When I was in college, I wrote every day in my journal.

It kept my mind clear.

It gave me a place to air out my thoughts.

It gave me a chance to get better at writing.

It allowed me to hash everything out that was on my mind with the best advisor I have, me.

Since those disciplined days when I would commit to writing one full page by hand every day, I have fallen off my practice.

I have tried blogging before. For a while, I would write a public blog post every Tuesday.

I’ve been meaning to get back to writing for almost 20 years.

So, here I go back to writing.

There were some guidelines I had for myself.

For one, I would just start writing. About anything. Sometimes I would write jibberish but as long as I started writing, it got my mind to connect to my pen and I’d start to gain confidence in my ability to convert thought to written words that I actually appreciated.

It’s cathartic to write.

It’s freeing.

It’s self-affirming.

Seth Godin, says to do it every day.

Dave Hoover says to do it regularly.

Jason Fried has created a culture at Basecamp where the whole company blogs.

I have hesitated for years with varying excuses.

“Why would other people care, there’s already enough being written”

“I’m not ready”

Ugh… my self-critic is rearing its ugly head.

Seth Godin talks about this, the part of your reptilian brain called the amygdala that is responsible for fight or flight.

Must… overcome… resistance…

In the War of Art, he talks about the resistance.

Everyone faces the resistance every day.

Godin talks about having to hold two conflicting views in your mind at the same time and still take action.

Those two conflicting views are:

I could succeed.

I could fail.

If I fail? They will laugh at me.

If I succeed? Well then at least I know what it feels like to paint a few strokes on the canvas… and hopefully I’ll make a positive difference for someone out there.

Most of all, I hope I write more. This just feels good.