I would love to be writing my first blog with such ease that it would seem ridiculous that I had put it off for so long. Alas this is not strictly the case…
As a child I was always a natural at maths and science but never as strong using my creative skills and putting pen to paper. Being a business and languages graduate, I had to work hard throughout University, fine tuning my skills in these areas. When my career moved into the business development space and I became a Board Director of my company, I had to further develop these skills to cover areas such as writing tenders, commercial documentation and business plans. Great, I thought – I’ve mastered it…I’m on top of my game…and then along came social media and the wonderful art of blogging!
My fellow Director is a master in this space and has written a number of insightful blogs over recent years. On a weekly basis, we would laugh as he would ask me when I would be writing my first blog. Soon…I would reply…Then I went off on maternity leave and left the world of business and blogging behind me…but not for long! I vividly remember sitting with my coach not long after my maternity leave ended and saying how conscious I was that I had been out of the market for 8 months so was going to focus heavily on increasing my presence / visibility within the market. He replied, that’s great and what about your digital footprint?!
So…here we are…
Why I wonder, is it so difficult to type these words and let your thoughts, views and emotions flow out for others to read? I’m a Board Director of a successful business, a Board Member of our industry trade body, a trusted advisor to many of our clients and a mother of two amazing but at times challenging children. So why should something such as blogging faze me so much? After some self-analysis, I think it is because it is the unknown and I wonder what new angle I can bring to a conversation that others would like to hear. I also think it is because I am probably a perfectionist (ok….I am a perfectionist!!) and I want to make sure that whatever I write is accurate, interesting and something that people will enjoy reading. I am however mature enough to know that this will not always be the case and it is important that we all feel like we can put our views forward irrespective of whether we know all of the answers.
I often say to our staff that everyone’s voice is important, that there are no silly ideas and unless everyone contributes to our thinking, then we will never fully achieve our goals. I guess it’s time for me to take heed of my own thinking, brush away those initial fears and stop hiding behind excuses (something I’m sure we can all relate to in some shape or form). So…on that note, is anyone else going outside their comfort zone today?
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