March 29, 2012 45 Comments

Watching Mitch Joel Blog

Mitch Joel

I’m a Mitch Joel fan. I’ve also been lucky to have dinner and then breakfast with him over these few days. I’m now watching him blog. It’s fascinating. Mitch is such a smarter writer than me, such a better, more thoughtful blogger. You know, Mitch has a huge past in music journalism. He was a BIG TIME journalist back in the day. And maybe that’s what I’m seeing.

When I watch Mitch blog, what I see is someone who can synthesize other materials around his core idea. Right now, he’s writing about ideas. In a way, I’m scooping him with this blog post because I’ll publish mine much faster than Mitch will publish his.

Why? Because I’m not citing other articles. I’m not researching. I’m observing and pointing something out.

Be Mitch Joel

You should be exactly like Mitch. Yes. Research and find the exact right sentence for what you intend to say. Write with some meat. Put out a post that will really be resilent.

Be Chris Brogan

You should be exactly like me. Yes. Write down an observation. Think about how this might be useful to someone else. Write with a little meat and a lot of “relativity fiber.” Put out a post that will be retweeted whether or not it’s any good.

Be You

Obviously, the answer is that you should be you. You’re the best you ever. I’d write just like you, if I were you.

But truth be told, I believe that Mitch’s blog offers consistent value. Read it here.

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  • http://www.conorneill.com Conor

    There are three little voices in our heads constantly chattering away:

    1) The voice of judgement eg “Mitch Joel wrote a better article than I could write on this”
    2) The voice of cynicism eg “What is one post going to do to improve my life, the world…”
    3) The voice of fear eg “Who am I to write this post?”

    Steven Pressfield says that voice #3 is scary but indicates that you are doing something that really is what you should be doing ;-)

    • http://chrisbrogan.com/ Chris Brogan

      I hate those voices. I work hard to distract them. : ) 

  • http://www.danieldecker.net/ Daniel Decker

    My mom always told me that here are 52 cards in a deck for a reason. Like cards, we’re all unique and each of us need to play to who we are. : ) 

    • http://www.twistimage.com/blog Mitch Joel – Twist Image

      Reminds me of my fave line from Oscar Wilde: “be you, because others are already taken.”

  • Jack Lynady

    Nice Post Chris. Best line “Put out a post that will be retweeted whether or not it’s any good.” And look your up to 143 on this one. ;)

    • http://chrisbrogan.com/ Chris Brogan

      That’s the humor. : ) 

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  • Luiz Carlos Da Silva

    Deus fez os abismos para que o homem compreendesse as montanhas. Fez o fogo para que o homem valorizasse as águas. E fez você para que com Êle descobrisse a vida que há pela sua frente e encontrasse a felicidade. Portanto… Seja Feliz e um bom dia de paz e amor.

  • http://www.jondale.com Jon Dale

    Chris, I love this post.  Be Mitch Joel, Be Chris Brogan, Be You! Brilliant!

  • http://www.twistimage.com/blog Mitch Joel – Twist Image

    Thanks, Chris… let’s go hat shopping…

  • http://www.marcensign.com/blog Marc Ensign

    Chris…I really wish you would have gotten to the “Be You” part a little sooner.  I was halfway through shaving my head to be Mitch when I read that.  Dang.

    • http://www.twistimage.com/blog Mitch Joel – Twist Image

      Enjoy the mohawk :)

  • Jarod Billingslea

    yeah you certainly posted your ”
    much faster than Mitch”, because you even mispelled ”
    resilent” in the “Be Mitch Joel” paragraph, and you even made a fragment in the “Be you paragraph”… ”
    You’re the best you ever.”–what?

    • http://chrisbrogan.com/ Chris Brogan

      “You’re the best you ever” is actually a proper sentence. “You” is the subject “are” is the predicate, and “the best you” is the whatever you call that thing after the predicate, and “ever” is a vote. 

      • http://www.bigbuttonremotes.com/ John @ Universal Remotes

        ” Whatever you call that thing after the predicate”… LOL. Insert grammatical correctness term.

  • Jarod Billingslea

    Second though! Wow that was a great post Mitch wrote. Haha you guys were getting inspiration from each other the whole time. Really amazing to see that even the biggest bloggers are the same as the rest of the bloggers (work-wise).

    • http://chrisbrogan.com/ Chris Brogan

      We rarely get to see each other, Mitch and I, so it’s only naturally that we’d resonate a bit when in person. I draw great strength from smart people all the time, though. It’s how I have done what I do. : ) 

      • http://www.twistimage.com/blog Mitch Joel – Twist Image

        Chris always inspires me… I have a list of Blog ideas from our chats and from me watching him present.

  • http://twitter.com/ppetrovski Peter Petrovski

    What app is Mitch using to write?

    • http://chrisbrogan.com/ Chris Brogan

      I think it’s a notepad file. 

    • http://www.twistimage.com/blog Mitch Joel – Twist Image

      I’m actually using vmware on my MacBook Air because I love Windows Livewriter for Blogging and it’s only available on the Windows platform.

      • http://twitter.com/ppetrovski Peter Petrovski

        Interesting. Would love to read more about how you draft, write and publish posts.

  • http://www.homehelperslockport.com/ InHomeSeniorCare

    I think I’m more of a Chris than a Mitch. Then again, I’m more of a me than a Chris…

  • HomeInspections

     Thanks for linking this over to Mitch, he’s got some quality stuff there!

  • http://youtube.com/user/tommyisastrategist Tommy Walker

    I thought his article on stealing ideas was absolutely brilliant. 

    I think I might steal it :-P

  • http://perfectioncoding.com/ Martyn Chamberlin

    I’m so glad I got to shake hands with Mitch Joel at Blog World. He’s a great man. Love his body of work, and the company he runs. Twist Image is what I want to be when I grow up!

    • http://perfectioncoding.com/ Martyn Chamberlin

      He’s using Windows 7 on a MacBook Air. Treason!

      • http://www.twistimage.com/blog Mitch Joel – Twist Image

        No choice… My fave Blogging platform is Windows Livewriter. So, I run vmware.

        • http://perfectioncoding.com/ Martyn Chamberlin

          You’re a true geek, Mitch. Most people don’t even know what virtual desktops are! Truth be told, I have VMware Fusion on my MacBook Air too, so you’re not alone. ;)

  • John

    Just been over to Mitch’s blog which lead on to about 5 others. Thanks for sending me on a  nice ride !

  • http://www.geekywriter.com/ Romy Singh

    Really nice inspirational post…. :) be Mitch, be Chris, be you.

    Be you. Because original you is far more better then copied one. ;) but do take inspiration from other people, because without inspiration we can’t do anything perfectly… So be you :)

  • JR Hinds

    Thanks for the inspiration! I’m putting together posts for a blog I’m launching in a month. I really appreciate the guidance.

  • http://twitter.com/CloseToHomeMD Alice Ackerman, MD,

    Chris, thanks for this. I spent a few months trying hard to blog in the way you describe Mitch doing. Using sources, citing references. It came out, well, not good.  Then I got frustrated and just wrote a post about how hard I was trying and how it wasn’t working. Guess what? That worked! I think that is what people mean by “find your voice.”  It’s got to be YOU or it isn’t authentic. I don’t want to be a reporter, I want to connect with people.

    Great post, thanks again (and looking forward to meeting Mitch in person at Social Slam in April).

  • Brett Bern

    Being “you” is the only thing that differentiates you. When I was a kid, I always wanted to be like “that guy” or “that other guy”. I also wondered why everyone couldn’t just be like me. As an adult, I realize how horrified that those thoughts are now.

  • Steve Watson

    Thanks for all this. I had wasted a lot of my time blogging like Mitch. Using all kinds of  references. Honestly speaking it was poor.  Then I posted about my failure rate and all that. And you won’t believe, it worked!!

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  • Ritasferrari

    “You’re the best you ever.”…I swear I read that somewhere in one of my son’s Dr. Seuss books! ;-)

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  • http://JimRaffel.com/ Jim Raffel

    Chris – Truth be told I’ve read about 3 blog posts in the last 6 weeks. It’s been like that. But somehow I ended up on this one when I opened Reader. I know why, it’s just difficult to explain to others. The best me, needed an editor. My editor turned out to be a journalist turned content marketing guru (shhh, don’t tell Shelby I called her a guru – she’ll start charging more). So, I know what you mean when you watch a journalist write. It’s different than what you do or I do. It’s truly amazing to watch. They are so good at it they don’t even get it. 

    You have to be a writer who got there not through journalism to appreciate what it is they do.

    Cheers to all the journalists making the internet a better place to read and write :)

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    haha, interesting idea, i should ahve a try if there is opportunity.
    thanks

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  • http://www.kronikmedia.co.uk/ Web Designer, London

     Blogging is indeed a very time consuming task. Anyone who thinks it is a get rich scheme is wasting their time. However that said I do intend to make a full time income from blogging some day, from a sunny beach somewhere which I think many aspiring bloggers want to achieve. I started blogging almost 3 years ago and I am far from it. Nevertheless I have not given up. I would like to believe that I will get there in less than 2 more years.

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