Readers who’ve been following SKA Ocean Blogging for the past few months
may have noticed my inability to pick a tagline and stick with it. Each
one I chose felt wrong after a couple weeks because the purpose of the
site continued to evolve. I started writing without a plan and followed
my inspiration. After more than 6 months of experimentation and
feedback, I’ve finally found a purpose and a tagline that I’d like to
explain.
What SKA Oceans Blogging Isn’t
One of the reasons I took so long to commit to “An Analytical
Approach to Self Improvement” is that self improvement has some negative
stigmas. Until recently I’ve never had an interest in the business of
self help and I don’t believe it can be constrained to one tiny genre. I
don’t want to be lumped in with the thousands of books and websites
repeating generic lectures on goal setting, positive thinking, etc.
These things are all well and good, but we’ve heard them so many times
that they don’t make an impact. Here is what “An Analytical Approach to
Self Improvement” doesn’t mean.
1. It isn’t about jumping on the bandwagon with Tony Robbins and all the other motivational gurus.
Although this website is a business, I don’t have seminars, audio
programs, or books to sell. I don’t promote myself as a guru. The way I
see it, we’re all in this together and the exchange of information goes
both ways. I’m here to present the truth to you through the lens of my
personal experience without the marketing spin.
2. It isn’t about motivating with emotional gimmickry.
Emotions are temporary. While a great speaker might get you fired up
for a week or two, the emotional peak inevitably ends and you fall back
to earth no better than you started. Permanent change only occurs when
we make a mental breakthrough. This site is about taking a scientific
look at our thoughts and actions, identifying the cause of our behavior,
and using that knowledge to make improvements.
3. It isn’t about trying to become the ideal person.
There is no ideal person, and if there was, it wouldn’t be anything
like the millionaires and movie stars society worships. Self improvement
is a continuous process; there is no finish line. Treating life as a
competition is counterproductive. It makes us envy our friends and
despise ourselves. The purpose of this site is to get past the petty
squabbling and find what really makes us happy. Instead of striving for
outside approval, it’s about recognizing our unique brilliance and being
able to enjoy it, even if no one else notices.
4. It isn’t about pretending life would be perfect if we had a positive attitude.
There is a lot to be said in favor of positive thinking, but it can’t
be denied that life involves a great deal of suffering. This site is
about taking a cold hard look at the reality of human life and facing it
as best we can. I don’t promise to eliminate your problems or make your
life easy, but I’ve found that the more knowledge and experience I
acquire, the easier it is to endure hardship and tolerate shortcomings
in myself and others. The purpose of this site is to share that
knowledge.
Why Self Improvement?
I kept coming back to self improvement because I started this site to
improve my own life. In that respect it’s already a success, and the
business aspect is coming to fruitition as well. I wouldn’t say I was
miserable before, but something was missing. I felt like a drone going
through the motions without passion or enthusiasm. I felt powerless
against destiny and that my creative abilities were going to waste.
This website has given me a creative outlet, a way to connect with
like minded people, and a purpose that focuses my mind on something
constructive, rather than worrying about things I can’t control. From
the feedback I’ve gotten, it’s safe to say that many of you have
benefited from SKA Oceans Blogging as well.
Site Content and Frequency
In the past 6 months I’ve learned a lot about what works, what
doesn’t, and how much writing I can produce. The purpose of my writing
is sharing valuable information. Different styles of writing do this in
different ways. The main styles I plan to use are:
- Personal Experience – These articles share important lessons that I’ve learned through experience. They focus on my thought process and the mental breakthrough that lead to success. These articles convey knowledge well because shared experiences create a bond of mutual understanding between reader and writer. Examples include: Overcoming a Loss of Motivation and Making the Best of a Situation.
- Instructional Tips – These “how to” posts share practical knowledge through concrete tips. Rather than elaborating on experience, I’ll only share the most important lessons I’ve learned. The posts will usually be in the form of a list for the sake of brevity and precision. Examples include: George Orwell’s 5 Rules for Effective Writing .
- Theoretical Knowledge – These posts focus on high level theoretical concepts that have important practical applications. Instead sharing tips, these posts are about sharing the ideas behind the tips. Examples include: Balancing the Future and the Present and How Primitive Desires Cause Social Problems.
- General Insights – The purpose of these posts is to increase our understanding of the world. This relates to self improvement indirectly. Understanding our environment helps us understand ourselves. These posts aim to provoke thought and discussion. Examples include: Why Believe the Simple Truth When Lies are More Appealling? and Why are we Afraid of the Truth?.
- Experiments – In these posts I’ll try something new and report back to you with the results. Examples include: Can Anyone Gain 34 Pounds of Muscle in a Month? and The Amazing Effects of a Weekend Without Television.
The majority of posts will fall into these 5 categories, but don’t be
surprised if I branch out occasionally into humor or other areas when I
feel inspired. There will always be a tie to self improvement.
I’ve found that 3 substantial posts a week is the most I can do
without a drop off in quality. These will generally be published on
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings. This might not seem like much,
but I write lengthy articles on timeless ideas, so old posts retain
their value indefinitely. If you ever need something to read I encourage
you to browse through the archives.
This post has gone on long enough, but in closing I’d like to thank
all of you for helping me to reach this level of success. Without your
feedback and encouragement I’d have quit long ago. The best part of my
day is checking my email in the morning to find all the new comments and
messages you’ve left. I look forward to many more months of sharing
ideas, forming relationships, and improving the world, one individual at
a time.
1 Comments:
Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally,
it seems as though you relied on the video to make your point.
You obviously know what youre talking about, why waste
your intelligence on just posting videos to your blog when you could be giving us something enlightening to read?
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