Central Perk: Seth's Blog : The 5000th post*

miercuri, 5 iunie 2013

Seth's Blog : The 5000th post*

The 5000th post*

I've done this longer than any professional project I can remember, and I still consider it a joy and a privilege. I write and edit every word myself, and always have. This is me, unvarnished.

Thank you for letting me write this blog for you, and thank you for being along for the ride.

Showing up daily isn't my challenge--it's learning to live with the fact that I can't say everything I want in a single post, that the trade-off of reaching people easily is that you can also lose people easily. It's a journey, for both of us, and I'm thrilled to be taking it with you.

Here's how I was thinking about this 3,650 days ago. And a few posts about the arc of my blog.

You can find a ton of favorites, including videos, here.

I asked my colleague, Bernadette Jiwa to nominate five other posts that have really stood out over the years:

Five years from now...

Ode: How to tell a great story

Make something happen

I spread your idea because...

Reject the tyranny of being picked: pick yourself

My biggest surprise? That more people aren't doing this. Not just every college professor (particularly those in the humanities and business), but everyone hoping to shape opinions or spread ideas. Entrepreneurs. Senior VPs. People who work in non-profits. Frustrated poets and unknown musicians... Don't do it because it's your job, do it because you can.

The selfishness of the industrial age (scarcity being the thing we built demand upon, and the short-term exchange of value being the measurement) has led many people to question the value of giving away content, daily, for a decade or more. And yet... I've never once met a successful blogger who questioned the personal value of what she did.

For me, the privilege is sharing what I notice, without the pressure of having to nail it every time... I treasure the ability to say, "this might not work."

While it's tempting to swing for the fences and hit a grand slam, particularly on post 5,000, I'm going to resist, as I try to resist every day. Drip, drip, drip.

Are you soaked yet?

PS There are two inexpensive collections of my best blog posts, which some readers find a good way to catch up.

They're not instantly searchable, but neither do they require an internet connection.

PPS My email box is now officially broken, and I'm just no longer go to be able to answer all of my incoming email. This is the curse of asymmetry, and I apologize for not being able to keep up.

*If every one of my posts was a dollar bill and you stacked them in bundles, they'd be about 24 inches tall. Hmmm. Let me try to be more hyperbolic... That's a post for every floor in the Empire State Building. Fifty times.