Something True

A few months ago I was listening to an interview with Seth Godin on The Moment with Brian Koppelman. (I discovered The Moment through Russell Moore’s podcast.) Godin is a well-regarded author and speaker on the subject of marketing in the 21st century. I got a lot out of the interviews I’ve heard with him, but there was one thing in particular that really struck me. In fact, I haven’t been able to get it out of my head since.

He said, “I need to tell myself something true in public every day.”

I’m not entirely sure why this resonated with me the way it has. But I do know that I’ve always tried to make blogging about more than that. I need a brand, a mission, a vision, articles of confederation, that sort of thing. I’ve subscribed to the idea that I should be silent unless I have something really profound to say.

That kind of thinking as kept me from posting for almost two years. Two years is a long time to own a blog and not use it. And it’s not because I don’t have anything to say; it’s because this philosophy gives my perfectionism power to crush every post before it has a chance.

But if the goal weren’t perfection or profundity, that changes everything. If the only thing I have to do is “tell myself something true in public every day,” that’s doable. I can do that. And I think it could even be worth the time I put into it.

So this is one of my goals for 2018: to try and tell myself something true in public every day, here on this blog. I have no doubt there will be stutters and flops. But prior experience has taught me that if I press on, I might just be able to create something worth reading.