Why in public?

Sometimes people ask me why I decided to write publicly instead of just keeping a private daily journal. Well, here is my answer.

Why in public?Sometimes people ask me why I decided to write publicly instead of just keeping a private daily journal. Well, here is my answer.


Sometimes people ask me why I decided to write publicly instead of just keeping a private daily journal. Well, here is my answer.

When I first started my blog (February 24, 2016), I was very nervous (irrationally). I was not necessarily nervous that my writing would be embarrassing (which it probably was) but rather that I would start my blog, get super excited, then quit.

So I made a public “announcement” that would hold me to a higher standard.

Thing is: no one was reading my “announcement” in the first place.

In fact, no one was reading really any of my public blog posts at first.

At that point, it was basically like writing to myself. And that was a refreshing place to start.

I started it online just to hold me accountable, but realizing now, I am so happy I started writing online versus privately. Why?

Because, after a while, I started meeting new people online. People would respond to my blog posts or even share them on Twitter.

Once that started happening, I began talking to people who were reading my stuff. And I realized how valuable this network could be if I stuck with it. I realized that if I just kept writing and kept engaging with others, soon, I would have a brand new community of people who knew me for my thoughts and not my past.

So the reasons are:

– Public accountability

– Meeting new people

– Providing some value

– Sharing my journey

– New jobs, $

– Learning to think out loud


Originally published at gonen.blog.

By jordangonen on November 1, 2017.

Canonical link

Exported from Medium on February 17, 2018.