The best advice I have ever received came from the late Dr. Johnny Mac Allen, my public relations and advertising professor/advisor in college, and, for the brief time that I got to share his company, a dear friend of mine.
His advice? Read.
He said that the very best thing we could do for ourselves, for our careers, and for our clients, was to read. Every class I took under him involved crazy amounts of reading and reporting. He let us choose what we wanted to read; I don’t think it was about the subject so much as it was about the act of reading. The lessons involved. The humbling experience – discovering that we do not know everything, that we will never know everything; embracing the idea that no matter how passionately we dream or how fiercely we pursue our goals, there is much more yet to learn.
Reading and Blogging – The Connection
I liken blogging to a form of public speaking – a blog is a virtual megaphone and the blogger is the activist. The more frequent the blogging, the more passionate the blogger appears. Often times, blogging is an outward activity – a giving experience.
Photo Credit: Clear as Crystal (flickr)
Even when we as bloggers are asking questions, it is still this outward, pushing exercise. Thing is, we only have so much to pour out. At some point, we have to rest, fill back up, and recalibrate. Constantly pouring out can be exhausting. If we don’t take the time to read, we put our credibility, authority and personal growth at risk.
Read, but don’t just read other blogs
This is especially true of full-time bloggers: it’s crucial to read something else other than a blog from time to time. Listen, sick as it sounds, there is so much regurgitation out there in the blogosphere. When I think about the world of bloggers, I sometimes envision a massive birds nest with a few big mama birds, and the rest just teeny baby birds with their mouths wide open, waiting for mama to cough up something good to eat and feed them.
Yuck!
Talk (and blogging) is cheap, so it’s mass produced. Go elsewhere and read a bit. I guess if you are not all that likely to pick up the latest hardcover novel or biography, peruse the magazine racks at your nearest bookstore and divulge your curiosity in something other than blogging.
This isn’t just a matter of personal growth, it’s a matter of the health of the blogosphere.
We need fresh meat – something other to consume than what has already been served up. Who will bring it to the table? Let’s not continue to wait for our Google RSS Readers to give us something to talk about. Life is happening all around us while (some) of us develop blogger’s tans (hehe, not me) and the rest develop blogger’s butt (yeah, I’m getting there). There are stories to be told and lessons to be found, and those can turn into good blog material. We just have to go find them.
Books I’m Currently Reading
What are you reading???
About Tia Peterson
