With that said, I have noticed many of the regular's around here blogging about their lives or various other topics. I'm thinking this may be a great tool that I can use to keep myself going. I think by having my progress, my successes and my failures set in the stone of the internet will help to keep me honest with myself and give me the drive to keep going.
I'll answer your questions below, but I want to avoid sharing false hope. Here's the tough-love answer that you can get when you ask writers about writing:
"Writing is easy. All you have to do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed." (Hemingway)
"Five pages a day." (Robert B. Parker's writing goal for over 50 years)
"If you have to ask whether you're a writer, then you're not." (attributed to Erma Bombeck)
"If you're a blogger then you wouldn't be asking all these questions. You'd be signing up for a free WordPress account and mucking around with their cool stuff." (Me)
I'm wondering from those that blog on a regular basis: Why do you do it? Is it a tool to you? Do you use it as a journal? Are you doing it to spread your knowledge to the internets? Whats your drive?
I started blogging as a tool to market a book that was being published eight months later, which in retrospect turned out to be the "wrong" order. My blog evolved from a marketing tool into a better way to communicate with the readers... and a fantastic way to gather material for the next book.
My drive is that I have to write. I can't stop, I don't want to, and people have given up trying to change my behavior. I enjoy explaining complex topics with simple words, and then playing with the words for interesting effects (mostly snark or humor). I've been doing it since third grade.
A beneficial side effect is that when I write, I have to truly understand what the heck I'm writing about. For example the process of achieving financial independence is rather straightforward, even boring. But it's far more challenging to explain the concept to people, and then motivate them, and then help them overcome their obstacles to success. I'm a retired submariner, so I like this Saint-Exupery quote: "If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea."
The biggest "problem" with writing is staying focused on the task. In my case it was following the book outline and having readers edit my drafts. If I didn't puke out a chapter every few months, I'd have readers asking my "Hey, Nords, how's the book going?" That public accountability kept me on track.
Do you find that it works to keep you going? Do you see an accomplishment that you have blogged about as a driving factor in moving onto the next one?
I only want to start blogging if I can use it as a self-reinforcing tool to keep driving positive change in my life. So I'm just wondering if others have found success with this.
I'm not sure what you mean by "it works to keep you going". I get a kick out of seeing the hit counter go up, but that hedonic treadmill adjusts pretty quickly. What really gets me going is having a thought about something and then realizing that it'd make a great blog post. Instead of using a financial journal to track your goals, you might prefer a more visual method like Planwise or ReadyForZero.
I know that writers use journals to figure out what inspires them-- or at least makes them more effective. I've never made the time to keep a journal. It's a great diagnostic tool for solving problems, though, and I'd recommend it for anyone seeking perspective on their life or trying to figure out what triggers their emotions or behavior. I used to log my sleep habits and my eating habits, but once I figured out the triggers & solutions then I stopped logging.
Other questions:
Do you try to set a schedule when to update your blog?
What is your inspiration?
Has it really impacted your life and how you make decisions going forward?
After considerable research plus my own trial & error, I've learned to write first thing in the morning. Stumble out of bed (my head buzzing with thoughts), use the bathroom, make a cup of tea while the computer's booting, admire the morning sky while I'm sitting down, and then start writing. 20 minutes, and then I'll take an Internet break. The reality is that "just 20 minutes" keeps me going for an hour or more, and eventually I'll stop to make breakfast.
Conventional blogging wisdom used to be to publish on a regular schedule, but that was way back when people had to go to your blog to read your posts. RSS feeds have eliminated that requirement. Bloggers still think that readers have better things to do during Friday through Monday (work or liberty), so the most popular posting days are Tuesday through Thursday. Blogs with a staff of writers may publish 5-15 posts per week. I compromise with a short Monday post and a long Thursday one. I also do Guest Post Wednesday.
Being a published author has had a profound impact on me. Some days I still have trouble believing it, other days I decide that the bar is just not very high. Publishing makes me want to do it again, and maybe once more after that. We'll see. I also get a great feeling when a reader tells me how I helped them solve a problem. That hedonic treadmill hasn't flattened out yet.
As for decisions, blogging has made me more aware of the emotional aspects of investor psychology and personal behavior. I think I have a more nuanced view of why we do the dumb things we do, and I'm a fan of simplifying our lives to limit our opportunities to do more dumb things.
Hey, waddyaknow: I think I just wrote a blog post.
http://the-military-guide.com/2011/12/12/update-to-just-write-it/http://the-military-guide.com/2012/12/24/beginners-guide-to-part-time-blogging-for-money/