✍🏻How Is Writing Online Beneficial?
Firstly, we address the fears which people generally face:
- What the hell am I going to write about?
- Why would anyone read what I have to write?
- What will happen if my friends and family discovered that there's a personal blog which I have been writing, they might make fun of me 🥲
- There is nothing that I can produce which is original. Everything out there has already been written. There are a zillion blogs and videos, and there's no space for me.
- What the hell am I? What does an 18yr old student have, to contribute to this wider world?
- What if my article sucks? (perfectionism)
Backstory
I used to get these questions before writing and publishing online, but then I read Show Your Work! by Austin Kleon. This book completely changed my perspective, and I would recommend this book to everyone who wants to show their work but isn’t able to because of a ton of self-worth questions or whatever reason. Do check out the book: Show Your Work!.
Self Promotion is not a bad thing!
So to answer all the questions:
1. What the hell am I going to write about?
- Having a blog is not about having to come up with hey; I need to write something interesting. It’s just about documenting what you are doing already.
- documenting what your life as an engineering student looks like
- giving reviews of books that you would read, or something similar to the above points
2. Why would anyone read what I have to write?
I am not an expert; therefore, how can I possibly write about anything?
Chapter-1 of Show Your Work! Says:
- You don’t have to be an expert to share your process, document your journey, and show how you are learning stuff.
- Completely embrace the beginner’s mindset.
- Someone who is a beginner is often so much better at teaching beginners than an expert.
Curse of knowledge is like when you become so pro at something, you forget what it is like to be a beginner
- Because if anyone is a beginner, then he might be thinking like, hey, how will a beginner approach this, and what is his journey from being an absolute noob to being good at it
To read more about this, check out: How to Beat the Imposter Syndrome
3. What will happen if my friends and family discovered that there’s a personal blog which I have been writing, they might make fun of me 🥲
No one cares about you, everyone is busy with their work, and in fact, they will be happy for you and might even give suggestions on how to improve if they care about you.
Wondering about, how it changes people’s lives?
1. The idea of serendipity vehicle
The way you want to imagine it is like you are living in a village. The only people you can interact with are the people in that village and maybe people who come inside that village once in a while, but when you visit different villages once in a month, you will get to meet a ton of people. You can make some valuable connections that might help in the future.
The things that end up entering your life are beyond your scope of imagination, and you couldn’t even have dreamt of them before.
So when you are putting your ideas out in the world, you are opening your doors and allowing yourself to connect with some great people and get some fascinating connections, business associates, and so on.
2. Clarity Over Your Thoughts
When you write, it helps you solidify and clarify your thinking around your thoughts. What is interesting about having a blog or some daily project is that: it’s not that you have something to say; it’s just that you find out what you have to say.
Writing is not just a way of communicating with the world. It is a way of communicating with yourself. The simple act of sitting down in one place, you are taking out time in a day to connect with your brain and to think about what’s going on, what you are feeling internally and what you are thinking about.
3. The Butterfly Effect
It’s like if a butterfly flaps its wings in someplace on this planet, the air current that is produced goes down the line and creates a chain reaction. This shows that a seemingly small thing you do can have a significant effect down the line on yourself and other people.
Now talking about what to write about
While starting to write, do not even think about what people will think about what the world might be interested in and do what interests you. So finally
You don’t need to be a guru; You can be a guide.
