to be an expert only, they also have to be able to communicate ideas to the relevant audience.
