GO

Starting a blog is an intimidating venture, and frankly, I’ve been talking about it – and putting it off – for some time.  I’ve had good reasons for putting it off… really…

  • I’m a decent DBA, but there are so many others in the community that know so much more than I do.
  • There are a ton of great blogs in the SQL community already; no one’s going to be interested in reading one more.
  • I’m sure I won’t say anything that hasn’t already been said a thousand times before on other blogs.
  • I don’t really have time.
  • I have a young family that needs my attention. (OK, this is the one item on the list that really is a good reason.)

I’ve come to realize that nearly all of these “reasons” are nothing more than excuses.  Working with PASS for the last couple of years has taught me a few things about community: anyone can participate, everyone has something to contribute, and the conversation always has room for more voices.  Communicating with others, sharing your thoughts, is a big part of how we learn.  Sure, you’ll pick up some things by listening, but you can learn so much more by actually doing.

Besides, who am I doing this for, anyway?  Several people have pointed out in their blogs recently that a great reason, if not the best reason, to write a blog is for yourself – to organize your thoughts, to remind yourself of what you’ve accomplished, to give yourself a reference of thing you’ve learned.  When I made the decision that I was going to do this for myself, it became a lot easier to justify the time in my already busy schedule.  I would be ecstatic if someone else learns from something I write, but that shouldn’t be my only reason for doing it, because there’s no guarantee that will happen.

Brent Ozar (b|t) and Buck Woody (b|t) gave an excellent session at the PASS Summit last fall on presenting, which is something else I want to start doing.  (One thing at a time, Ed…)  One exchange in particular stuck with me, and I think it applies to blogging, as well.  I don’t remember their exact words, but it went something like this:

  1. Not everyone is going to like what you say.
  2. Most people who don’t like what you say aren’t going to show up.  Ignore them.
  3. The rest of the people who don’t like what you say will show up just to criticize you.  Ignore them, too.
  4. That just leaves the people who want to listen and learn, so shut up and do it.

Duly noted, sirs.  This is me, shutting up and doing it.

Ed

Ed Leighton-Dick helps small and midsize businesses solve their most challenging database performance, resiliency, and data security issues at Kingfisher Data, the consulting firm he founded in 2014. He has taught thousands of people at over 200 events, including the world's largest Microsoft data platform conferences, and he has been a leader in the Microsoft data community since 2008. Microsoft has recognized Ed seven times as a Data Platform MVP for his expertise and service to the data community.