I'm uneasily aware that my blog has slipped to the bottom of my agenda. No posts since August.
This is of course, one of the golden rules of blogging - make it regular. So if I know this, and really would like people to be interested enough to read it- what's going on?
If people recognise that what they're doing is not the way it should be, feel guilty but still don't change what they're doing - there's a reason. Maybe not an acknowledged reason - I can make all the excuses I like about being busy, or uninspired - but a reason that, twisted though it might be, is stopping you doing what you know would give you more success.
So - what are my reasons for failing to blog? I have been busy, that's true. And on holiday. But I find time to watch my favourite TV programmes or shout at the TV during BBC Questiontime. So really, I know that these aren't my reasons.
And I might well have been uninspired - although as mentioned, current affairs still stir me to action in terms of tweeting. So that's demolished that excuse.
So what is the reason I'm not tweeting regularly? Am I lazy? Unreliable?
Excuses - or 'reasons' - as we re-label them, are often a smokescreen for what's really going on. And I think the real reasons why my blogs aren't regular, is that actually I am butterfly-minded, easily distracted and at the beginning, I have loads of enthusiasm, but not the discipline to maintain momentum. Plus, my time management can be appalling.
And if I'm honest, I suppose that sometimes, I see all the intelligent comments made by other bloggers, and wonder if what I think about the world is worth reading.
All bad habits begin like this, I think. We find justification for our actions, whatever they are, and on the surface, they satisfy us.
But scratch that surface, go a little deeper, and the reasons are different, often very different. A little self analysis often reveals more unflattering 'reasons'. And once you acknowledge the true reasons for your unhelpful behaviour, then you can start to tackle them. And ultimately change them.
