Powering Up

When I think of this phrase, I immediately think of my childhood video game hero – Mario. Well, it isn’t all about the flash and power that he shows with his new overalls and fireballs (you know what I’m talking about), it’s about the growth from the various levels in your career and the different challenges, experiences and learnings laid within. Being put into a situation where I can dig my hands in even deeper and learn from amazing leaders while helping mold the social landscape of a large organization – that’s where I’m fortunate enough to be able to grow.

In this, I’ve stepped back from my blog, and even Twitter a bit, to immerse myself in my new role that has evolved my understanding of not just the tools and tactics we use on an every day basis, but the inner workings of building a social business and the strategies that are integrated within. It’s at the ground floor with the team where we’re busting out the gritty, constant and iterative work and mapping out what this road looks like for our organization. That’s where the meat of my focus has been and though an excuse is an excuse, it’s taken time for me to reorganize myself with this exciting and challenging transformation in my career and life.

What’s Next?

A whole lot of work is yet to be done but to be honest, stepping away from my blog for a bit has helped me put into perspective where my online home was and where I know it can grow to. This next level of my career really goes hand in hand with my written word and how I talk about my career and experiences, to help better not only myself but you all who come here to read and converse on the same. Hopefully you’ll still stick around for the ride!

Your Moves

Enough about me. I’m curious on what you’ve been working on, what new moves you’ve been making and how you’ve been powering up?

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Sidenote: While writing this, I realized that Chris wrote a post last year on ‘leveling up‘ – similar in thought and analogy but he provides more of a how-to – well worth the read.

If you know me, you know I preach community in everything I do. I tell everyone who comes to my blog that I don’t talk to people – I talk with them. I bring up ideas, inspire thought, and facilitate discussion – learning as much as my readers (hopefully) do along the way.But it it’s one thing I’ve learned – it’s that the end result is not, nor does it have to be the same for everyone.

An interesting tweet passed through my stream recently from someone I respect – Chris Pearson – the creator of the widely used and much loved by yours truly Thesis Theme for WordPress. Chris states:

Kiss the comments goodbye on the next version of Pearsonified. External validation is one of the current scourages of humanity. YOU own it.

The idea of “closing comments” on posts is something I’ve seen more and more of recently around the blogging community. Typically – comments get turned off on more personal articles – something that may more or less be venting or opinion that warrants no real discussion. But what about an entire blog sans comments?

Chris and I went back and forth briefly and he brought up a great point. While I value and promote community, it’s not for everyone. In Chris’s case, he writes purely for himself – commenting and discussion is not necessary – Proving that there are clearly different strokes for different folks.

Another point worth discussing here is the “validation” comments bring. Admit it or not – the number of comments you get on your blog is what many people on the outside looking in will use as a primary measure of success. And who doesn’t get a little excited to see a new comment pop up on the blog?

My question is – do we measure ourselves too closely with the number of comments on each post? Are we seen as failures when comments are low? Does a lack of discussion discourage you from writing?

If the answer is yes to any of the above questions – maybe comments are doing more harm than good.

What do you think? Have you closed comments on a post before? Why did you do it? Would you consider disabling comments on your blog?

Share some thoughts in the comments below (pun intended).

It relates more to our writings on our blogs. Getting down on paper/text our thoughts and ideas about social media or technology or whatever focus our blog is designed for. Sometimes ideas come in a snap (like this one), while others take some time to develop. Regardless of our methods, there comes a moment where you’ve written an entire post but then ask yourself this:

Should I even publish this post?

What stops us from hitting that one button that will send our thoughts into the digital world for everyone to see? Did we not believe in our writing? Was it not engaging enough? Was it off base given our blog’s target audience?

I know I’ve hit this rut before but I want to hear from you. What makes you reconsider your thoughts and whether you should publish them or not? Can we ever stay away from second-guessing our writings? Sound off.

Skimming

To give a quick and superficial reading, scrutiny, or consideration; glance

Now don’t run away from here because I told you that you have a problem. You might not even fit this mold, though some probably will. It happens, to a lot of us. We have a ton on our plate and sitting down and spending 5 good minutes reading each and every post that catches our interest just isn’t in the cards for us. Where other times, we may just feel obligated to read a friend’s post and quickly comment to clear up your queue of blog posts. Whatever the reason may be, it ultimately creates an unhealthy reading habit and one that’s really unfair to yourself and the author.

We’re cutting ourselves short, from the content and information that the author has written to the comments and discussions that follow. While in the process, commenting on a piece that we really don’t have a full understanding of but yet still look to formulate our own thoughts, as if to say “hey, I’m staying current and reading every new blog post AND I’m commenting!”

OK, so I obviously don’t think it’s the greatest of practices. I understand we try to cram as much as we can into our content filled brains. There really are a TON of great posts being produced every single day and all we want is to try to catch a little nugget of information that we can take back to the desk…and it works – sometimes. Skimming allows you to get bits of value but far from what a focused, in-depth reading would bring.

What do we do though? Do we forgo any skimming because; if we don’t have time we just shouldn’t attempt to look like we know what we’re reading or should we put an emphasis on our reading and spend quality time towards it?

Oh, and feel free to tell us if you’re a skimmer, we won’t hold it against you!

Homepage Photo Credit: Robbie’s Photo Art