If you’re a blogger, marketer, designer or any type of creative, your best ideas probably hit you when you’re not actively looking for them. Rather, they strike when you’re engaged in another task, or sometimes quite randomly. That is why it is vital to carry a pad and pen (or the digital variety) with you everywhere you go.
What happens to me in many cases is my best ideas strike while in the shower, driving my car, at the gym or while running/rock climbing/swimming — times when I can’t just stop what I’m doing and write down an idea (hey inventors, here’s an idea: a water-proof white board for the shower).
Anyway while working out the other day, it struck me how going to the gym is highly analogous to blogging. The analogy is as simple as: going to the gym is good for your body, as blogging is good for your brain.
Think about it:
- People get equally excited about the ideas of blogging and going to the gym and start out strong thinking how easy this will be, however only a few push through the dip (133 million blogs since 2002, yet only around 76,000 blogs have a Technorati Authority of 50 or higher).
- Most people only go to the gym a few times before giving up. Most people only put down a few blog entries before giving up.
- Both blogging and going to the gym are large commitments if you want to be successful, but the rewards are huge with each.
- When you’re new, it’s easy to get both discouraged yet inspired when you see people in great shape. Same with seeing bloggers with hundreds of thousands of readers when you’re just starting out.
- The payoff for success at blogging and going to the gym is not instant, rather the payoff is due to sustained effort over time with cumulative benefits.
- Once you get into a groove, blogging and going to the gym become easier, more natural and much more rewarding with time.
Why blogging is such a a fantastic brain boost
Internal reflection and personal growth
Blogging allows you as a professional to share what you’ve learned with the world in a tangible format and concurrently solidify your learnings for later reflection. Over time, you are creating a personal knowledge base to build upon ideas, improving them and adding to them over time as you learn. It is a a process that keeps moving as long as you are growing. You develop much further by coming home each day and spending some time to archive/share your inspirations, reflections or thoughts than if you keep them locked up inside where they may be lost.
Challenging yourself to consistently share ideas
Just like you have to challenge your body to go to the gym, you have to challenge and train your mind to organize your thoughts to share with your audience daily. Eventually you will start to see potential blog ideas everywhere. You’ll encourage your brain to form fresh connections daily.
A book that you write slowly over time
I’ve written nearly 200 posts over the last year here at The Future Buzz, of varying length (some quite short, others several pages in length). The point is I have a set of themes I write and continue to build upon over time. If you’ve been a subscriber for a decent amount of time, you probably see the overarching picture I am painting with my ideas and getting to know my worldview (and for those of you who comment here, reply personally or respond on your own blog, I am getting to know you too). Tom Peters states he enjoys blogging even more than writing books, and I understand why. Blogging is like writing an open, social book, bit by bit.
Blogging keeps your mind sharp, improves your writing, brings you closer to intellectual people
By getting into a strong blogging routine, you will challenge your mind to grow and stay sharp, your writing will have a marked improvement and you’ll network/learn from other smart people in your niche.
Conclusion
Just like you can tell people the benefits of working out yet they’ll never make it to the gym a day in their life, I can tell you the benefits of blogging and you may never blog a day in your life. That’s up to you, however I think this analogy is a fantastic explanation for why blogging is beneficial.
Related posts from The Future Buzz
How To Successfully Integrate Blogging Into Your Busy Life
Why Every Marketer/PR Pro Should Have A Blog
Finding Balance: Vital For Workers In The Information Economy
Related posts from around the web
Start A Blog Today (Six Pixels Of Separation)
40 Key Elements to Getting Started In Social Media (LouisGray.com)
12 Reasons Why You Should Start a Blog (The Blog Herald)
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The Future Buzz is a blog run by communications professional Adam Singer. Adam has experience as both a digital PR strategist and online marketing manager for some of the top-rated brands globally
Dayne (10 comments)6 January 09
Brilliant analogy Adam. All I can say is the analogy is pretty close to perfect.
Occasionally I find myself getting into ruts with going to the gym, i.e. doing the same routine every time for weeks. Then I spice things up by adding a new exercise. Then my energy for working out is back again.
As I think about it, the same is true for blogging.
Great post as always.
Adam Singer (269 comments)6 January 09
@Dayne – thanks, I do love analogies. That is a great extension of it too – if you get stuck in a rut blogging explore some new techniques/topics, just as you explore different elements in your workout.
TheJennTaFur (1 comments)6 January 09
Love your post. I found it by way of @allergynotes on twitter. The title of your blog post made me want to peak in and read what you had to say and I agree with you so much.
My brain has been on overdrive since I have found twitter 2 years ago because I have been able to record thoughts, connect with people who may have the same values and beliefs and I have also learned better strategies for me to blog.
I never thought about blogging until I started writing a music blog over on Last.fm which in turn developed into another blog on another website.
My mind is always working when I don’t want to think but this medium has allowed me to explore so much of my thoughts on a variety of levels.
Thank you so much for your eloquent post.I am not a new reader of your blog! xoxo
Jim Dowling (1 comments)6 January 09
Completely agree. Aside from obvious self-promotion it’s my main spur for keeping mine going.
zak (1 comments)6 January 09
Here’s your waterproof white board
http://www.leisurepro.com/prod/AQUIJDS.html?ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=AQUIJDS
They’re most often used in the scuba community.
Sarah Montague (2 comments)6 January 09
Nice post. I am a new blogger (since November) but active blog commenter and forum visitor for many years. I started blogging when I got laid off last fall, more as a way to explore social media in more active and less theoretical terms. I thought I’d have this “editorial calendar” but you’re right. Ideas hit you at different times (usually when I am not in front of a keyboard!)
But I do find that I have to have discipline and write at least once a week. It is too easy to get life get in the way.
Lin (1 comments)6 January 09
Beautiful post! Couldn’t agree more. I can’t help subscribing to your blog after reading this post. Is it because I go to gym every day and sometimes blog?
Guillaume (1 comments)6 January 09
I love the comparison with the Gym, but I think it might be even better with running or a marathon.
Maggi (1 comments)6 January 09
Again you hit it right on the nail…my lesson tonight is on blogging..and here is all I require and more for the session..Grin!! I also think its like a Mind Map..where you have archived where you have been in your own mind and learning.
Thank you so much for a wonderfully enlightening and useful blog.
Happy 2009…
Maggi Carstaits
Adam Singer (269 comments)6 January 09
@zak – that is pretty neat that thing exists…
@everyone else – glad you liked this
Rebecca (2 comments)6 January 09
Here’s a big difference. I revived my love/hate relationship with the gym yesterday – very little love and overwhelming nausea. And although I felt much better today, I can safely say that I’ve never felt physically ill about my posts ;)
Lara Kretler (1 comments)31 January 09
Adam, I love this analogy. Bullseye! A few more similarities…
~Blogging and going to the gym both feel good once you’re in the habit of doing them, but if you miss a few days or a week, it can be painful to start back up again
~Blogging and going to the gym are both good ways to connect with other like-minded souls, people with similar goals and interests
~Blogging and going to the gym can both be sidelined by Twitter. As much as I love Twitter, spending too much time Tweeting can burn me out on social media, leaving my blog high and dry. And I’ve definitely missed workouts at the gym because of too much time on Twitter, as well~
~For me personally, blogging and going to the gym are both best done first thing in the morning, way early, before work or starting my day.
Thanks again for the great post and the challenge on Twitter. I’m taking you up on it for February!
Codrut @ Blog Post Ideas (1 comments)19 December 09
There’s no secret; blogging is like exercising, the more you work at it, the better you become.
I recall someone saying, motivation is like bath, that’s why we recommend it often. :)
jan geronimo (3 comments)12 January 10
It’s easy to dismiss online activities as anathema to an introspective life. To a certain extent yes, if we let ourselves get consumed by distractions. And yet blogging/writing is precisely the tool for reflection. That’s a great point you’ve raised. Nothing could be truer.