Learning by Blogging

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A few days ago I was asked once again why I wore two watches and I gave the usual answer of "this is my GPS watch and that is my Smartwatch". People still fail to understand so I elaborate and that's where I saw that blogging is useful.

When you write blog posts daily, for weeks, months, or even years in a row you get into the habit of elaborating on thoughts. Many years ago I thought that using Twitter made me short winded, maybe even succinct. With blogging I feel that the opposite is true. I don't mean that it makes me long winded. I mean that it gets me to elaborate on ideas.

## Why Two Watches

"Why do you wear two watches?" "Because Garmin has one DB, Apple has another, Suunto has a third..." I know the justification I have given in blog posts and in person but at the end of the day I don't want to wear two watches at a time. I don't want to feel that I need to wear Suunto for their database, Garmin for theirs, and Apple for their own. I'd like just to wear a watch because I like the design, or I like what it makes me feel.

Now, to get back on track, most of my blog posts might never be read, and it doesn't matter. If I wrote one a month, and it was monetised then I would want people to read it, but when it's for free, to elaborate on ideas, then the process of writing is the reward, not the likes or the readers.

The value of blogging comes from getting the discipline of writing every day, whether I am inspired or not. It comes from elaborating on ideas and concepts and going on an intellectual journey every day.

## Rehearsing

If you write about a topic, and you do so at regular intervals, then you develop a running order of points you want to make. You go from expressing an opinion to having an argumented position, with examples, and context for why you think something. The more you blog, the more practiced the response becomes.

If you know that you will be asked about a topic, with blogging you can practice giving a good response.

## Conclusion

Blogging is about sharing ideas and experiences but it can train us to give well rehearsed answers to specific questions if we have thought about them regularly enough. I felt myself go into auto-pilot when giving one answer a few days ago.