The Casual Blend

In my previous post I tried to introduce the concept of a blog providing value to its readers through its content, which seems like a straightforward enough notion. Here I will attempt to provide a bit more detail about how I envision this idea becoming reality, in essence laying out a sort of framework for future posts.

The name of this website is intended to suggest the nature of the content within. So let’s explore the name a little more closely.

Merriam Webster provides a few distinct definitions for the word “casual”, but the one that applies here is as follows: ” designed for or permitting ordinary dress, behavior, etc. : not formal”.

The key words here are “not formal”.  For many folks there is a time and place for formality.  For me however, not so much. It seems to me that there is a better quality of life associated with informality and that is the vibe that I hope can be cultivated here over time.

Returning to Merriam-Webster, the word “blend” is defined as such: “to mix (things) thoroughly and usually with good results; to exist together as a combination”.  This definition seems like a nice way to summarize the point I tried to make previously about content, namely that I don’t envision content being about any particular topic(s) but rather a wide variety of topics, all of which intended to provide some sort of value on their own merit.

I have my work ahead of me in fulfilling the vision I have for this website. I think it’s pretty obvious that I haven’t advanced very much along the learning curve of blogging, but hopefully time will change that. Meanwhile I need to develop the personal disciplines of time management, work ethic, motivation, and focus. In this sense, this blog idea could be seen as a sort of metaphor for any number of life’s endeavors, couldn’t it?

This will be the last post for a while that centers on the website itself, now that some sort of foundation has been laid. There is much to explore out there, hopefully it will be a fun and rewarding experience.

BP

It seems to be a question worth asking – why even bother creating yet another website in the first place?  After all, considering the vastness of the online world, aren’t there enough blogs already?

Mention to someone that you are considering starting a blog, and almost certainly the first response you will hear is this – “Cool. What will it be about?”   To this I would suggest that I am not so much concerned with what the site is about as much as I am with what it actually does.  Which means what exactly?  Well, first consider the notion that a blog needs necessarily to be “about” something. 

When I Google the words “blogs about” in the search tab, Google’s query expansion offers the following options – blogs about love; blogs about life; blogs about books; blogs about writing; blogs about anxiety.

When I take this exercise one step further and provide the first letter of the blog topic, Google offers five options beginning with that letter.  As such, this theoretically creates an opportunity to observe some of the most popular searched blog topics, listed alphabetically.  This exercise yields the following diversity of topics, by corresponding letter:

A – anxiety; addiction; adoption; autism; art

B – books; blogging; being single; bipolar; beauty

C – college; cancer; cats; college life; cheating

D – depression; dogs; divorce; depression/anxiety; dating

E – education; everything; essential oils; everyday life; empty nesters

F – fashion; food; family; fitness; friendship

G – God; grief; gardening; gastric sleeve surgery; growing up

H – health; happiness; hair; heartbreak; history

I – Italy; Iceland: internships; interior design; Ireland

J – Jesus; Japan; journaling; joy; Jamaica

K – kindness; knitting; Korea; Key West; Kauai

L – love; life; lifestyle; losing weight; leadership

M – marriage; music; moving; mental health; money

N – New England; nature; nursing; New York; nutrition

O – organization; Orlando; online dating; OCD; Orlando shooting

P – parenting; politics; Paris; planners; photography

Q – quotes; quilting; Quebec City; quitting drinking; quitting your job

R – reading; running; retirement; real estate; racism

S – sports; saving money; social media; self love; summer

T – travel; Trump; teaching; technology; The Bachelorette

U – Uber; unemployment; unrequited love; ulcerative colitis; unhappy marriages

V – volunteering; video games; Venice; volleyball; vaping

W – writing; weight loss; work; wine; wellness

X – Xbox; Xbox 360; xenical; xforex; xanax withdrawal

Y – yoga; Youtube; yourself; your life; your 20’s

Z – zika virus; Zurich; Zanzibar; zombies; zen

While I am aware how wordy and exhaustive this list appears, holy crap is that a lot of blog topics.  And these are just search options with a first letter.  When I Google “blogs about ba-” the following options result:

BA – babies; Bachelorette; basketball; Bali; baking

The purpose behind this little exercise is to establish the plain fact that if you can name a topic, there is likely a blog or two (or a hundred) out there already dealing with that topic. I understand that the list above only refers to search queries and not actual websites, but it seems likely that if a topic is subject to public curiosity, it has likely also inspired someone to write about it. Just Google “blogs about gastric sleeve surgery” for proof.

I’ve come to consider myself to be someone who knows a little about a lot, but who knows a lot about very little. There’s no way that I could keep a blog about any one subject that could be as good as one that already exists. But that is beside the point. The question that I would ask myself would be “Why are people Googling all of the blog topics listed above it the first place? What is their motivation?”

If you are looking for a blog about gastric sleeve surgery, you might possibly be considering the procedure for yourself and are looking for information.  If you are looking for blogs about weight loss, it could be that you are unhappy with your current weight and are looking for support to lose a few pounds.  If you are looking for blogs about zombies, well, presumably you’re just into zombies.  And if you’re looking for blogs about Trump, then masochism is probably your thing.

In any event, people may read blogs for one thing or another, but what seems obvious is that whatever they are looking for has some measure of value to them.  This is what was alluded to at the start of this post – regardless of topic, delivering value is what the blog ultimately does for the reader. And as such, this is properly the focus when answering the question of why yet another blog on the internet might be viable.

With this focus in mind, the challenge is how to consistently deliver value that is equal to or (hopefully) greater than the time the reader has invested.  It’s hard to know how this might be achieved, though time may certainly tell, but I’ll assume that if something can be either interesting, informative, inspiring, or entertaining, then it can deliver value.  That seems as good a template to start with as any.  Next time, I’ll try to flesh this idea out a little.

BP

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s hard to say for sure how long it has taken for this first blog post to be composed, but a safe answer would be far too long.  As such, the primary significance of this post is as a triumph over procrastination.

Merriam-Webster provides this simple definition of the verb procrastinate: “to be slow or late about doing something that should be done; to delay doing something until a later time because you do not want to do it or because you are lazy”.

Ouch! That seems a little harsh, though not entirely inaccurate.  It is not that I have not wanted to begin writing, and I will admit only to being partially lazy.  Rather, procrastination is kind of like a reptile.  It has a sort of non-threatening cuteness when it is small and contained, but can become a real monster to manage if allowed to grow.

The famed 18th century economist Adam Smith is credited with authoring the theory of the “Invisible Hand”, an economic force by which individual decisions concerning self interest collectively contribute to the benefit of society at large.  I have my own theory of the “invisible hand” of procrastination which presses down on your laptop to keep it closed (or in some cases, your toolbox).

As it happens, with a little encouragement/shaming from my son, I reached deep down to find my Nike “Just Do It” conscience and decided it was finally time to get this thing started.  I feel I have slayed the monster! [ I intend to devote an entire essay to the nature and effects of procrastination at some point in the future, but not right now 😉 ]

Anyhow, this flimsy little post is more an exercise in actually just performing the task itself than it is an effort to produce content.  To that end, the fact that this is even being read represents a small success.

The question is not lost on me why the internet needs yet another blog site.  I’ll attempt an answer at that one next time around.

BP

 

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start writing!