Why Blog?

Staring at my long list of unfinished posts on my living room couch, I find myself asking again - why have I started this blog? There are many other ways to spend my time enriching myself or finding leisure, so why blog?

Personal Improvement

Inspiration came from an unusual source. Tobias Harris was interviewed on the ChinaTalk Podcast about his new book on Abe Shinzo. He pointed out how in the 21st century, with the demise of careers, in favor of hooping from job-to-job each year, to stand out, you need to have a diverse skill set and a "personal brand." As corny as it may sound, he has a good point, and as someone who will be in the workforce for likely over twenty-five years, it seems best to start sooner rather than later.

Do not forget that writing is a challenging endeavor that requires constant practice. I have written dozens of papers over the years, generally for school assignments from a prompt. While these prompts are great at reflecting on school material, they do not promote free thought and introspection outside of class. I see blogging as a way to stimulate the development of ideas and thoughts in an organic way.

Not many people know this, but I used to edit Wikipedia frequently, logging over 7,300 edits in a few-year span. People consider editing Wikipedia an act of selfless volunteering to allow anyone worldwide to access high-quality information. Still, there is a deeper reason to contribute. To properly edit an article, I needed to take a deep dive into niche topics using scholarly sources. I would digest this information into the essential elements and then reiterate it into articles. After editing a page from top to bottom, I would become an amateur expert in whatever niche topic I had chosen. Hopefully, this blog will serve a similar function and give me an outlet to conduct relevant research into topics of interest.

Accountability

Everyone makes pledges on New Year's, but they often are quickly discarded, never coming to fruition. To make our goals transform into something tangible, we need to incorporate some degree of accountability in our routine. For me, using a public blog format, I feel as those the eyes of the world are looking at me, providing positive peer pressure to remain consistent in developing posts. There will not be many eyeballs on this blog, but knowing my words and my routine will be archived for posterity should provide some positive peer pressure to keep up with my posts.

Ideas

At the moment, I am not sure exactly what I will be posting, and I do not want to box myself into any specific niches. I want this blog to be a refined version of my train of thought about specific topics of interest that others might find interesting. Some basic content I am considering includes:

Hot Takes - There are a lot of events and incidents every day. Certainly, I can find a niche in emergency management or national security to summarize and analyze. This format would likely be very informal and provide a quick BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front) for practitioners.
Deep Dives - A long-form piece into a niche, just as it sounds like. I take a lot of notes when I read books/articles/etc., so I have a deep collection of source material to pull from.
Book Notes - Similar to Ali Abdaal's blog, I want to work on my book notes and refine them to the point they can be published. Often, I let my notes go by the wayside for the sake of completing the book, but this type of content might help me refocus my efforts in this area.

Conclusion

This blog is meant to be more of an outlet for me to refine my writing craft and inform anyone with similar interests. I have a lot of ideas on where I can take this content so let's see how this goes.