My posting schedule has been very sporadic lately as I have had my Technical Thinking Cap on during the rebuild of the Personal Development Partners website.
However, rebuilding the site is taking longer than expected, and in the meantime, the personal development community has been very active, due in large part to Priscilla Palmer’s incredible list of Personal Development Bloggers. So, I am going to take a break from the technical stuff in order to write a post that will keep this great momentum going in the personal development community!
A large part of the recent activity in the personal development arena has been with “memes,” or “group writing projects,” if you prefer that term. Since this practice is so popular in the blogosphere – including right here at Today is that Day – I thought I would write up a piece about how people can take effective steps to personal development by being on the Meme Dream Team!
1) Only participate in memes that are going to take you towards your goals
There are enough memes going around that you could almost give up your blog posting schedule completely and just respond to projects that you have been tagged for. However, before you go playing along with every single meme, ask yourself if participating is going to take you towards your goals.
If you have a goal of practicing personal development, and you have been tagged for a meme that will help you to improve your life in some way, then go for it. However, if the meme title is ‘List the Top 5 Ways that you Prepare Toast‘, you need to ask yourself if participating is really going to be worth your time!
2) Only participate in memes that are going to be of value to your blogging audience
Again, if you have a blog, then that blog is part of your personal development strategy. Whether your blog is a financial venture for you, a journal for getting your thoughts down on “paper,” or if your blog is part of your business model, in each case, your blog’s audience is part of your growth and development.
If you alienate your audience by never putting out any content that is original and that has your own unique “flavor,” then your audience will quickly find themselves wondering why they even come to your blog.
3) Dig deep down for your answers
If a group writing project is asking you for your secrets to success, then reading everyone else’s answers before writing up your own post isn’t going to provide much personal growth and development for you, is it?
As a race, we tend to go through life on “auto-pilot,” letting our experiences be dictated by reactions, rather than planned responses. If you never stop to ask yourself about the driving forces in your life, or the habits and philosophies that power your existence, 60 years from now you will have lived your entire life on autopilot!
4) Contact people directly that you want to participate
The “tagging” part of a meme normally just consists of you putting the name or website of someone that you would like to participate into your own project entry. However, although some blog owners see every mention of their name or their website, some do not, so it is best to send them an email letting them know they have been tagged.
An added benefit to this is that you can let the person know why you tagged them, what benefit they will get out of participating, and what benefit it will be to their audience. People can ignore a “tag” in a blog post fairly easily, but if you send the site owner a one to one message, you will get a better response rate.
5) Keep track of the community that is developed around any meme that you take part in.
If a group writing project is of enough value to take part in, then doesn’t it make sense to stay in touch with the people who are part of that project? A meme about personal development will attract people who are into personal development, one about weight loss will attract people with knowledge of weight loss, a project about business success will include people who have insights to share about successful business practices.
It doesn’t matter what any given meme is about, all that matters is that if you feel it is worth your time, then it also turns into a good networking opportunity. It’s like going to a weekend seminar for people who are all interested in a given topic, only it takes 2 hours of your time instead of 2 days, and, it’s free!
6) Use your RSS or email subscription options wisely!
By taking part in a group writing project, you will be exposed to blogs that you have never seen before. As you read their heartfelt meme entries, you will be tempted to subscribe to their blogs via email or RSS so that you can keep up with their future writing.
Well, as admirable as a concept as that is, the simple fact of the matter is that you can only keep track of so many blogs. If you are considering subscribing to a new blog that you found as a result of the project, take the time to read the blogger’s other posts and to check out their blog. Make an informed decision about whether or not you are going to realistically keep up with that blogger.
7) Peer pressure is for suckers
In the end, your time is valuable, yet you will invariably be tagged for memes that you simply don’t want to participate in. Even if they are in alignment with your writing, personal development, or professional goals, you are just not going to want to take part in every project that you are tagged for.
When that happens, it is okay to say “No”. 10 years from now, the evolution of our planet (or simply your own evolution) will not be decided by whether or not you jumped onto the latest meme bandwagon. If the concept resonates with you, and you see value in it, then participate, and do it with a gusto. However, if you just can’t seem to muster up any enthusiasm for the project, then simply exercise your right to…ummm…not write!
In the end, remember that your blog is your blog, and you can do whatever you want to do with it. Deciding whether a group writing project will help you along on your path to personal growth and development is your call. Choose wisely!
p.s. – Karen, Edward, Jenny & Erin? I’ve got your memes on my posting schedule for next week! You know, because I choose to participate! 🙂
Thank you for the link love, and for the excellent advice. I enjoy the personal development memes for the most part but, like you said you can almost give up your blog by participating just to participate (which I’m sometimes prone to do).
Your timing on this was perfect.
Priscilla,
If I have helped you with some advice and some good timing, then the time I took to write it up was very well spent! 🙂
As far as the link love, are you kidding? You started what has rapidly become an invaluable list of resources. You should be getting so much link love that you feel like you are part of a commune back in the 70’s… ;)~
This is a great post! You’ve done a brilliant job of articulating the considerations that should be made when deciding much more than whether to participate in a meme or not. I think these points also relate to how one approaching blogging and the obligation (meant in the best sense of the word) a writer has to those who read their words as well as to themselves.
Thank you for writing this. (and thanks of course for choosing to participate in our writing contest) 🙂
Great post Aaron. So far I have kept away from memes – not necessarily because I have anything against them but because I am naturally skeptical of the value of these types of things. This is a handy guide – I may consider getting involved in the future.
Jenny,
Thanks for the positive feedback! As with everything good in the world, at first glance “more” would seem better, but as much fun and as useful as memes can be, it is also easy to go overboard.
I’ve got your project down as one worth the time, though, Jenny, so look for my entry to be posted soon! 🙂
Peter,
I’m glad that I could help you to understand the process a bit more. It really is something that can create value for both the readers as well as the blog owner, and by keeping some of these guidelines in mind, it is easier to decide how/if to dedicate posting time and space to any given project.
Wonderful post, Aaron.
Thanks for writing this.
Best,
Rishi
Hey Aaron I hadn’t even heard of meme’s until your post. Thanks for sharing this informaton… it has helped a new self-development blogger out.
Matthew
https://www.InspirationToAchieve.com
Rishi,
Thanks for the positive feedback. I’m glad you liked it!
Matthew,
Glad to help spread the word on how things are done here in the blogosphere. I know when I was first on the scene, I needed all the help I could get! 🙂
Aaron. This is excellent advice. I know that I’ve gotten backed up in “meme-debt” mode before. It seems the blogosphere goes through meme cycles. And right now we seem to be in an up cycle. Thatnks for reminding us all that we don’t HAVE to participate in every game of tag that comes around.
And thanks also for pointing out the importance of connecting with bloggers directly when you do tag them. I did not do that, and it’s a great idea. I’m going to send you an email letting you know that I tagged you right now! 😉 (Seriously, I will send emails to the folks I tagged).
Thanks
I think you’re right about the cycles, Ed. It has been awhile since I’ve been tagged for any, and now suddenly I’m back in debt again! 🙂
As far as connecting with other bloggers, that is something that I feel very strongly about. There has been a circle of about 50 or 60 bloggers that I have regularly stayed in contact with over the last 4-5 months, and I have benefited greatly from that, and I think the other bloggers have seen the value as well.
Now multiply that times how much success and networking I might have missed out on by not staying in touch with all of the almost 200 people who participated in Simply Successful Secrets, and the term “missed opportunity” comes to mind! 😉
Onward and upward, though, so fair warning to anyone who tags me – you’re going straight into my rolodex! {grin}
I am such a sucker for memes. Thank you for giving me a lens through which to view them.
Good stuff here!
Thanks, Bob – glad that you got some value from the post!
I enjoy the memes, as well, which is one of the reasons why I wanted to share some ideas about whether or not to play along! 🙂
I’ve never heard the name ‘meme’ before. I must be a virgin blogger. Great tips btw,
Cheers,
Stephen Martile
Personal Development Made Simple
http://www.stephenmartile.com
Stephen,
Well, you’re doomed now! Now that you know what it’s all about, you’re going to start getting tagged all over the place! 🙂
Glad you liked the tips!
Good article Aaron, and I think #4 and #7 are particularly important if we want to foster a considerate, cooperative community (sorry about the alliteration there). Quite a few times I’ve seen someone comment on a blog post to tag the author, despite the reason for the tag having nothing to do with the post the comment/tag appeared in. There’s really no reason for doing that, especially if the author has either an email address or a contact form.
Incidentally, some of your readers, particularly those who haven’t heard the term ‘meme’ before may be interested in the history of the term. The Biologist and evolutionary theorist Richard Dawkins first used the term in his book “The Selfish Gene”, back in 1976. It’s since grown into its own field of study. A quick search will give you a lot more info, including this. And if you’re really keen, check out this essay by Dawkins himself.
Oops, seems I messed up that first link… Here it is again: https://www.cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/formerly-hyper-weird/memetics.html
Mark,
Wow, thank you so much for sharing that additional info – I really appreciate that!
And I’m totally with you on the comment thing. I get comments here at this site about participating in memes, and they rarely see the light of day unless they somehow bring value to the conversation.
I’ve got my contact info plastered all over this site, so there is no reason to use the valuable comment real estate on each page for simple communication purposes.