This is the 1700th post on the StrategyAudit site , and nobody is more surprised at the longevity of the effort than me. The first post was in March 2009, almost a decade ago.

I am not a writer, at least I used not to be, but now I am not so sure.

Over the course of the decade taken to reach this benchmark, I have learned a lot about the process of writing constantly, beyond what  I have learned from the process of formulating the ideas and organising them in a manner that is publishable.

This blog started as a marketing tool for StrategyAudit, but has become much more, and writing it delivered a number of lessons, mostly unexpected. 

Curiosity.

Formulating and ordering my thoughts and views on the topics I cover, then having to ensure they make sense, at least to me, has made me very curious. As a result, everything becomes research.

 Notes are assets.

I now make notes of all sorts of things I stumble across. Ideas, references, half-baked ideas that might become posts, information that may be of use somewhere. There are all kept in One note recorded into one of the 25 odd categories I have. This is an ever expanding resource from which I take all sorts of bits and pieces, and sometimes make  something new happen. There are thousands now in the file, and it constitutes a substantial bank of Intellectual Capital.

 Pencils are still valuable.

I still read with a pencil in my hand, and a highlighter not too far away. This serves to enable me to scribble in margins (of books, remember those) and highlight  bits worth referencing. Often these are then transferred into one note for further use later. There are thousands of tools out there, new fangled, digital things,  but for me, the simple act of writing something serves both the clarify the message and set it into some context in my brain, so I just might remember it when the time is right. (I also assume I forget some, but who knows)

 Revisit.

I cruise around my one note files on a regular basis, often looking for something I dimly recall, sometimes for an idea worth adding to something else I am writing, and sometimes just to refresh the memory. This cruising often sparks ideas as connections not seen before emerge.

 Assemble bits.

There are always a number of posts in production, with lots of notes, thoughts, and references, attached as well as drafts of what the final thing might look like. Some linger and evolve  for years before they get published, others get absorbed into other posts, while others are chucked when it becomes obvious there is no original idea in there, and I am just digging old ground.

 Raid a lot of banks.

Books are idea banks, the more you read, the greater the chance you will stumble across things that will be useful. I have always been a voracious reader, across a range of genres, and that has not changed, if anything,  become a bit more obsessive. It also pays to dump a book as soon as it demonstrates there is no value in it. Sometimes it hurts, I like to finish what I start, but where there is no prospect of a return on the investment in time, stop. The only caveat is that I do not throw them out, and therefore the prospect of moving at some point from the house where I have been  for over 30 years terrifies me.  

Marketing tool.

Finally, this blog has evolved as my primary marketing tool, which was the initial objective, but took a long time to evolve into anything meaningful. Overnight success after 10 years of effort.

The blog serves three vital additional functions:

Firstly, it is a repository of the ideas, views, checklists and tools I use in the consulting practice. This has become a critical function, and is not one I had anticipated at the beginning.

Secondly, it provides  a foundation of credibility to potential clients who may stumble across it, are referred to it, and to whom I send specific posts after a conversation of some sort. What I think about, how I approach marketing, strategic and enterprise improvement  assignments, and how I communicate can be easily seen by browsing a few posts.

Lastly, it offers thoughts, opinions, information, tools and insight based on my experience, and hopefully it is of value to some out there. When it is, I have added something to someone else, unknown, unpaid, but that knowledge of being able to help, is to me a an enormous reward.

Thanks for reading, commenting and sharing my musings, and I am enormously gratified that they are of value to an increasing number of people.

Have a great 2019, I know I will.