
With a brand new year on the calendar, everyone is thinking about their resolutions and how to make the new year great. This blogger is not about that new resolution business… however… that does not mean there are no plans in motion for a great year.
The imperfect analogy that will be in application this year is the behind the scenes lessons of the outgoing year. In the past year, the art of writing was in it’s infancy. There were a few posts spattered about on this site. It’s been a super slow process of learning a lot of things. Now that some knowledge is gained, there are lessons that will move into this year to help move this blog and it’s message forward.
The Imperfect Analogy
This blog is built on the WordPress platform. Back in the day, that was all that was needed to be known. Today, there is a tale of two versions of this platform. Keep in mind, this is a totally imperfect analogy.
WordPress.com versus WordPress.org
What’s the difference you ask? The dot com version is one that is hosted for you. The blogger has to select their template and get on with the business of blogging. The dot org version is hosted by you. You’ve got to set up everything. You’ve got to back everything up. You’ve got to design and make this home feel like the home you want. It’s a lot more work and involves a lot more diligence.
How’s this tied to the way a home is run?
Two versions of home
When growing up, life had it’s fill of adventures and challenges. To the growing person, it was a daily eye opening series of lessons. Some days were tough, some days were fun, some days had challenges, each day felt new in some way shape or form. That is much like the experience of blogging on the dot com side of WordPress.
Why?
Parents took care of the burden of life so that the child could grow and blossom. The parents hosted it all for the child. The child just needed to learn the given lessons, listen, apply, explore, and become an adult. The choice of templates were limited, the choice of bed time hours limited, but the child thrived in the structure and platform that they were given.
Granted, not all children take full advantage of what is given to them. Like this blogger for example, he didn’t take full advantage of the options on the dot com side of WordPress until recently. His growth could have gone much faster if he had applied himself.
Many children these days, like most children across the ages, do not always take advantage of what they have or will fall to the circumstances that’s presented to them. Most will find a way to thrive and later appreciate what was and could have been. Children often will thrive because of or despite their circumstances, just as they may not.
In the second version of the home, things are more like the dot org version of WordPress. The parents now have to create the home that will welcome their children. They have to create the hosting packages for these children to grow. They have to learn on the job. They have to improve on the job. And there aren’t many resources readily available these parents. Sure, they can ask their parents, but the real leaps of growth comes when they set time aside to go find information to apply to their relationships.
This blogger had to do a lot of learning to understand what the dot org platform is all about. This slowed the rate of writing to allow time to learn a lot about the cost and benefits of the options available. The learning curve feels steep. Any and all changes made to the site has to be done by this blogger or someone he’s hired to do the changes (so far, no one has been hired yet… the site doesn’t generate any funds to afford talent yet).
Much like parenting, the benefits won’t be seen for some long time. The investment may be steep. The learning curve definitely steep. Each stages of childhood requires more skills. The parent can’t hit cruise control at all.
Unlike the WordPress dot com, where all the protections and backups are handled for you, in parenting the wordpress dot org way, every single decisions have to be made to the best of abilities for the best possible outcome with limited data. Only time will tell if the choices were correct. All the backups, all the protections, all the insurances, all the bills, everything is in the hands of CEOs of the home… the parents.
Imperfect Analogy – Happy New Year
In this coming year, as this blogger learns to improve his writing art, he’s also mindful of stepping up his parenting skills as well as his husbandly skills. Each year is full of opportunities and challenges. Each year requires a better version of yourself to face what is on the agenda of the year.
Several years ago, the blog was a concept. The home was just built with two people in it. The two CEOs. Over the course of time, this writer has built up more than one blog and has been blessed with more than one child. Now, the real challenge is to take this blog to the levels it deserves without taking anything way from the children who look up to him to be there for them.
This requires planning well in advance of the calendar year changing. This means looking far ahead and planning both for now and also then. This means more teamwork and more listening than speaking. There is much that goes into making a year great, the wish here is that yours will be awesome by design.
Have a great new year on purpose. Make your home a paradise by intention. No matter which style of home you’re building, just go out and make it awesome!