How to develop discipline, when you're Curious and Eclectic...

This is the second post, after The Naked Speaker, of a new serie I have started in November. My Blog is just one year old and during this time, I have been writing on plenty of interesting topics, when I felt like it, when I could squeeze some precious time, but not really disciplined nor focused on anything special.It turned out as a very fruitful and joyful experience,teaching me a lot about myself and my wide and eclectic range of interests, but now I want to take it at the next level.

• I decided to select my "categories" strictly in relation with presentation and communication skills (for instance, I refrained from blogging today about Claude Levi-Strauss, it would have carried me away too far...)
• I decided to also limit the blogs I follow and comment on (I used to read and comment many fantastic blogs like leadership blogs, creativiy blogs, learning blogs, design, story telling , innovation, etc...)
• I commited myself to post twice a week. (Ah, I've said it, I've written it, now it's going to be the toughest point to keep!)

My objective is to use this blog as a platform for giving and sharing my reflections and tips , just like I did receive and learn from Olivia Mitchell and Garr Reynolds 's blogs (to quote only two...please visit any of them on the column on your left. They're all excelent.)

Please give me your feedback and comments, so that I can share what is the most valuable and interesting for you.

This post is "naked" too. No make up. No glossy pictures (I miss them) no cartoon, no video, no hyperlink . Plain.( Hmmm, maybe a little too minimalist.)

But it's friday, and tomorrow we celebrate my father in law's 80 th birthday, with 35 family members, the whole week end at home!

So, here we go! No time to put any make up, wanted to post my "declaration" to you. :-)

Comments

[Dave Ferguson]

Marion:

I think it's good to reflect on the focus for your blog, whatever your blog is. So I took look over my categories from time to time.

Of course, from the start, I had a category called "side trips." I know myself well enough; tangents are going to appear. Over three years, side trips have held fairly steadily at 10% of the total, which is something I rarely manage in face-to-face communication.

As for limiting what you follow, I think that's inevitable for everyone. The main variation is the number at which you limit. In theory, a person could follow 500 blogs, but to even skim post titles twice a week, at 30 seconds per blog, comes to more than eight hours.

By interest, inclination, or job requirements, some folks likely do that. I'm nowhere near that number. Even so, I might go weeks without reading the posts on a blog that I put into my reader.

I tend to think of that as a refined kind of bookmark: Blog X caught my attention, and I know I can find it on the appropriate tab in NetVibes. I don't choose to check it each day, yet the sun continues to rise in the morning.

Some years back, I read a suggestion that posting regularly (meaning predictably) is a more fundamental behavior than posting frequently. In other words, it's better to hit twice a week, on average, than to hit, say, fifteen times a month but to vary widely in the space between posts.

I won't crawl too far out on that limb. For me, though, it's like a plan to make exercise a habit: don't kill yourself with duration at first; just establish the pattern of regularity.

[Sharon Eden]

Congratulations on your declaration Marion. For 'minimilast' read Zen! I'm tired of talking pics and gee-gaws. Give me the essence not the frippery. So go girl go!

[Peg Rowe]

Marion, this is a really timely post for me. My plan is to launch a blogsite in early 2010. You post is helpful as a set of insights, or dare I say, guidelines which I will take to heart as I move forward.

Thanks for letting us know where you're focusing your attention. Now we know we can count on you for posts on presentation and communication, as well as, of course, your wry sense of humor and pure joy!

[marion]

Brilliant comment, Dave!

I will stick to regularity even if my temptation now is to post every day!
You're absolutely right with the exercising metaphor ( helas for me!)

Right now I'm writing and saving different posts as drafts to meet the periods when I won't be as available and get some weeks ahead.
It's also very good to refrain from the urge to press the publish button frenetically.
Incredible how you can refine, prune and improve your post with a good nights sleep!
Cheers
Marion