Other side effects of blogging.

A few weeks ago I wrote about the unexpected aspects of blogging. At that point, I was talking about the challenge of seeing myself as a writer, and the benefit of how blogging shifts and clarifies my thinking.

Where is the time to implement all these new ideas?
The practice of writing has given me insight into places in my business practices that aren’t as clear as they should be. It has been a catalyst for strategic re-evaluation. All this clarity is great, but how am I going to find the time in the day to implement this new found clarity. It’s like coming home from a powerful workshop or conference bursting with inspiration only to be greeted with the pile up of email, voice and snail mail (not to mention what can happen to the house).

I need to find a way to structure space. I can’t keep cramming new things into an already full space, whether it be physical, emotional, intellectual, or simply the hours in a day.

What will I stop, start, and continue?
How will I decide?
How will I gain support for those decisions from those around me

I want to share this new found insight with the world.
So here is the other thing that has happened. I’m the Vice President of Outreach of ASTD-Cascadia, which is a local chapter of the American Society for Training and Development. I spend a lot of time going to meetings and networking with people and other organizations in my outreach role. I also spend a lot of time driving to those meetings, and since they often take place around the beginning and end of typical workdays, sitting in traffic. As I was looking for more time in my day to implement new ideas, eliminating those sitting in traffic hours was very appealing.

You know how when you’re excited by something new it looks like a good solution to everything? So here we have the new BlogCascadia. In this case, I do believe it will be a great addition to the chapters offerings. The goal is to have a diverse pool of authors and contributors, but in the start-up phase I am writing most of the posts and acting as the administrator. Many of my posts there are about developing cross-cultural and Web 2.0 competencies.

Synthesis and re-evaluation

Another thing that seems to happen a lot blogging is just as you are thinking about something, someone else puts up a post that offers you a related piece. One of our ASTD members Sue Malone said;

Original thought drawn from countless resources, academic and otherwise, is pure human art in my view. The confluence of what we read, experience, think, dream is original for each one of us…a mosaic as unique as our own thumb print.

Sue goes on to talk about churning the results of her reading and information gathering while hiking in the gorge.

Creativity consultant Brenda Johima wrote about how vacation renews creativity.

Vacations are the best thing you can do to open the mind, relax the body, get refreshed and feel renewed, opening the channels to receive the creative force, to be inspired to think in new ways, to try new things, to get life back on track, or to launch your life in a new direction

So I’m going to take the offerings of my new blog buddies and commit not to adding more hours on to my already overfull days, but to spending more time riding my new bike. Allowing the synthesis to occur by the confluence of thought with exercise and the joy of being outside. To have confidence that if I allow myself to take the time to have a full and balanced day to day life, I will serve the world more effectively.