When I don’t know what to write about, sometimes I find ideas by looking at famous quotations. Today, I thought I would show you how easy it is to write a blog post starting with nothing more than a random quote.
I did a search for “success quotes” and clicked on the first site in the list. I looked through the first few quotes displayed on the page and this one caught my eye:
“Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it. –Bruce Lee
Don’t try to be someone else, Lee says. You are unique and valuable and need nothing else. Success isn’t a function of mimicry, it is a function of being true to who you are. Not only is this the best path to success, it is the only path.
This is encouraging, isn’t it? To be told by one of the most successful martial arts practitioners in our lifetime that we have what it takes to be or do whatever we want?
On the other hand, haven’t we always been told to better ourselves by associating with successful people in our field and following in their footsteps? Aren’t we encouraged to study history and read biographies of successful people so we can learn from their stories and avoid their mistakes?
I don’t think these messages are inconsistent. We can and should learn from others, not to copy them but to improve ourselves.
Lee had great teachers and sparring partners. He spent many years training and perfecting his technique and eventually created his own style of martial arts. He learned from many others, but when he stepped onto the mat to fight an opponent, he didn’t try to emulate them. He made his mark on the world by showing us who he was.
So. . . there you go. A blog post, from scratch. From a quote. I could add some observations about how this might apply to marketing a law practice, but it’s not necessary. The lesson touches on a universal theme.
When you write a blog post or article for your list, you don’t have to talk about the law. In fact, you probably shouldn’t talk about the law most of the time, even if you’re writing for other lawyers. Write about things that resonate with you and you’ll find an audience of people who want to hear what you say.
Be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself.
