{"id":6,"date":"2015-02-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-02-06T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/socialmediahotwire\/old-habits-die-hard\/"},"modified":"2026-07-25T18:55:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T18:55:17","slug":"old-habits-die-hard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/socialmediahotwire\/old-habits-die-hard\/","title":{"rendered":"Blogging Is Easy Even If Old Habits Die Hard"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Old Habits Die Hard\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

College was awesome.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was a\u00a0time of intellectual growth and stimulation,<\/span><\/p>\n

an exploration of life\u2019s possibilities,<\/span><\/p>\n

impossible flirting,<\/span><\/p>\n

cramming for exams<\/span><\/p>\n

and of course\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

major post-exam celebrations.<\/span><\/p>\n

I liked school\u00a0so much,<\/span><\/h3>\n

it took me 6 years to complete my B.A.<\/span><\/p>\n

(I\u2019m a renaissance woman \u2013 \u00a0had 5 majors)<\/span><\/p>\n

Then, \u00a0grad school in Monterey, California.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah, it was kind of more serious,<\/span><\/p>\n

studying was more intense<\/span><\/p>\n

the commitment was greater.<\/span><\/p>\n

But it still was a raucously amazing time in my life,<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

a time for\u00a0building\u00a0lifelong friendships,<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

of house shares,<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

and heartaches,<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

California wines, all night parties,<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

and driving to Big Sur for breakfast as dawn was breaking.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Still, I managed to learn\u00a0a thing or two.<\/span><\/p>\n

I emerged with a head full of facts<\/span><\/p>\n

that could earn me a spot on Jeopardy<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

and armed with a\u00a0really useful skill<\/span><\/p>\n

– I could write<\/span>.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I could\u00a0follow\u00a0the rules of grammar,<\/span><\/p>\n

spell check (without the benefit of a spell-checker)<\/span><\/p>\n

and proofread my work. \u00a0(Yes \u2013 I went to school THAT long ago).<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Eventually,\u00a0I entered the work force.<\/span><\/p>\n

In\u00a0order to get hired<\/span><\/p>\n

or even get an interview<\/span><\/p>\n

your resum\u00e9 had to be perfect;<\/span><\/p>\n

no typos, proper punctuation with concise but descriptive hyperbole.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I learned the art of positioning the smallest achievement<\/span><\/p>\n

as a stunning accomplishment.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u00a0could\u00a0market the most basic skillset as an invaluable expertise;<\/span><\/p>\n

it became a handy tool that I would need and use throughout my career in corporate America. \ud83d\ude42<\/span><\/p>\n

Now the business world sets great store\u00a0on \u201cawesome presentations\u201d. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Like in school, \u00a0it has\u00a0to\u00a0be perfect.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Your facts must be accurate and defensible and you must simultaneously be able to expand\u00a0or contract what you say depending on the volume\u00a0of the content that is expected.<\/span><\/p>\n

Presentation is\u00a0everything;<\/span><\/p>\n

almost<\/em><\/span> more important than what you say.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

No spacing issues, proper margins and an attractive readable font. <\/span><\/p>\n

And if it\u2019s a Powerpoint\u00a0\u2013 there should be a\u00a0consistent sprinkle of humor to prevent the audience from falling asleep.<\/span><\/p>\n

OMG \u2013 so much to think of!<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I spent HOURS, working on reports for my director and even longer working on Powerpoints presentations that she would present\u00a0as her own.<\/span><\/p>\n

So it isn\u2019t surprising that when I left it all behind all that to become a blogger,<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t understand that my story or message was paramount<\/strong><\/span> and that my endless edits and attempts at \u201cperfecting\u201d my style were a huge waste of time.<\/span><\/p>\n

I had no clue that hitting \u201cPUBLISH<\/strong><\/span>\u201d,<\/span><\/p>\n

as often as I could,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

was far more important than\u00a0 looking for \u201cjust the right word\u201d to describe something that people might not even consider.<\/span><\/p>\n

I had to unlearn 7 years of schooling and 20+ years of business protocol<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

to understand that people on the internet are much more forgiving than academia and\u00a0 far less critical than the business community.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yes \u2013 your facts must be accurate and of course your content must be interesting, informative or funny.<\/span><\/p>\n

Old habits die hard but you have to \u201clet go\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

or you\u2019ll be left in the dust. <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t dwell on\u00a0it,<\/span><\/p>\n

it\u2019s not your baby\u2026..it\u2019s a blog.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Publish or Perish<\/span><\/h2>\n

Want\u00a0to give it a try. come on, be bold be brave! .<\/span> \u00a0You\u2019re going to love it and trying doesn\u2019t cost you anything.<\/span><\/p>\n

The comments and \u201cshares\u201d you get is a reflection of your content<\/span><\/p>\n

and to what extent\u00a0 your topic resonantes with \u00a0your readers \u2013\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

NOT of\u00a0the beauty of your prose.<\/span><\/p>\n

In fact the more conversational you are,<\/span><\/p>\n

the more accessible your audience will find you.<\/span><\/p>\n

You may\u00a0find\u00a0\u2018letting go\u2019 to be very liberating\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

and who knows what\u2019s going to bubble out of you<\/span><\/p>\n

once you break free from the chains of the \u201cperfect paragraph\u201d! \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t let\u00a0those\u00a0old habits die hard,<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0toss them aside<\/span>!<\/span><\/h3>\n

Blog often and publish even more often! \u00a0 Publish or Perish!<\/span><\/p>\n

Your audience is waiting.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Be bold, be brave and Don\u2019t Ever Settle.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Old Habits Die Hard\u00a0 College was awesome. It was a\u00a0time of intellectual growth and stimulation, an exploration of life\u2019s possibilities, impossible flirting, cramming for exams and of course\u2026 major post-exam celebrations. I liked school\u00a0so much, it took me 6 years to complete my B.A. (I\u2019m a renaissance woman \u2013 \u00a0had 5 majors) Then, \u00a0grad school […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":368,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[19,20,21,22,23,24],"class_list":["post-6","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-be-bold-be-brave","tag-blogging-is-easy","tag-dont-ever-settle","tag-old-habits-die-hard","tag-publish-or-perish","tag-social-media-hotwire"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/socialmediahotwire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/socialmediahotwire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/socialmediahotwire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/socialmediahotwire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/368"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/socialmediahotwire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/socialmediahotwire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/socialmediahotwire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6\/revisions\/19"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/socialmediahotwire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/socialmediahotwire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/socialmediahotwire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}