For months I had thought about redoing my site, and adding a blog. But I have a weakness, which is also a strength I guess in certain ways, when it comes to learning new things. Before beginning any kind of new project, I research the subject to death and only then begin the work. The advantage to this system is that I really gain a wide and thorough understanding of the subject matter. The major disadvantage is that it can take me months to begin working on something new because I won’t start until I feel completely prepared. In business, there are so many demands on your time that a) you don’t have the luxury of getting a PhD in every subject, and b) You need to keep up with a fast pace of development and activity to stay fresh and interesting.
Every once a while I would spend a few hours learning about the technical and creative aspects of blogging – how to set up and customize a WordPress blog, what to write about, how to write, etc. I was very concerned about the design of the site, and selecting a focus topic. But with all my research I hadn’t done one stitch of actual work that would bring me closer to having a blog.
And then I read How to make something amazing, right now from Creating Passionate Users. Kathy describes how big budgets and big planning do not always translate into big success. Sometimes you just have to do, and do it now. Less than perfect results are often better than no results at all. This article inspired me to get my act together and build my new site. Within three days I managed to customize a WordPress theme, insert most of the plugins I needed, and voila – I had a new corporate blog!
I know that I’ll still spend too much time learning new things, and not enough time acting, but the lesson I learned with this project is important – sometimes you just need to put the books down and create!
