Starting with why

I’ve been thinking about starting a personal blog for years now, but I always doubted myself. Why would anyone want to read what I write? Why write at all?

Over time I’ve seen enough evidence to convince myself that the benefits of writing far outweigh any doubts I might have.

Writing can be good for my career

This is the main and more practical reason for why I’m starting to write now. I recently quit my job and I’m taking some time off for a few months. Whatever I do next—launching a product or looking for a new remote job—it’s important that people can find me online, get a sense of who I am, what I know and what I can do. Ultimately, to trust me. What better way to do that than to put my thoughts into words that they can read? Writing is a window inside the mind of another person.

Writing can be helpful to other people

A common thought I had was that I don’t know enough to be qualified to write about any subject. People with more experience than me have already written about the same things I know or I’m learning. What could I contribute?

Eventually, I realized that there’s no magic amount of experience that would make me worthy of sharing my ideas. In fact, it’s irrelevant. People who have just learned something are the most qualified to teach it. Sharing what I know—even if it’s something new to me—can be helpful to people who are on the same learning path. And I know this because I sure as hell have learned a lot from people who have been generous enough to write about what they’ve learned and shared it with the world.

Writing for myself

Even if none of the above hold true, I’m writing for myself. To organize and keep a record of my thoughts that I can reference in the future. To clarify and refine my ideas.

I’m not sure what will come out of this, but I’m betting that it’s a good enough thing to invest my time on.