Principled Blogging

I work for an organization that culturally abides by ten guiding principles that I am also expected to work and live by. These principles have a deep place in my heart, and I do my best to exemplify them whenever possible. They include:

1. Integrity
2. Compliance
3. Value creation
4. Principled entrepreneurship
5. Customer focus
6. Knowledge
7. Change
8. Humility
9. Respect
10. Fulfillment

I want to challenge myself this next year by doing my best to fill in the gaps in this blog where I’m not doing a good job living by these principles. The areas I’d like to work on this next year on this blog are:

1. Customer focus — You’re not here reading this because you love me. I get it, we don’t know each other. You’re here trying to learn things you might not already know and see what another person’s perspective is on an issue. To do this, I’m going to be doing more reviews, both positive and negative, on companies, equipment, apparel, shows, etc. that you might find helpful in your own riding experience. In turn, I’m also going to be doing less lesson recaps. Let’s be honest– unless you’re struggling with the same issue, you probably don’t care, and that’s okay. I’ll still do some recaps when I get stuck and need advice of course (the street goes both ways!), but other than that, you don’t need to know the bullets of what I did in the ring today, what I ate for breakfast, etc. So let’s stick to what you really care about.
2. Humility — I’ve noticed in my time blogging it’s quite popular to use blogging as a way to get attention, brag, or just promote yourself and how awesome you are. Maybe I’m wrong, but it’s just something I’ve observed. And for the record, I already think anyone who had the balls to publicly blog about their thoughts and experiences is awesome! 🙂 But for the purpose of my blog, I’m not here for me; I’m here for you, and we’re here for each other when we need it. A lack of humility doesn’t help me become a better rider and horseman, and I don’t think it helps you either. Brings me back to customer focus: if I’m not helping you, why would I write about it in my blog? In short, I promise to be even more humble in my blog posts this next year.
3. Value creation — I’m going to be pushing the edge on this one. I’d like to improve the content of this blog, and one way I think I can create more value is through reading. With all of my travel for work, my lessons are sporadic, and to make up for that, I spend a lot of time flying and reading horse books to keep me mentally on top of my game and thinking about the “nuts and bolts” that I normally don’t have the time to think about. I’d like to share some notes and big takeaways that I get from books, for better or for worse. Let’s talk about the classic riders and the newbies, and what their advice seems to be for us.
4. Fulfillment — To be honest, I’ve definitely not found fulfillment in this blog. I’ve made some awesome friends, but from just the writing itself, I’m not finding any meaning in my work. I’m hoping that with these changes and refocusing on my audience, I can start to find fulfillment through this blog. My only hope is that this focus in turn generates more discussion and challenge for other riders and horsemen in the sport. At the end of the day, isn’t that what blogging is all about?

Cheers y’all.