Ever feel like you should have never started something because you don’t quite have it figured out? You can’t do it well enough or other people are doing it so much better?
That’s how I feel about this blog, I don’t update it enough, I always think about what to write for too long and I never seem to capture that snappy succinct, Seth Godin-esque vibe I am going for!
However I am OK with that. I have heard the advice many time don’t put the cart before the horse. “The biggest and most common mistake people make is using the tools for personal branding, such as blogs, LinkedIn and Twitter, without first taking the time to define a strong, authentic brand for themselves.” – From Meridith Levinson in her article on ’6 Personal Branding Mistakes That Can Threaten Your Job Search’.
In some ways I agree with Meridith, and I did not jump into this game without any thought to my authentic brand. However I believe you need to start somewhere. I could wait for a year or two until I fine tuned my unique value proposition, but isn’t that process something blog worthy in the first place?
Why do companies ask puzzle questions with no right answer in interviews? It is to understand your problem solving process; I don’t see why developing your personal brand should be different.
So now my professional development learning process is a public one… and I am ok with that, I started this blog because I wanted to link myself to the things I was passionate about. I wanted to share my enthusiasm about professional development, Microsoft and marketing. I would encourage other young professionals to stop putting it off; if you are passionate about something don’t wait to make yourself perfect… start writing!
Dino Finley
May 30, 2010
Hah I’m actually the only reply to your incredible article?
Michael Horner
June 1, 2010
If only more people could hear about this..
Dave Manningsmith
August 11, 2010
I just wrote this same blog post not that long ago.
I usually cite these 2 quotations to make the point of the Pareto Rule clear:
“Anything worth doing is worth doing well.”
“Anything worth doing is worth doing badly.”
Both are true.
Cheers,
~Dave