Best of my blog: 15 years, 2000 posts later
Like so many other peasants — and royalty for that matter — I owe much of my good fortune to luck and timing. And nothing has been more beneficial to my career than getting into blogging before it became blasé.
I barely made it.
You see, in the winter of 2005, my kid sister started a blog. I enjoyed long-form writing in college and am never short of opinions, so I thought I could follow her lead as a way to flex my writing muscle. A month later, I started this blog under the pseudonym of Smooth Harold (may he rest in peace).
Little did I know the act would soon launch a career as a writer and adviser, after finding success in reaching large audiences. By the end of 2005, I was hired by Aol as a paid blogger, which lead to bigger and greater writing gigs, editorial roles, and ultimately the commercial writing I do now.
I said barely made it because by the end of 2006, blogging had gone mainstream, five years after blog pioneers first stuck their stakes in the ground. In the ensuing years, it became increasingly difficult for any good writer to break through and get a shot. So I’m grateful for the one I was given. I’m thankful for my kid sister’s first move. I’m thankful to all the editors, publishers, and clients for trusting my way with the yarn.
This spring, my blog turned 15 years old. Over 2000 posts later, these are my favorite entries:
- How I got to where I am today
- Acknowledgements: Without these people, I wouldn’t be here
- The news is wrong. Humanity has improved. These stats prove it.
- 10 things you might not know about me
- 7 things I learned in Costa Rica
- Latest example of the good outweighing the bad
- Why I’m reluctant to call myself a journalist
- Traveling well: 5 ways to rethink your bucket list
- What 12 years of content marketing taught me
- My 10 articles of faith
- Sober performances and the return of stage presence
- Why I quit reading one of the most beautiful books ever written
- The “new” needs friends: How this movie changed my life
- My best travel stories to date
- 5 reasons sad stories are good for you
- How to have better conversations
- Never let negative people, wrong trees, or bad timing discourage you
- Critic turned fan: Just how “happy” is Disneyland?
- With no electricity, my contributions cease to exist
- Things dance class taught me: Gender roles, body talking, and the Cypress Hill two-step
- I was there: Great moments in rock history
- The secret to life is working to death
- In the news: My best work to date
- My short-lived career as a copywriter
- Here’s what happened when a billionaire overpaid me by $20,000
- Easy peasy: 5 ways to rewire your brain for happiness
- Genius versus everybody else: How better content works for the 99%
- 13 things I learned from the world’s greatest thinkers
- I have the best job in the world
- Spinal fusion: 10 things I learned surviving a scary-sounding and life-altering surgery
- I cheer for these football teams in this order for these reasons
- 7 things I learned as an underpaid fast-food employee
- How my daughter helps me “master” life
- 5 things I’ve learned about photography in 10 years of marriage
- Rearing a delicate dog with no regrets
- My wife is so much more than a “silent” business partner
- Did I pass that on? Human genetics are incredible
- I should have been a Daft Punk
- Remember when the doctor said my kid had brain cancer?
- Why bad diction didn’t stop me from becoming a writer
- Why work-life blending doesn’t work
- How I cheated Christmas in 1988
- Don’t aim for success. If you persist, it will find you.
- My scooter made this mundane afternoon all sorts of awesome
- How can I get my kids off their phones
- 5 ways to make better decisions
- Never postpone what you have the desire and means to do today
- How my daughter inspired me to plank for 5 minutes
- How to succeed: Don’t quit until everyone in the room tells you “no”
- My favorite saying is empowering: “I won’t judge”
- Hitting your pipes as hard as you can this year
- Using numbers to look your best
- 8 people you should be extra kind to
- You’re never too busy for people
- 13 things I learned in France
- Don’t retire: Vacation several times a year until you die
- Growing pains: Top 10 lies of life
- Want to live to 100? Do these 9 things
- Top 10 piano sonatas
- Why now is the most important time
- The best things I’ve written as a part-time sports writer
- Why the internet is so hard to put down
- 4 mistakes we make when comforting grievers
- What I learned staying at Trump’s #1 rated hotel
- A geek’s guide to avoiding buyers remorse
- 5 smart ways to do more in less time
- Smartphone rules for kids: what I make my children agree to
- Top 5 regrets of the dying
- My phone settings are better than yours
- The best British words according to an American
- Skepticism educates. Optimism wins.
- 20 business cliches that make you sound stupid
- Why the world isn’t as scary as you think it is
- Despite testing negative for the “wanderlust” gene, here’s why I still love travel
- Like father, like son: Using the bathroom for peace and quiet
- What I learned from anger management class
- 5 tips for traveling with kids
- Have you ever played hooky just to read a book?
- How dopamine loops ruin our smartphones
- What I learned returning “home” after 10 years
- Your success depends on withstanding nasty rejection
- 5 ways the great outdoors will make you a better person
- The pros and cons of electric car camping
- 7 good reasons to read my first book, Log Off
- 10 reasons my Dad is awesome
- Why travel is easier for some but harder for others
- What bad fishing taught me about good business
- Say it with a GIF: How looping animations speak where words fail
- Overheard: “My mom confiscated all my girl jeans”
- I’m sorry we can’t make a deal. Please don’t heckle me.
- Uh—there’s a time and a place for that, but it’s not your iPhonebody
- Elmo is a corn-eating atheist
- How I celebrate Black Friday
- 5 ways to rig your environment for success
- How to crush your next decade: 10 daily choices to change your life
- 10 things that scare me: 2013 edition
- Things I’m thankful for
- Why I love tomatoes
- 9 curious questions to cut through boring small talk
- My childhood will mourn the death of Sears
- Ask questions first, spank later
- How Disney turned me into a travel writer
- 52 of my favorite natural highs
- My top 10 favorite passages from Tom Sawyer
- Having little ambition is not an injustice
- How an overlooked state park cemented my love for hiking the world
- The greatest compliment I’ve ever been paid: “You rock too hard”
- 5 things that made my summer
- My attempts to be a shoe designer (with a reply from Nike)
- How I became an entrepreneur (aka self-employed)
- How excessive internetting increases groupthink and stupidity
- The power of applause: why recognition works
- 8 ways to overcome uncertainty
- All you ever need to know about employee appreciation
- Why saying “thank you” is a powerful thing
- Remember the time I turned down that job at Google?
- 5 ways adventure travel makes you a better person
- How money prevents us from seeing the big picture
- The time I hiked Patagonia with National Geographic
- 8 ways to raise resilient children
- 10 years after quitting Facebook: I still have friends
- Moving from toxic to positive relationships always requires loneliness
- 5 sensations every human should experience
- After seeing this movie, I’m never complaining about air travel again
- Best herbal teas ever
- MAP: Where in the world have I been?
- Don’t go to church if you want to stay fit
- 10 things I learned after visiting Japan
- How I’ve indoctrinated my children as an American parent
- In my own words: 16 years as a freelance writer (see also: 10 FAQs as a freelancer)
- Why love at first sight is a sham
- Why you should read Mark Twain
- My friend’s writing on depression is powerful
- 7 tips for putting your phone down
- 8 hygiene habits that changed my life
- When it comes to raising kids, “quality time” is fake news
- Yikes! What I looked like as a kid
- You can do anything you put your mind to, but your body has to agree
- You always have a choice in life
- 5 ways to fly like a pro
- Top 10 ways to avoid fake friends
- Want better relationships? Avoid these 6 “love busters”
- Read my favorite published works
- With regards to balance, money is everything
- You’re doing it wrong: 7 bad habits of well-meaning parents
- How to hope: Top 10 ways to starve your fears
- 7 things to do on 7 continents
- This is what a workaholic, internet addict looks like
- Remember when mixtapes were cool?
- How I feel after sending my first book to printers
- Be extra kind to these 7 minorities
- What 10,000 miles from home feels like
- How to travel a seemingly divided world
- See all posts by title
2 Comments
Very cool. Great posts and articles. You always had an inquisitive mind, endless energy, and a large twinkle in your eye, as well as a grand command of story telling. So I knew, you would be ok as an adult, if I could get you through the somewhat dangerous teen years. I really knew you were a deep thinker, when, at age 2, you asked me why planes didn’t flap their wings, like birds do? And you asked, “what kept them up?”
Hey, thanks for the shout-out. 🙂
Blogging is the one thing in life I did before it went mainstream. I can’t say that about anything else at all. In fact, I’m usually behind the times, but blogging — blogging is something I loved the minute I found out about it.
Also, I love reading “Best Of” lists, especially best of blogs. 🙂