You Already Have the Time

In the past, I've posted a couple times about speaking up (first and second post).  About making some noise.  About having your say.

I can't tell you how often I get asked how I find the time and energy to have my say, to blog on top of working, having a family, coding on the side, studying management theory, homebrewing, and running.  The answer is pretty simple: I have plenty of time to do the things I value doing.

And so do you.

Those who watch this space already know that I follow bloggers Scott Hanselman and Clark Sell, who are both big proponents of getting your voice out there and who regularly encourage putting those thoughts in a blog form.  Kevin Smith, movie director and now podcast producer,  has a saying that boils down to people having three needs: eating, finding physical intimacy, and to be heard.

That last one, Smith claims, has traditionally been the hardest of the three to put together, but today's technology platforms enable scalability of thought broadcast that's never before been achievable by the everyman.  Compared to publishing mechanisms in history, we have an unprecedented ability to get our thoughts out there.  No longer do you need permission from entertainment studios to make and get a movie out there, a song out there, an episodic comedy out there.  Youtube and other formats let you get your stuff seen.

Similarly, you no longer have to get a broadcasting degree and work long hours as an intern slinging coffee to work for a chance to be on the radio.  You can start up your own podcast with the equipment you already have.

Lastly, you no longer have to write a whole book to get your thoughts out.  There are dozens of blog platforms like this one to allow you to write episodically.  How many times have you sat down and written a friend a thoughtful email on a particular topic?  Maybe one that's spanned a few pages?  If you're like me, it's happened a few times for you.  And then you get another email, and you respond almost identically to a different friend.  Or maybe you have the same conversation a few times.

If you notice that kind of repetition, take some advice from The Pragmatic Programmer and don't repeat yourself.  Hanselman points out in his Information Overload talk (brilliant talk on scaling yourself, btw, highly recommended) that the right way to handle repetition is to avoid it.  When someone emails you a question, and the answer will require you to spend some time and it has value beyond the recipient, blog it and send them a link as a response.  I can't tell you how many times I've been talking to Clark and he responds with, "You should blog that."  You'll be surprised how quickly you have a body of opinions you can point to as a reference, and if you have a lot of interconnected opinions (and most of us do), it makes for natural hyperlinking between articles.

So that's how I manage to blog.  Where do I find the time to keep up to date on things I might have an opinion on?  Well, that's pretty straightforward.  I use my phone a lot "in between" things.  People often give me grief about it, but I always have the Kindle app on my phone loaded up with some latest self-improvement, management theory, or tech book.  Most recently it's "The Titleless Leader", by Nan Russell.

I read when I'm walking to and from the car.  I read in the bathroom.  I read during reboots.  I read in between.  I share what I read with people around me.  I synthesize thoughts around what I read when talking to people.

And when I run, I compose.  Not on purpose, but because my mind wanders from whatever song is on and puts ideas together.  During this morning's run, I composed the outline for this post.  While I was waiting for the kids to get ready for school, instead of responding to a friend who asked me where I found the time, I composed this post.  For him, for me, and for you.

You have the time, too.   You are already composing and repeating things that could be your online body of work.  You are already speaking up.  Now just get to writing it down.  And send me a link, here or @kevinpdavis on twitter.  I'd love to hear what is inside you, too.