On June 3, 2014 I began posting little philosophical blogs here every day. So this week, I hit my one year mark, which was my target for daily postings. Today was going to be the first day I skipped, but I decided instead to write this short explanation. I'll still be blogging, and probably several times a week. But I won't hold myself to the daily commitment. It was an experiment. And it worked, at least for me. I hope it has for you.
Blogging daily has made me pay more attention to the world swirling around me. Things that I used to notice for two seconds, I now may dwell on for six seconds to see whether they deserve much more of my reflection and time. And if they do, I'll sit and write to see what comes. I've had lots of new thoughts as a result. And I notice more. It's also a nice discipline to write in 200-400 words. It's a level of reflection that's new for me. Too many bloggers write way too much. Who's got the time? Even great ideas can get lost in long stretches of verbiage. I've tried to be succinct. I hope I succeed at least most of the time.
Each day this past year, I've put a message in a bottle, and tossed it into the big, vast ocean of the internet. Some of you have found various bottles, and opened them to look at the message inside. I thank you for that. Your effort has joined mine to give me a sense of contribution. And for every one of you who has left a public comment, I thank you also. I appreciate as well those of you who have written me privately about one post or another. I didn't realize when I started that lots of top corporate executive friends and people in the public eye have to refrain from public posts that are of a personal and philosophical nature because of the glass box you live in. And so you write me privately. And I benefit.
I'll continue to do philosophy every day. I hope you will, too. But there may not be a new message in a bottle from me here every day. I'll see when the spirit moves. I'm expecting to write several times a week, still. Just not every day. But I hope you'll look for that bottle that on any given day might be floating in the water, pop the cork when you see one, ponder the message, and occasionally tuck a reply back in and toss it again into the waves. Let's keep thinking together about things that matter.