What shall I blog about?

What a good question. I forget that we can get stuck, because I’ve been so busy lately getting posts up as responses to all these great questions you all keep asking.

So there’s the first idea. I’ll keep adding to this category again soon.

1. Answer people’s questions

Be useful! Become a resource people want to come back to. But how do I know what their questions are? Well - ask them. When you’re in conversation with others, listen out for what their fundamental questions are, really listen. Make notes.

2. Answer your own questions

Ask yourself! What are your questions? Authentic blogging has, at it’s heart, the potential for profound learning. Ask yourself the big questions, the little questions, the whimsical, the skill or project specific ones, the one’s no-one else is willing to ask.

“What’s the best way to attract new clients / partners?”

“What do I already know about what works / doesn’t work?”

3. Come up with new questions?

If you want to start a conversation, come up with a good questions and leave it open. Invite others to contribute, even if it feels a bit “off topic” or outside the immediate frame of reference you give yourself and your blog. The linear path is rarely the best. That’s just not how life works. That’s not how blogs work. You have to trust the magic.

Here’s an example. I blogged a question “Who’s going to clean the toilets when we have all reached our potential?” then sent a link for the post to two thinking bloggers I knew would grab it like a bone - Biff and Leah Landau. What’s that got to do with Authentic Blogging? Well wait and see what happened.

These two blogging stars launched in to contribute. There was a spark in their minds. They bounced off the post and the comment prior. See comments under the post.

Then I reposted a meta-cognitive (ie. thinking about my thinking) follow-up piece that nakedly opened up a new can of worms and back they came (I send them I very quick email to let them know it was back).

So what’s the next question? Deep learning, philosophy, good conversations. The educational academics and thinkers all seem to agree. It’s about continually formulating useful questions.

As one of the world’s most evolved and influential educators Paolo Freire has stated:

I believe in the pedagogy of curiosity… the pedagogy of the question and not of the answer (Freire in Papert, late 1980s).

Let’s stay curious! Keep those questions evolving.

Outcomes? Why bother? Good question!

-    At least three people have engaged pretty deeply with some questions that we think really matter. We have learnt about ourselves and each other. We learnt a little more about how to express our ideas online, to others, in a safe, effective and appropriate way. I know for one participant at least, this is a profound step forward into happiness and potential. It’s not the magnum opus, it’s a step. That’s part of why the banner image is a foot. Each step creates a complete journey.

-    This conversation is now available online, for ever. People will find it, they may add their own reflections. They may be sparked to think about things for themselves.

-    I have made stronger connections with two people that really matter to me. Not because they are necessarily going to become clients or students, but they might (actually one already is and the other is a new colleague / muse). We know more about each other. We have co-created something kind of special. Maybe not to you, or to everyone, but to us. And maybe others. You know that feeling you get in a healthy team when you working towards a common goal and you get there. Lovely stuff. It’s a bit like that. Maybe we will find and “see”, listen to, witness the thinking of others and through this, add to the global consciousness of the web. Maybe they will help me attract more Authentic Bloggers to attend our courses. Maybe they will keep contributing to the research and thinking we are doing. Who knows! I just thought they might enjoy a good yak about something we might all be interested in.

I’m delighted with the results. Thank you Biff & Leah for all that you are. I wouldn’t be me without you (but that’s another Buddhism inspired post for a later date).

MsLiberty

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