One of the lifelessons I learned from my dad — and which really is both a blessing and a curse — is the importance of doing a piece of work fully and doing it well.
Depending on your perspective, I suppose you could alternately think of that as "taking pride in your work" OR maybe "being a perfectionist."
I prefer to think of it in terms of the former... and also think of it in terms of the impression you leave on the world. Is your work solid, or sloppy? What is the message you are sending the world?
Yellow wild rose
Doing Spring Yardwork
Part of the reason this popped into my head earlier today is that I have been doing a lot of yardwork. After all, it's spring, and stuff is growing like crazy, out there!
Anyway, as I was trimming a few trees and moving some dead underbrush out, I could hear my father's voice inside my head, reminding me that "you're not actually FINISHED with the job till you've hauled all the brush away, raked the lawn, and cleaned and put your tools away!"
When I was younger, I found it frustrating that the job didn't "end" when we'd cut down the branches and made sure it looked good. There were often additional hours of work afterwards, making sure everything looked neat and tidy and the tools were all clean and back in the shed.
The Landscape of fuzzy leaves
Writing... and Blogging
I realize that I tend to apply the same metrics to my writing and blogging.
Whereas I quite often write what you might call "quick" posts, they all go through the same process of being written, double checked, photos added and appropriate intervals, checked for typos, footers added as appropriate and so on.
Just like yardwork (or any other work, for that matter) is ultimately a statement about how you present yourself to the world, so is your writing, or blogging... or presentation of your art, or whatever your creative expression might be.
Even tiny weeds can be quite pretty!
Time in Front of the Mirror?
One of the things I have always found rather amusing is how people might spend hours getting themselves ready to step out into the world... making sure everything in their personal presentation is just so.
And yet? Those same people can turn out to be complete slobs in terms of everything else they share with the world.
You know... the perfectly coiffed guy in the Armani suit, the back seat of whose BMW is littered with to-go cups and old food wrappers.
I suppose it all a matter what's important in people's lives.
The decay of a pinecone
What Your Blog Represents...
Your blog "represents" you, too. It says something about you.
I am not a stickler for so-called "quality content," which I think is a bit of a misnomer in the context of a general social content site.
What matters more is whether the presentation you're making is such that people care enough to come back and check up on at a later time. In other words, will it build you a following.
When I think about it, it's alarming" how many times I have followed a promising summary from a web search, only to end up looking at a horrible mess I wish I'd never found!
Don't be that horrible mess!
Consider it "part of the job" to make sure you're putting something out there that represents you well!
Thanks for reading, and have an awesome weekend!
How about YOU? Are you putting your best foot forward? Is making a good impression important to you? Do you you finish your jobs... completely... before considering yourself to be truly finished? Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!
(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for this platform.)
Created at 20200425 23:01 PDT
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