In a recent Akimbo podcast by Seth Godin, one of the listeners called in asking about putting out a ‘bad’ quality daily blog post. Say all your blog posts were of a generally good quality but one day you were just having a bad day, and your post wasn’t of the quality of the others. What are you to do?

Well, of course Seth’s answer was to just do it anyway. The purpose of writing daily isn’t to put out quality posts, the purpose is to put out posts, and believe that over time the quality will come.

He also gave the example of a photographer saying their photos were no good. Well, you can’t really say much before taking 10,000 photos. I’ve done that, and I’ve noticed an improvement in my photography. I now consider the composition more and it’s obvious if you look at them. Does this mean that I think I am a good photographer? Well, I think I’m better than the average iPhone photographer at least, but I still see a lot of room for improvement.

Which leaves me to my next point. I’ve been running the Instagram accounts for Yamabushido and the Dewa Sanzan, as well as my personal account. When it comes to deciding on whether or not to make a post, I always lean towards doing it. The posts I make, I do to provide even a little joy to someone. Of course, that person also includes myself. If I’ve done that, then I’m pleased.

I recently finished reading The War of Art by Steven Pressfield, a book often quoted by Seth Godin, and let me say what an excellent book! Short and sharp, and full of an overarching idea that really resonated with me; The Resistance is a force in all of us that stops us from being our creative selves. The key is to be aware of the existence of the Resistance, and to battle against it. However, one idea that particularly interested me was that the ideas in our brains are not our own. They come from outside us, and our bodies are just the agent of the idea.

Pressfield likens it to a mother and a baby. The mother is the agent of the baby, it is not the baby itself. In other words, our ideas (our babies) are not our own. And, if we have these great ideas that can provide benefit to others, it is our duty to let them out into the world.

So, first I would recommend reading Steven Pressfield’s book, The War of Art, and second, I would recommend simply getting your ideas out.