I have blogged on and off for years.  I have changed the focus of my blogs, titles, domain names, frequency and more. Recently I started a goal of writing for 20 minutes every day and letting that produce about 5-6 blog posts per week distributed between my personal, business and nonprofit blogs.

In doing all of this thinking, reflecting and writing it occurs to me that regular blogging is changing my life for the better. I am finding that because I’m writing daily I have to be more thoughtful and intentional in all sorts of ways.

• I have to plan ahead. I try to brainstorm three new blog post ideas (or one detailed blog post idea) per day.
• I have to be thoughtful. I’m always thinking about what I can write about, what stories I want to tell and ideas I want to communicate.
• I have to be intentional. I have a limited amount of time in my morning routine and to get all of my goals in I have to be very intentional in what I do.
• I have to be concise. I like short blogs that communicate well. So, I strive to write that way.
• I have to have a goal. My goal is not readership, its impact. I want people to be better because of what I communicate.

I think that working on each of these things makes me a better person in general. So, blogging is a win, win. I grow as a person, and hopefully have some impact on others along the way.

I was talking with a good friend the other day, and he mentioned that he felt like blogging is a legacy that we leave to our children. Something that at the end of our lives we can hand to them and say, “Here are my thoughts, this is my life’s work.” I want to write with that mindset, working to leave a legacy that will impact my kids and maybe even their kids as well.