Can I convince you to start a blog? 4 Things I never expected to get out of blogging

A couple years ago, I had a really low opinion of bloggers. I thought they were ignorant, ego-centric people who were all wasting their time on something that no one would ever read. Because who reads blogs anyway?

As it turns out, just about everyone reads blogs. And I was the ignorant one. Then when I started my blog, I was equally as ignorant. When I started writing, I had only one thing in mind. I wanted to be popular. It wasn't until after nearly 6 months of writing that I realized I was still dumb. I had no idea what I was doing. And I needed swift kick in the pants.


That was when I began to ask And what value do I add to people's lives? That question reshaped the way I look at blogging. For the first time I was thinking about other people more than myself. And since then I have learned a boatload about my self and the people for whom I aspire to write.

Today when I mentor young men, writing is near the top of the list of things I recommend for them to do. I don't necessarily advise everyone to write with the goal of developing an audience. Some guys just need to be journaling privately. But for lots of guys and gals, blogging is everything they never knew they needed.

Here are just a few things that I never expected to get out of blogging. If any of these resonate with you, then you should seriously consider starting your own blog.

Something way better than popularity. Like I said, I mistakenly thought I wanted to be popular early on. So I immediately began researching how to build a massive audience. I promoted myself, spoke at conferences, told everyone about my blog (even when they clearly didn't want to hear about it), wrote for a handful of other websites, and was even published in a magazine.

Before long, traffic on my site was increasing and I was becoming more popular! Then I wrote a blog post about my recovery from an addiction to sex and porn. After that, Allison got a Facebook message from a woman who's husband was actively addicted to porn. She reached out to for help, and my wife got the opportunity to speak into someone's life with wisdom and love.

That was the first time I realized that my blog had the potential to actually be helpful to other people. After that, I realized that popularity is next to worthless. It's not entirely worthless, but it doesn't hold a candle to having a positive impact on people's lives.

People actually read it... and like it! I started writing with the assumption that no one would read my blog. I figured I'm a nobody, and I'll be able to fly under the radar for a while and figure out how all this blogging stuff works. I was way off.

People began reading almost right away. Before long, I began to bump into readers that I had never met before. Now I meet new readers all the time, and I get to hear their stories. It completely makes my day when I hear from people who enjoy reading my posts.

It became a catalyst for self-discipline. Five years ago, I lived in a bachelor pad with a few guys. I weighted 300 lbs and my highest priority was earning new weapons in Call of Duty. But as my role model, Jon Acuff, says, "Discipline begets discipline". That just means that the more you practice discipline the easier it gets to be more self disciplined.

Since I started blogging 3 times a week, I've found it easier to practice discipline in lots of areas of my life. Today I've lost 76 lbs, written my first ebook, and blogged about 500 pages worth of personal content dedicated to helping others discover more potential in their lives.
Those accomplishments are things I would never have dreamed of 5 years ago.

It answered my inner question that asked Do I have ideas worth sharing? After I had been blogging for about 6 months, I realized that my question was the wrong one. In fact, it wasn't about asking a question at all. It was less about finding out if I had ideas worth sharing, and more about a challenge to have ideas worth sharing.

Each time I sit down in front of my computer to write, I have to face the challenge of finding something that connects and is useful. Sometimes I do a great job of that, other times I don't do so well. But I haven't run out of ideas yet. In fact, I have more ideas today than I did when I started. I even keep a list of 'blog post ideas' on my phone. And it's a mile long.

What would your blog be about?

If you started a blog today, what would you write about? Please leave your thoughts in the comment section below. And you can 'like' me on Facebook to join the community that's going on there.