I need to write blogs.  Everyone knows that.  Everyone has to write blogs.  Really?  What if I don’t?  What does it say about me?  What I know? What I don’t know? Or am I just busy?

This is not a motivational tale.  No happy ending. Enjoy.

So what are my Top 10 Reasons Why I Don’t and Shouldn’t Write Blogs?

1. It’s already been written.  Of course it has.  It’s 2014, I mean what can you write that has not been written? Leadership coaching? Agile leadership programs?  A blog on estimation? Get in the battle on scaling agile?  How about professional coaching?  ORSC?  Being a Scrum Master?  I mean, we have years and years of people blogging and writing books and presenting on this stuff.  Are there REALLY any unanswered questions? {Note to Self: If I do find a topic that has not been written – see #2-#10! }

2. Is it really worth wasting someone’s time? You know the posts – you read them and think “damn, I’ll never get that time back!”.  Wow, what if now that I put that here – I actually write a post (oh wait, this is a post) – someone puts that in the comments… I guess I can mark that as spam right?

3. I might miss something.   This is a great one.  I mean, of course I’ll missing something.  How could I not? A blog post that covers it all – good luck.  This seems like a great one to fall back on.  I certainly have a lot of partial blog posts written – just never quite got to the finish point (see #4).

4. Hello!  I have a job!  tick tick tick…  I actually have clients and can’t just sit around and write blogs people!  I mean really – you folks who blog all the time – what’s the deal?  You trying to make the rest of us feel bad?  You know who you are!  It’s like you’re pathological about it.  “Gotta write my weekly blog!” WHY?  You are driving us nuts – especially if its a good post or a topic I thought about writing a month ago (okay, that does not happen that often – BUT it could!).

5. I might say something stupid. Well, that seems like a good bet.  I mean, anytime you are writing something that interests you and you have passion for (that is the advice, right?) – you are bound to get a bit fired up and perhaps take something a bit too far (see #6 as well!).  And no one else has ever said anything stupid, so that makes you look even stupider.  Is stupider a word? I guess so, spell check did not catch it – but it does look weird!  So, ya, I guess I could misspell something too!

6. I might make some people mad. So maybe some people like it, but others are mad about it (and probably think it is stupid).  Maybe it causes a “stir” (egad!).  Actually, I can live with this – as long as I was not just being mean.

7. Many of the most successful people I know do not blog. – So why should I? Look around at who you know.  Who do you respect?  Are they blogging?  I have a long list of people I look up to and they do not blog.  Sounds like a great approach!

8. It might suck.  I mean, I’m not a writer, so seems like a good bet.  Sure, I’ll improve as I write!  Incremental improvement right!  Deliver > Learn > Improve > Deliver…   I know that works, but I’m not a writer so… (did that work – just looping back to the beginning?  Well… I’ll just move on to #9 – that will distract them, it distracts EVERYONE!).

9. I have Twitter! – YEA Twitter! (@jcalabrese) No one reads blogs anymore right? Just schedule a few tweets! Same thing. I’m still out there right? Good enough!? I just need to post something witty (at least to me). Maybe I will get some RTs! Or Follows! Cool! Who needs all these extra words! Could even get crazy and use Google+! Ya that’s a real thing and its better than FacePlant!

10. I’ll think of something.  If somehow I make it to here and none of those work, I will find another reason.  I am very confident in my ability to find additional reasons not to write!  I could… go fishing (thanks John), go for a run, a hike, play xbox, watch paint dry – lots of options!

Whew! Now that that is out the way, I think I can safely avoid writing blogs for all of 2014!   Thanks to 7 Ways to Stay Motivated to Write Killer Blog Posts for the ideas (top 10 ten list + mistakes I’ve made).

Feel free to use these as reasons not to write blog posts!  And let me know if you have any other reasons I can add to my list!

[Update] Many of you realized when I wrote this I was half joking.  I wanted to get all these ideas out of my head and in public.  There was a truth to these reasons, but they do not outweigh the benefits!  If you are looking for more ideas for blogs, I’d recommend: Write Blog Posts Readers Love.