One pleasant part of blogging has been getting comments on the things I’ve written. But the comments I really enjoy are the ones on the Ads I’ve done.
This one in particular got me thinking about how much better my ads can be if I heed the advice of those who are more experienced than I am. Their advice is to keep pushing the idea. Instead of stopping when you think “Ok, this is good enough. I think,” the idea is to push the idea further into the depths of creativity. Further than anyone else has. It isn’t easy, but that’s where the big fish are. The ones you look at and say, “Now that’s great.”
And then a more general feeling hit me: this whole blogging thing pushes you to get better and better. For your writing to get cleaner and simpler to understand, for the topics to be better thought out and more original.
This pushing is a great thing. But ultimately you have to push yourself, and that’s the tough part. No one is there to make sure you do it. Especially with a blog, where you can just post something you just thought of instantly, this idea of holding on and developing is kind of foreign.
Even now as I’m thinking about this idea (I have for a few days), I know that I’ll probably post it before it’s fully formed and better organized in my head. That’s OK, that’s the nature of blogging.
Blogging has an advantage too, though. Have you noticed how much more useful blog articles (from good blogs, like The Simple Dollar) are than stuff you see on established, corporate sites like CNN or MSN Money? The good bloggers are really good, and they aren’t restricted by corporate policy or a large bureaucracy. There’s probably more to it, the good blogs have something these huge sites just don’t have: a personal touch.
But pushing is an important thing. If I want better ads (ones that will get me a job) I need to keep pushing past that point where others quit (Prefontaine comes to mind, again). If I want more traffic, I need better posts that are interesting and engaging.
Which I’m working on.
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The Wire, Season 3