What are you building with your words?
This question occurred to me after my morning meditation session. I was reflecting on how I could be most useful today, and I decided to get some help from a new iPhone/iPad coaching app that I recently discovered.
ThinkPal is designed to "kick-start your creativity and unearth new perspectives," by delivering a series of random coaching questions that you can apply to any topic. The one I clicked to this morning asked, "What are you building?"
That led to some powerful insights as I reflected on how the actions I choose to take today could intersect with what I want to be building in my business and my life.
Then I wondered how the question might help you, and this blog post was born.
What you DON'T want to be building
Here's what you may be unintentionally building with the words you write on the web:
- Overwhelm – By trying to pack too much into one article or post, you may be creating confusion instead of clarity
- Doubt – Overwhelm and confusion can lead your readers to doubt themselves (and you!)
- Distance – If you're using a lot of jargon or technical language in order to sound smart, your readers may feel that you're talking down to them
- Disrespect – Too many typos, misused words or grammatical errors will have your readers questioning your professionalism and capabilities
What you DO want to be building
Here's what you may be intentionally building with your online messages:
- Insights – Just like the ThinkPal app brought me new insights this morning, your writing has the power to inspire the same for your readers
- Understanding – You can help someone grasp a concept that's new to them – even if it's obvious or old news to you
- Action – By building insight and understanding, you guide and inspire your readers to take action
- Suspense – Michael J. Katz's writing provides a stellar example of suspense and other story-telling techniques that help you engage your reader
Will you help me finish this post?
I thought of some other examples, but I wanted to leave room here for YOUR thoughts: What are you trying to build when you write a new blog post? What results have you gotten? What have you built with your blog? Please enter your comments below.