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Ah, Dilbert makes everything so clear, doesn’t he?
I don’t believe that anyone purposely sets out to make themselves and their blog appear digisexual – being more attracted to digital gadgets and online interaction rather than IRL (in real life) contact, but I have visited more blogs than ever where it appears to be the underlying intent – something like being the online version of a hipster-metrosexual who’s too cool to talk to you because you’re not wearing a scarf in the summer.
Or something like that.
Part of what I’ve been attempting to do (and it hasn’t been that intentional) is expand this blog to showcase more of who I am – bringing in aspects of my family, the organizations that I work for, and my business partners that I spend a lot of my time with. Someone even commented within the last few weeks how they “feel” like my blog has changed directions a tad and I thought that was a very observant since it definitely has insofar as the content that I write.
And I’m ok with that as long as I continue to create content that my readers find useful and valuable and that I don’t bore you too much with randomness – historically I’ve been very intentional because I know that your time is limited and there’s tons of other options out there for your judicious blog reading and I hope I’m not disappointing!
The fact is that I’m not digisexual – I actually enjoy personal contact a lot. The fact that I’m even saying this explicitly feels awkward but I would be lying if it can sometimes feel like I’m more interested in the gadgetry around me and the online tools that I use rather than the people that ultimately read my writing.
That’s why I think it’s important that I share much more of my life with you guys and the things that I’m involved with, even if it’s somewhat inane at times. Life isn’t about winning every single moment of every single day – most of what we do is actually quite boring if we were to look at it from a 3rd party neutral perspective. Heck, that’s just life – it can be a grind!
I laugh to myself when I get asked to record one of those typical “Day in the Life Ofs…” videos because I know that it would be a terribly boring short-film and video. Do you dare picture what most of my day really looks like? Besides a few phone calls, eating lunch by myself, and perhaps a trip to Target or Whole Foods, I’m sitting in front of my Macbook Air typing stuff into my screen.
Exciting. Seriously.
Sure, you get to hear some of the more-neat things that happens but the vast majority is simply work: Heads-down doing work that I hope is providing value to others while making an honest (and hard) living at the same time.
As a result, I’m trying to humanize my blog a bit more, make it look a bit less digisexual (if I can use that phrase, which I find hilarious but true), and give you a bit more insight and perspective than just blogging.
Hope that’s ok with you!
Have a great Easter weekend, by the way – this is one of the most important times of the year for myself and my family! Easter is a great time to remember that life is so much bigger than our blogs!
I think a great blog has the potential to start great conversations, digital or otherwise.
I’ve personally noticed that, since starting my blog, I’m actually having more “non-digi” connections with others because of the conversations my blog inevitably sparks.
Have a great Easter everyone!
thanks ivan! i had a great one!
I noticed the more personal direction you’ve been going with your posts lately, and I like it.
In fact, ever since discovering TentBlogger (and Standard Theme, too!), I’ve abandoned the static niche website concept I was working on for so long and have since embraced the blog format. I’ve made my blog much more personal, and now it’s much more fun.
But do you find it hard to insert your personality into your posts — does it make you self-conscious?
i’ve been doing it for so long ken… i’m not sure i can tell the difference!
I actually knew someone like that. it was sad.
uh, sorry to hear that…!
In many ways, the art of communicating confidently is always dependent on injecting the ‘self’ into the message. The more personal it seems, the more trust it engenders.
i like this reminder jay. thanks for this.
Loving the direction that many of your posts have been taking more lately. It’s great to get an insight into what other ventures you are launching and are involved in. I certainly come here to read about much more than blogging advice (although that is part of it), rather I like the entrepreneurial, bootstrapping, authentic feel of the blog.
thanks jonny! that’s encouraging!