My Top Posts from 2023
One of the major holdbacks in starting this blog last April was the concern that I would quickly lose interest in it. That I wouldn’t post regularly and it would just become another passing idea I quickly moved on from.
Fortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case and as I read and do new things, I continue to come up with ideas that I want to write about. Since April, I have written 46 posts. Some of those posts culminated in the publishing of my first book (or eBook).
I don’t love everything I’ve written. I read some wisdom early on from Seth Godin about the importance of “shipping” the product over making it perfect and I have abided by it. Essentially, I give myself a deadline for a post, and when that time comes, love it or hate it, I post it and move on to the next project. I don’t want perfectionism on one piece to stall my next, which might be better or more important.
It’s difficult to tell which posts have been received better than others. I moved to Substack a few months ago to distribute the posts, which has affected my site’s pageviews. I also have not worked to promote them in the same ways, and some not at all. Furthermore, older posts have more time to be seen.
The metric I am most interested in is the feedback I hear from subscribers when I write something. It’s usually surprising and flattering to find out that something resonated with someone. Sometimes things I write seem to have much more impact on people than I would have thought.
The posts I have written that have been viewed the most are as follows:
5. Why You Should Give Rio a Chance
4. Chasing Summer and Deepening Friendships on a Journey to Holbox, Mexico
3. Nonverbal Communication for Business Part 1, Introduction
1. Ericeira Days: A Visit To Portugal’s Surf Capital
For the most part, these posts are older and have had the chance to be seen more often. The nonverbal communication post was linked back to in the next five updates in that series.
And critically, the most viewed post about my trip to Ericeira is the only one with shirtless pictures of myself. My readers are scumbags, it would appear.
But the anecdotal feedback about different posts is more special to me than the pageviews.
From time to time, someone will email, text, or run into me and mention something that impacted them. I keep a “praise file”, inspired by the advice of some other creatives, to remind myself of the positive words that have been spoken.
The posts I have heard the most feedback about are:
Notes on Stoicism – This one seemed to resonate and a few folks told me they bought the Irvine book I recommended.
8 Rules for Life – My first post, and the one I took the longest to write.
Learning to Turn Fear Into Bravery – I had a few people tell me that my description of how fear impacts the workplace was spot on. I have since learned more about addressing fear and expect to continue to explore and write about it.
My Warrior’s Tale – My greatest adventure, and the post I enjoyed writing the most.
10 Minutes – Just some practical productivity advice that must have resonated with others as much as it did with me.
I have discussed before my plans to try to write a book – a real one this time. I have a much better idea now of what that entails than I did last April. At about 600 words per post, the 46 posts I wrote this year come out to about 27,600 words. A 300-page book has about 80,000 words in it.
So at my current rate, it would take me a couple of years to finish a book.
Books are hard. Mad props to all those who have written one.