Blogging & Our Childhood Learnings!

It was probably not much over two years ago that I first heard the words Blog and Blogging used in a way that I understood what was being said.  At neither that time nor any time prior to that did I ever think that I’d one day be blogging.   My first attempt at blogging came here on Bluemaumau nearly 10 months ago. 

I don’t know if you’d say that blogging is still in its childhood or not, but without question when it comes to blogging, I’m still in mine.  As every parent knows children learn a lot every day.  They explore things which should not be explored.  They try things which should not be tried.  They say things which should not be said.

As children we all heard and learned things like:

• “If you don’t have something good to say, say nothing at all”
• “Get your mind in gear before putting your mouth in motion”
• “Somethings are better left unspoken”
• “The Squeaky wheel gets the grease”
• “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me”
• “Attack the subject, not the person”
• “Never pick a fight with a person who buys their ink by the barrel”
• “The palest ink is stronger than the strongest memory”
• “Learn to disagree without being disagreeable”
• “You have two eyes, two ears and one mouth.  Use them proportionately”.

As I reflect back on my 10 months of blogging experience, I’ve tried many things, I’ve made many mistakes and I’ve learned a lot.  Most importantly I’ve learned that I have a lot to learn about blogging.  One of the things that I have learned is that blogging has changed, diluted and in many cases intensified those things which we learned as children. 

“If you don’t have something good to say, say nothing at all”.  This advice isn’t totally outdated, and should always be considered.  However we also know that “The squeaky wheel gets the grease” and blogging can sure crank up the volume on ones ‘squeaking’!  Therefore it becomes very important when responding to ‘squeaking’ that we “Learn how to disagree without being disagreeable” and to “Attack the subject, and not the person”.

I believe it was Ben Franklin who first said, “Never pick a fight with a person who buys their ink by the barrel”.  I wonder what advice Ben might have if he knew that we no longer buy our ink by the barrel, but by the gigabyte of data and that it is cheap and available to everyone.  “The palest ink is stronger than the strongest memory”, well blog pages don’t fade, and they can be created nearly as fast as the spoken word, and sometimes “words do hurt”!

Most importantly I’ve come to realize that I have two eyes, two ears and one keyboard, and that they should be used proportionately and the mind must be in gear, before the typing fingers are placed in motion.

In closing, I’ve learned that blogging is a powerful tool, as is dynamite; and like dynamite it can be explosive and used for both good and bad.  Love it or loath it, blogging is here and here to stay.  I look forward to all that I’ll learn in the next 10 months, and can not help but think ‘how great life would be if we only knew that which we do not know.  One thing is certain, what ever it is that we don’t know, somewhere, someone is blogging about it right now.

Believe & Succeed,
Dale
FranSynergy, Inc.
Synergizing Franchising!