Motivating Myself
I know I’ve been a little quiet in my posting lately. I’ve been feeling a bit overwhelmed with work–2 courses in full swing, 2 courses starting up, plus several other smaller projects. Honestly, I’ve been struggling to motivate myself, both for work and for writing here.
Today I’m starting to feel better though. Di Hewson posted about what she feels are the benefits of blogging and why she’s planning to keep blogging even after her course ends:
In the short time I have been blogging I have found that I am now looking at issues in a more critical and analytical way. I plan to keep up my blogging habit, even though I have almost finished this course. I really like the way you can collect your thoughts under a tag and just go back to them later for further development.
Di is a fairly newbie blogger (yeah, I know, I haven’t even survived a year yet–who am I to talk?). I’ve enjoyed reading her posts, especially because I see a transformation in her. When she started, she seemed to just be posting for required class assignments. She questioned the value of posting regularly if she didn’t have anything to say, calling it “blogging for the sake of blogging.” But there was a moment in there where she seemed to quit worrying quite so much about having a finished product and thinking more about the process of learning through blogging.
I have to say that I have really enjoyed how Di has shared her learning process, and it is fun to see someone change over the course of a few months. Seeing her recognize the value of blogging for lifelong learning has reminded me of that too. I need to invest the time in myself and my own learning to blog.
I got some great feedback from a SME today that is motivating too. We have most of the content written for this course, and I’ve been working on putting it into html and creating interactive exercises in Captivate. This SME has great content knowledge, but her experience in online has been very limited. She’s struggled sometimes to be able to really visualize what the final course was going to look like, especially the interactivity. Now that she’s had a chance to review parts of the course in a more final form, I asked her how it felt to see the pieces coming together. She replied,
It feels superb! I love what I am seeing too! I could not have even imagined what they were going to look like and am BLOWN away.
Really, could you ask for better positive feedback? I know that I do need some of those compliments to keep me motivated (maybe that’s part of why I like blogging–lots of opportunities for feedback). It’s nice to be recognized for the work I put into the course.
Hopefully this will be enough motivation for me to be past the writer’s block and back on track. Thanks for your patience!
Technorati Tags: blogging, motivation, lifelonglearning
Cammy, I like the image of the “incubation period.” It does seem like blogging does go in cycles for me, where sometimes I’m posting a lot and sometimes I’m just spending time reading and commenting. Maybe that’s just part of the natural cycle, where I need more time to reflect. Obviously, some people can post lots all the time (e.g., Stephen Downes), but that’s the right rhythm for him and maybe not the right rhythm for me.
I have actually been thinking about topics to write about, so my brain is still working on things even if nothing has shown up here. I spent a lot of time thinking about the transparency and online identity conversations on Michele Martin’s blog, where I commented several times and read a lot but didn’t post anything here. I’m still learning, it’s just been more internal lately than external.
Maybe it’s the change of the seasons too–I find myself wanting to hibernate as it gets colder and the days are darker.
Time to go back to work–I got good stuff from a new SME and I need to let him know I like it. 🙂
Hey Christy…I’m right there with you. Not inspired to blog that much myself these days, and I don’t really seem to mind it all that much. It seems like the fall has been a slow time in general for most bloggers — which must mean work is busy. Think of it as an incubation period…so many good thoughts percolating. ~ Cammy
That’s one of the great things about the community of the blogosphere–I know if I’m feeling blah myself that I can find someone else out there doing something interesting. It definitely helps to see other people working through ideas too.
meant to say from a little seed a flower grows!! brain is faster than the fingers.
from a little a seed grows!!!! pleased to see my blog has given you a little incentive to get past your writers blog.