I is for Inspiration (and why it is important to know your motivation to blog)
By AndrewBoyd • Nov 16th, 2008 • Category: Blogging tips, Current FeatureThis post is part of my lessons learned alphabetical series and follows on from F is for Friends, G is for Greatness, and H is for Hosting Options.
Inspiration - it is very hard to fake, and without it your blogging days are over. It’s that simple 
You can fake sincerity with some of the people some of the time, maybe even all of the people for a while - but maintaining a wall of bullshit gets old very quickly…. it is tiring, believe me, I have tried My one piece of advice around inspiration is to examine your motivation for blogging so that you can understand how to take it further if you want to.
When I started blogging seriously I was inspired by the prospect of becoming the next Darren Rowse. Of course, what I didn’t realise at the time was that Darren was quite happy being Darren, and wasn’t ready to stop being himself any time soon. In other words, the position wasn’t really vacant. So then I had to look at different motivators.
Motivators vary amongst bloggers. There is a lot of suggestion that Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is outdated - well, for most of us in modern Western societies who have the luxury of not living in fear of our lives or wondering where our next meal will come from. Regardless, Maslow’s model does drive home the point that different people are motivated by different things. I’d like to propose the following list of motivators for bloggers - based entirely on discussions I’ve had with others over the last couple of years (not very scientific, but then again, I have never pretended to be a scientist).
- Financial gain: not as common as you might think, but one of the biggies nevertheless. For some (such as stay-at-homers who have no other source of income) it can be a powerful source of inspiration.
- Respect from peers: many “professional” bloggers (not the probloggers per se, but the people that blog within their professional niche) seek to gain respect from others in their chosen field.
- Promoting a cause: pick a cause - from the plight of wild horses in Australia’s national parks and global warming to breast cancer and the war on poverty - and you will find a plethora of bloggers supporting it. There are often bloggers at both ends of a given cause spectrum - the war over abortion (right-to-life vs. right-to-choice) is a classic example.
- Networking: the need to reach out and touch, and be touched, by others is a basic human motivation. We want to find other people like us and to communicate with them, and build communities in which to share our respective hopes and dreams.
- Self-realisation: you don’t see this very often, or at least I don’t - the need to become a better human being. I’ve seen some cause-bloggers become better as a result of their blogging - they rise to a position of leadership within their community and are the better for it. It is worth saying that this is not always the case - leadership inspires some to sainthood, and others to stupidity and spite.
There are no doubt a thousand other potential categories for blogging motivators - these are just one way of looking at them.
Is it enough to categorise ourselves and others as one or more of the above? No… but I think that understanding the source of your own inspiration to blog is important. Whatever you are, it is important to understand what you are if you want to be a better one. If you are blogging out of a need to be appreciated by peers, write and present your material in a way that makes this easier - write professionally, with an eye always on the main prize (being taken seriously). Similarly, if you are a cause blogger, write sincerely about that cause, and not about what you had for breakfast or the bastard that cut you off in traffic yesterday.
What inspires you? Why do you metaphorically get out of bloggy bed in the morning and set forth to post?
AndrewBoyd is a consultant by day and blogger by night. He loves good food, good wine, and discussing faceted classification schemes with friends.
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it’s all about the ‘networking’ for me. the catch call “i’m here for lols” pretty much says it all.
that and an insane need for everyone to want to be around me and look up to me and worship me and rabidly fangirl me.
’cause, you know, i’m cool like that.
Hi Ryan,
in context, having read your blog, that makes perfect sense. The sheer joy of being weird is a powerful motivator for me too - and you’ve inspired the name of the next post in this series
Cheers, Andrew
Often I come across blogs that says: “You have to do a post once a day or at the very least 3 times a week…” I wish i could post everyday but I need the motivation and the inspiration… and I don’t get it everyday and sometimes less than 3 times a week. I only post when i feel like it and it goes the same with microblogging, I am not going to post the sake of blogging…. and because all my sites are geared up to earn me money I do have to keep that motivation in mind though my greatest satisfaction is all the people I have met over the past 10 years of being online and owning various websites.
But like everything else in this world people have got motives for blogging such as money, popularity… and dont really care about their readers.
should i be concerned?
i was trying to think of all the weird J things it could be, (j is for joy, jest, jumping up and down, jumbucks etc etc) and i’m not sure how many of those i actually want to be the inspiration for.
i guess i could live with jumbucks…
Hi Prisqua,
thank you for your comment.
Without motivation, there can be no blogging. That is the “maintaining a wall of bullshit” that I spoke of above - the terrible effort required to keep up appearances and blog to a schedule after the love of blogging is lost.
I think that there are some bloggers who do care about their readers - but they are probably the exception rather than the rule. I blog mainly for the entertainment of my plurk friends these days - for me, it is about community I guess rather than popularity per se. I tend to get more plurk popularity making crude remarks than I do blogging. It keeps me sane when all about me seems some days to be going down the toilet.
Reaching out to other people, I believe, is never wrong - even though occasionally some of the people are not who we thought they were or who we’d hoped they’d be.
On a personal note, I hope that you feel motivated to visit us on plurk more often - you have been missed.
Best regards, Andrew
Hi Ryan,
J is for Joy - the sheer joy of writing whatever you want to write, and screw’em if they can’t take a joke
Best regards, Andrew
and screw’em if they can’t take a joke
you’re my new hero, Andrew
Hi Ryan,
the older I get, the more I realise that it really is “be happy and you shall be wise” and not the other way around - write to please yourself first or last, but write because you enjoy it regardless of the motivator - and if that doesn’t work for other people, well, they can build a bridge and GTFOI. That is just what the next article in this series is going to be about.
Best regards, Andrew
Dear Andrew,
I have to admit, I have not been to your blog for quite some time when I do enjoy your writing… As for Plurk, well I am pretty sure everyone is doing fine… F for friends… they know where to find me… I for Inspiration… I dont have it for Plurk at the moment… now I am looking for the B… just curious… B for breast, boobs…..
i’m a big fan of people building their bridges!
I have to admit that my inspiration has been waning a little of late. Perhaps I’m trying to do too much? Can a blog survive a “bloggy break”?
Hi Prisqua,
thank you for your comment. With regret, the only boobs here are the occasional references to breast cancer charity events like Boobiethon
I think the friends include me - now that I have your email address, I can certainly stay in touch
Best regards, Andrew
Hi Ryan,
thank you for your comment. Sometimes, I would be happier if the miserable never-be-satisfied people took their bridges and built/burnt them somewhere else
Best regards, Andrew
Hi Lightening,
I think that taking a break is OK - you will lose some readers and some Alexa/Google juice, but it is better than feeling stupid about continuing to pour energy into a blog after the love has gone.
This is not to say that the love will not return - what drew us to a particular topic at one stage of our lives may do so again.
Best regards, Andrew
Hello Andrew
Long time no comment. Me sorry. Me busy.
Lightening
I think blog breaks are just fine. I think that it is good to announce that you are going to take a break and take that break. Or you can do it like Meg and just dissappear for a while an just post when you have time.
Personally. I have no real plan and when I have inspiration I blog. I do two memes a week. Skywatch, which interests me and Photohunt because some of my blog friends were doing it. That gives me a little structure towards the end of the week. Other than that four posts in one day and then a short break.
But as Andrew says, posting for posting sake is dumb. There are so many different things that we could be doing with our time and that does not just include blogging. Personally I like to wash the dishes, vaccuum…
Hi Colin,
thank you for your comment.
No problem, life gets in the way sometimes
I think that there is a common theme emerging here - that we shouldn’t allow ourselves to be guilted into doing what no longer feels right.
Best regards, Andrew
Hi Andrew
Great post
Blogging for me was a way of filling a market gap in order to create an environment for networking and learning.
It also allows me to get some of the ideas cramming my head out to create room for new ones…
Hi Craig,
thank you for your comment.
I think we have very similar motivations - I have started a lot of blogs owing to a flash of inspiration at 2AM - creating the blog allows me to park the idea somewhere that I can come back to it.
Best regards, Andrew