{"id":191,"date":"2007-09-18T06:45:34","date_gmt":"2007-09-18T10:45:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/5-ways-to-use-your-blog-to-organize-and-motivate-yourself\/"},"modified":"2013-08-14T14:22:40","modified_gmt":"2013-08-14T22:22:40","slug":"5-ways-to-use-your-blog-to-organize-and-motivate-yourself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/5-ways-to-use-your-blog-to-organize-and-motivate-yourself\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Ways to Use Your Blog to Organize and Motivate Yourself"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Even if you aren’t interested in investing the time and effort needed to create a high traffic website, a blog can still be a powerful self improvement tool. The web is an amazing medium, and a blog will help you build motivation<\/a> while also serving as a container of knowledge.<\/p>\n

Here are some ways you can use a blog to achieve your goals.<\/p>\n

1. Track your development over time<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the biggest benefits of a blog is the ability to track your thoughts chronologically. As I look through the archives<\/a> of PickTheBrain, I can follow my stream of thoughts over the past several months. This reminds me to get back to goals that deserve more attention and to evaluate my progress.<\/p>\n

A blog makes it easy to store ideas and articles with personal commentary. Although bookmarking services work great for saving articles, I tend to accumulate so many bookmarks that I rarely, if ever, go back to them. A blog is a more navigable and substantial way to track your most important ideas and bookmark articles that you really want to revisit.<\/p>\n

2. Clarify your ideas through writing<\/strong><\/p>\n

The best way to determine if you understand a concept is to try explaining it to someone else. Similar to a journal, a blog forces you to crystallize your thoughts in writing. This clarifies the ideas floating around in your head and makes them more permanent.<\/p>\n

The advantage of a blog over a journal is that your writing is read by other readers. This will push you to improve your writing ability<\/a> and develop a better understanding of the subject matter. It also motivates you to keep making progress. When other people are paying attention, you don’t want to let them down.<\/p>\n

3. Discussion<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the best ways to learn is to exchange ideas. Blogging is a great way to ask questions and learn from people who are knowledgeable. A small blog can actually offer a better venue for discussion than a large blog because it creates a more personal environment. Frequently, a comment thread will take on a life of it’s own<\/a> that goes on to surpass the original post.<\/p>\n

Using a blog to explore new ideas gives you the chance to learn from thousands of people you’ll never meet in person. By commenting on other blogs, you can participate in a conversation and share your expertise.<\/p>\n

4. Accountability<\/strong><\/p>\n

It’s easy to write down a list of goals, resolve to follow through, put the list in a drawer, and forget it after a week. By using a blog to chart your self improvement goals, you make yourself accountable to everyone who sees them. This is a great motivational tactic<\/a>. Once people know about your goals, you’ll be forced to act on them or admit that you gave up.<\/p>\n

You can also get support from readers with similar goals. This is useful for sharing progress and staying excited about new habits. When I posted about my experiment with the slow carb diet<\/a>, a number of readers decided to try it too. The weekly progress updates kept all of us motivated to stick to the regiment.<\/p>\n

5. Feedback<\/strong><\/p>\n

Probably the most useful part of a blog is the feedback — when readers tell you how and why they disagree. Frequently, others will think about a question from a perspective that you never considered. This will help you find holes in your reasoning and develop a better understanding of the world.<\/p>\n

Readers are a great source of knowledge. Every time I post a list of tips, readers leave twice as many in the comments that I wasn’t able to think of. By putting your plans and opinions up for criticism, you’re able to benefit from collective knowledge and learn much faster than you would have otherwise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Even if you aren’t interested in investing the time and effort needed to create a high traffic website, a blog can still be a powerful self improvement tool. The web is an amazing medium, and a blog will help you … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12163,"featured_media":12649,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[17],"tags":[2291,2424,236,2423,2377],"yoast_head":"\n5 Ways to Use Your Blog to Organize and Motivate Yourself - Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Even if you aren't interested in investing the time and effort needed to create a high traffic website, a blog can still be a powerful self improvement tool. 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