5 simple reasons you should publish your first blog post

It took me 17 years to write this blog post. And even after the idea of "finally" starting a blog resurfaced starting this year, there was no excuse bad enough to write online. It's time to not only consume, but also give back.

If, like me, you're struggling with hitting "publish" on your first blog post, read my five reasons to start this blog. Maybe they can give you that final kick to get started.

1. Share what you already know

Chances are you read tweets, articles and newsletters every day like I do. When someone around you talks about one of the topics you read or know about, it feels easy and seems natural to share what you know.

The person on the other end will remember your personal experience, knowledge, or even just your opinion, and will refer to you the next time the given topic comes up.

By sharing what you already know online, you have the chance to make each of these implementations available to a much wider audience.

At worst, this allows you to compress your knowledge and experience into written words that are easy for others to consume. At best, you have the chance to educate more people, get much more feedback, and can expand your knowledge to include other perspectives on a particular topic.

2. Share what you don't know (yet)

You can probably remember that magical moment when magicians perform their tricks and leave the audience stunned and wondering how it actually works.

While knowledge is the one thing people will relate to, sharing your thoughtful process of learning something new will take them behind the scenes of how you connect the known with the unknown elements.

Providing a working solution to a given problem is one thing. Making it easy to follow and understand your thought process will strengthen your expertise, even as you begin to learn something new.

3. Discuss your ideas

Far too often we keep our ideas in a treasure chest. Driven by a fear that this idea could be stolen from us and someone else could use it for their own implementation.

Not only are ideas worthless without execution, if you hide them from everyone, you miss an important element: feedback.

Use paper sketches, build a minimal example, or even create a mockup showing your idea. I personally recommend writing a pitch like Basecamp does internally.

But instead of keeping it to yourself, post that content online and make it accessible to others. Share a link to the content and open up the possibility to discuss your idea.

The only risk you have is that someone will respond, comment, and share their experiences that complement and refine your idea. In the best case, you will find someone who wants to work with you on this idea.

Don't let the fear that your ideas will be stolen by someone else stop you from discussing your ideas online. The benefits will exceed your fears.

4. Connect the dots

Continues learning extends your personal toolset with every skill and knowledge that you acquire. The real value from a tool in your tool cabinet is not the simple fact, that it's there, but knowing how to use it.

You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward.
— Steve Jobs

If you take the time to write down what you've learned and apply it to challenges you're thinking about or working on, you'll be able to connect the dots. By writing down everything you learn, your brain will begin to expand your personal knowledge graph and connect newly learned skills to existing knowledge.

The next time a similar request comes up, you'll be able to grab the right tool and will know how to apply it immediately.

5. Get connected

When you get excited about a topic, a technology, or want to make your opinion known, the people around you can't always follow along.

If you go with the first step, "Share what you already know", there's at least a chance you can give them a basic understanding. But there's not always a good chance you'll find a person around you who is as deep in the subject as you are.

Fortunately, these days we have the ability to expand our reach of potential contacts by going online. Start with a simple search on your favorite search engine, follow experts you already know on Twitter, share your content and join the conversation.

By publishing content on your blog, you automatically attract similar people to read, discuss, and eventually get connected with you in the end.

I hope these five steps will help you start your own blog. Perhaps you'll expand them along the way to include your own reasons. The most important thing to remember is: just start.

How did you get started? What challenges did you face? And how did you solve them? Let me know and subscribe for future posts.