Deconstructing the Zen Blogger’s Manifesto

Next to my mon­itor at work, I have a copy of the Zen Blogger’s Mani­festo, as well as a copy of Web Dogma ’06. Both great slaps-in-the-face when your concept is drift­ing and you need to get back on track.

But today, as I was mix­ing up another cof­fee, I star­ted really pon­der­ing the ‘Manifesto:

Zen Blogger’s Manifesto

Do not fol­low in the foot­steps of oth­ers,
seek what they sought and make your own foot­steps.
Write not for oth­ers, as there are too many.
Write for your­self, as there is only one.
Sub­tract before you add.
Listen more than you speak.
Give more than you take.
Make but do not meas­ure.
If you want to change the world, love someone.
All mani­fes­tos are dung.

So let’s take a look at it, line by line and try and dis­cover where the value of the thought really is.

1. Do not fol­low in the foot­steps of oth­ers, seek what they sought and make your own footsteps.

I take this at face value. Gather your sources, your ref­er­ence mater­ial. You’re review­ing a joy­stick? Make it per­sonal. How does this joy­stick work for you and solve your prob­lem. You’re rant­ing on eBal­lot­ing? Sup­port your pos­i­tion with your own anec­dotal com­ments and opin­ions. Innov­ate don’t replicate.

2. Write not for oth­ers, as there are too many.

Ever won­der why there’s so much crap on TV? The broad­cast­ing model requires that in order for the TV sta­tion to have the most view­ers, they have to cater to the interests of the most view­ers possible..ie the low­est com­mon denom­in­ator. Pan­der­ing to the masses makes for bor­ing con­tent. Don’t waste my time, and yours, write what *you* find interesting.

3. Write for your­self, as there is only one.

This one touches on the above two points. By writ­ing for your­self, you are writ­ing about things you care about, and are inter­ested in. You invest your­self in your writ­ing. And you avoid the crap factor of writ­ing for the masses.

4. Sub­tract before you add.

Say what you need to say, then stop. You can bela­bour a point to death. Once you’ve made it, move on, people are smart, they’ll get it.
(see my point?)

5. Listen more than you speak.

If you should be so lucky as to get an actual con­ver­sa­tion hap­pen­ing on your blog, then really try and pay atten­tion to your com­menter point of view. Odds are that they’ve taken time to craft a response that won’t make them­selves look silly, so won’t you look silly if you don’t give the same care and atten­tion to your replies.

6. Give more than you take.

The ‘sphere is a com­munity. Com­munity lead­ers are ones that are seen to be advising, help­ing, con­sult­ing and basic­ally giv­ing everything they can to the com­munity. Without such people, a com­munity can die. Want to be a leader in your com­munity, then pre­pare to give. A lot.

7. Make but do not measure.

If you’re cre­at­ing con­tent for the pur­pose of gen­er­at­ing vis­its, then you’re not cre­at­ing con­tent that I want to read. And maybe oth­ers don’t want to read it either. Cre­ate because it interests you, and you will find an audience.

8. If you want to change the world, love someone.

Or more than one. You’ll be motivated.

9. All mani­fes­tos are dung.

Maybe, but dung is great fer­til­izer from which many good thing grow. Use this as fer­til­izer for your cre­ativ­ity and you may be rewarded.

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