If you’re with me on the day this episode posts, today is August 30, 2024. On August 30, 2004, I published my first blog post. I want to share with you what I’ve learned during the journey.

Some things change. Other things are eternal.

Some things change over time. Some things we believe deeply, and they remain. We only realize it when we revisit our thoughts.  Here’s the first post from 20 years ago today.

For as long as I can remember, I have been interested in systems that people had that helped them get their “stuff” done–or what kept them from getting their stuff done. I have been in education for over 20 years, and am currently a school principal. During my career, I have managed to put together a system and some strategies that I believe not only work for me, but can work for anyone who is interested in being more organized, experiencing less stress, and managing the limited amount of time available to us. Please visit often and enjoy.

Ideas Keep Coming

Writing one post is easy. When you start a blog or a YouTube channel, you find yourself wanting to publish three times a day because you have things to say. But how do you keep the fire going? I’ve known so many people who started a blog but after a few weeks, they gave up.

I firmly believe part of it has to do with being awake to the world around us. Interesting things come our way that would also be interesting to others. We’re exposed to excellence, and a blog post or video is a chance to share that excellence.

And…there’s plenty of stupidity. Sharing it allows us to warn others without personalizing the experience. The old series called “Dragnet” always opened with, “The story you are about to see is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent.” We all come upon plenty of “don’t be like this person” stories. With a blog, you have an outlet to share them.  

To keep it all going, you have to have a process. When I first started, it meant logging into Blogger and writing. Then, you had to have a picture. And you needed to link to other posts, either your own or somewhere else on the web. Then it was adding a podcast component. Then a video. Somewhere in all of that, I started a weekly email to my email subscribers.

That’s one reason I always have something to write on, either paper or digital. Ideas are fleeting. Trap them so they don’t get away. When you have a place to organize them and expand on them the process becomes manageable.

In 2008, I wrote about the process I had at that time. The post was entitled “Keeping the Fire Alive.”  While things are more complex now with a podcast and a YouTube channel, the basic principles are the same. 

It’s a place to leave tracks

Have you ever watched a movie, and then years later, you watched it again? Nothing changed, but memories get hazy and we forget some of the good things that have come our way. Our blogs give us a place to leave tracks for ourselves and for others. As I was preparing this content for you today, I ran across a post from February 2010 entitled “Goodbye Dr. Jan.” Jan Borelli was a friend who I knew through the Internet before we ever met face to face. We were both elementary school principals. I was in Alabama. She was in Oklahoma. We were both Editorial Advisors to the National Association of Elementary School Principals. We were both avid bloggers and saw the power of technology to bring people together and make the world better. When I presented at my very first national conference, Jan was on the first row.

Jan died in her sleep, very unexpectedly, two years later. I’m including a link to that post for you here. In it, I’ve included a post copied from her blog. It’s a post entitled “The Frigid Plains, Tamales, and Family.” I hope you’ll take time to read it, because it’s incredibly good writing and gives some insight into why her school was known as “The Hippest School in America.”

You’ve probably not heard of Jan until this moment. But because she wrote that post, you can still get some insight into what made her a great principal. And because I gave that post another life, it’s brought to a new audience.

It’s the one place on the Internet I own

Whereas any social media platform can be here today and gone tomorrow, this blog is the one place on the Internet that is all mine. I’m not building my house on rented land. I own it, and I can talk about anything I like.

I usually talk about organization and time management. But I don’t have to. There have been times I’ve talked about my dogs! One of those times is in a post I wrote in 2014 called “What My Dogs Have Taught Me About the Real World.”

It’s about giving back

Finally, we live in a world that has given us a great deal. This is a great time to be alive. And we all have gifts to give. A blog is a way for us to give back. In 2010, I wrote about that in a post called “Of Givers and Takers.”

Over the years, things have changed. I moved from a Blogger blog to a WordPress website with a blog attached. Someone said to me, “Hey! Have you ever thought about doing a podcast? You’ve got the wording already. All you would have to do is read the text aloud.” So in July of 2017, I started doing exactly that. In late 2019, I added video.

Twenty years and we’re still going strong. It’s been an opportunity to share my thoughts with people I would never have reached through any other means.

You may be one of them. And if so, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments on the YouTube channel or on the blog post. Thanks for stopping by today and each week.

Blogging is not rocket science. It’s about being yourself and putting what you have into it.” – David Aston

Life is too short and time too precious to waste one more day. If you are someone who stumbled upon this site for the first time, let me help you take a major step forward right now. When you join my email list, I’ll give you two free gifts. The first will get your desk clean. The second will put everything you have to do in one place. Plus, each week you’ll hear from me with nuts & bolts tools and strategies to make life easier and more productive. You’re one click away from making it happen.