I have been blogging for quite a while, and some people tell me that I am wasting my time and can’t see what benefits there are for me. Who reads long form articles nowadays anywhere with platforms like Twitter? The answer, lots of people.

Blogging has been a transformational part of my life that I could never have predicted. It seems so simple, yet it has so many layers of growth for all who partake in it. Every article I have ever posted has allowed me to be more, and to become more.

It’s only because it is something I am doing so much of now that I am seeing the effects compound even further. No matter how good you are at writing or what knowledge you have, there is an opportunity for all of us to blog regularly and I empower you to do so.

Below are the nine ways you will have enormous growth every time you write a blog post.

1. It allows you to be vulnerable

There is a reason why I have put this point first. That reason is quite simple; writing a blog post will allow you to grow because it lets you be vulnerable. In a normal conversation with another person, most of us don’t be quite as vulnerable as we should be.

When you start to write regular blog posts you begin to peel away layer by layer of yourself, and you become more vulnerable without even realising it. The more vulnerable you become, the more you let go and grow as a person. You stop caring about what others think and begin caring about how you can teach others something that will be valuable for them.

Looking back on some of my own posts, I have shared some deeply personal things, but they have come from a place of happiness within myself. That happiness comes from all of the nice messages I get daily now from people who are moved by the advice I have shared.

Imagine everyone made a commitment to write blog posts and be vulnerable. Just think how much more wisdom would be shared with the world thanks to this one small act!

2. Others share their experience with you

As you begin to share your blog posts with the world about your chosen topic, after a while, your community will begin to share their experiences with you. I have had people message me who have experienced violence, rape, loss of a loved one, failure of a business, etc, and every one of them has helped me to grow.

The lessons these individuals teach me are real and happening right now. The more references you have about a particular idea, the stronger that idea forms in your own mind. Each day, people that have experienced a lot of pain reach out to me and show me that they are ultimately going to be the successful ones.

They are choosing to be vulnerable and deciding on their own path, sharing their story and giving back to me, and you can’t ask for anything more. It’s these people that contribute to my growth, one by one, by showing me that the things I think are tough, are actually not.

3. It reinforces your beliefs

Through my journey of blogging so far, many of my beliefs have changed or been given a new perspective. A lot of this has come from the interviews I have been doing on here for Addicted2Success. When you go into an interview, you often have a pre-conceived idea about someone or what they have achieved.

Almost every time, by the end, the beliefs about that person and what they have done are completely transformed. As I write the blog post from the interview, these new beliefs are then reinforced again as I try and translate the interview into a language that makes sense to everyone else.

4. It’s therapeutic

Recently, I had an experience with a highly negative person and writing a blog post became like a type of therapy. It allowed me to reflect on the situation, let go, and try and find the lesson to share with all of you.

As I wrote the blog post, I realised that I was still stuck in the emotion of the situation, and I actually came up with live strategies to deal with my experience that I hadn’t thought of before.

I found a way to use the blog post to inspire others instead of being stuck in the pattern that I was in for a number of days. The negative person was dominating my thoughts, but the inspiring messages I got back from people that read the blog post made me forget about them. So in short, blogging can be therapeutic and help heal the mind.

5. You are forced to live what you write (accountability)

A lot of personal growth can be traced back to accountability. In order for you to grow, you need to do things that are uncomfortable. By their very nature, doing things that are uncomfortable are hard to do, and the best way to achieve them is to have others hold you accountable.

Through the process of blogging, you have an opportunity for growth by committing things to your readers who will follow up with you to see if you have taken action. For example, I committed in a blog post to do a 38 day fast, and so once everyone knew I was going to do it, I had no choice but to follow through.

In a real life demonstration of this point, I am going to commit right now that I will donate my own money to Addicted2Success’s campaign with Pencils Of Promise. Now I have to donate because everyone is going to ask me about it – pretty cool huh?

6. Who you are and what you have become spreads

Each blog post you write will tell people who you are and what you are becoming as you begin to share your thoughts with your community. People within your network who previously didn’t know you that well can begin to learn things about you.

The relationships you form through blogging can help you grow in many ways. They can also present opportunities to you that you wouldn’t have had otherwise. With my own blogging, I have people coming up to me every day who talk to me as if they know me on a personal level.

Later on, these people then tell me that they have read every post I’ve written, and they start opening up about their own lessons.

“Like a virus, who you become starts to spread through your direct network and then onto other networks. Before you know it, who you have become will have a totally different meaning than it did before, all thanks to blogging” – Tim Denning

7. You will have to research

As I write a new blog post, there are always times when I need to dig a bit deeper and research a certain idea. This allows me to consume articles and videos that I wouldn’t have normally consumed.

It’s funny how researching personal development on a daily basis actually helps you with your own growth.

8. You get to seek feedback

When you are breaking through a barrier trying to find a way around something or a solution to a problem, having others give you feedback is very useful. Through the process of blogging, you can ask questions and seek feedback from your audience.

This feedback can then be used to construct strategies that can be rolled out in your own life. I have also found that this same feedback has a global flavour to it because the internet is not just in your home country; it’s everywhere.

I have had feedback from people in places like Africa where someone has told me that the idea I have presented is considered revolutionary in their culture, whereas, in my own culture, it may have just been passed by as another idea.

You individually cannot complete the process of growth on your own; you need others to help you grow. Blogging can be that platform you use to get the input required for growth.

9. It allows you to document your life

The last point I love about blogging is that it allows you to document your life. Part of the process of growth is to be able to look back and get some perspective as to how far you have come and how far you still have to go.

When I look back at all my blog posts, I can see a huge growth curve from the first post to this one. I can see that I have learnt so many lessons and slowly begun to inspire others. I can see the highs and lows in my life and how I dealt with them.

I can see my passion beginning to be revealed to me for the first time and my purpose starting to shine through. People around me can also witness this same process, and these blog posts will be forever on the internet in one form or another.

Everything I have done up until this point has led me to this moment. If you have ever thought about blogging, then the time is now. It’s never too late to start, and there are lots of reasons to do so. Get out there, have a go and enjoy the growth along the way.

Have you started blogging already? If so, message me a link to your blog so I can check it out. For those who haven’t, message me on Facebook or Twitter and tell me why.