Elements of Visionary Blogging, Part 3: Hone Your Discernment

April 1st, 2008 by Easton Ellsworth

Welcome to Part 3 of a 5-part series on the elements of the Visionary Blogging method, which will help you develop important skills that you need in order to become a more effective blogger and improve your blog more efficiently.

This article is about discernment. I’ll explain what discernment is, why you need discernment in order to be a successful blogger, and how you can improve your power of discernment.

I’ll give you some homework, too.

The 5 Elements of Visionary Blogging

• Part 1: Awareness
• Part 2: Focus
• Part 3: Discernment
• Part 4: Imagination
• Part 5: Diligence

What is Discernment?

Discernment is the ability to evaluate. It requires awareness (the ability to see) and focus (the ability to look), the first two elements of vision.

Why You Need Discernment In Order to Be a Successful Blogger

Discernment enables you to compare things to each other and judge their true nature and value. It helps you tell whether someone has the right to be called an expert.

Without discernment, you cannot tell if a blog you’ve just discovered is real or fake. You cannot decide which blog post ideas are most worth writing about or which blogging activities deserve your attention.

In short, you need discernment in order to make wise blogging decisions.

The 6 “SUPER-D” Discernment Powers

• Simplify complex things
• Understand the nature of something
• Perceive character, thoughts and intentions
• Estimate value
• Recognize difference
• Determine truth

The Fork in the Road

So you come upon a fork in the road.

No, not that kind of fork.

A fork where you must decide between two or more paths, neither of which leads straight ahead.

In other words, you have to change something about what you’re doing – but there are multiple options to choose from.

Bloggers get forks in their roads all the time.

For instance, you may have to choose between sticking to your original brand or rebranding for your evolving audience.

Or you may need to decide which T-shirt would look best on your blog readers.

Or you may have trouble just figuring out what to blog about.

Discernment shows you the best fork.

Discernment makes you a better blogger.

How to Convert Information into Wisdom in 3 Steps Using Awareness, Focus and Discernment

Visionary Blogging Theory

1. Awareness floods you with information.
2. Focus filters and converts some of that information into knowledge.
3. Discernment evaluates that knowledge and transforms some of it into wisdom.

Real-Life Blogging Example

1. Awareness: You open your favorite RSS feed reader to see hundreds of new blog posts and other items published in the last day. You quickly become aware that many people are discussing the new launch of WordPress 2.5. You have access to information but do not yet possess knowledge on this subject.
2. Focus: You decide to look for advice on whether to upgrade your blog to WordPress 2.5. You scan the feed item headlines and articles selectively, opening relevant items in new browser tabs and ignoring the rest. You take a few minutes to carefully read each article matching your focus. Now you have some knowledge about this topic and feel prepared enough to make a wise decision.
3. Discernment: You make a list of the different opinions you find and spend a few minutes weighing what others have said about the pros and cons of upgrading to WP 2.5. You think about your past experiences upgrading your blog platform. You consider a variety of other factors and finally decide to go ahead and make the upgrade. You now possess some wisdom, or applied knowledge, on this subject; you have made an informed decision on what to do with the knowledge you have gleaned from the information you have encountered.

10 Ways to Improve Your Discernment and Become a More Powerful Blogger

1. Observe carefully. Pay close attention to details. Pay extra close attention to the blogs and people whose examples you want to follow. Hang onto their every pixel and word.
2. Experiment. The only way to know if a seed will grow into a tree is to plant it. If it grows, it’s a good seed. If not, either it’s a bad seed or its growing conditions are too poor. Similarly, you should have the courage to try things out on your blog and in your blogging routine. If they work, keep doing them. If they don’t, stop and consider changing your approach or replacing your idea.
3. Imagine the future. Think of the possibilities and probabilities involved. Should your blog become a company? Depends in part on how many gray hairs or wrinkles you think that would give you.
4. Remember the past. What to write about? Well, what worked before? That’s one good approach.
5. Think about needs. For instance, what does your blog’s target audience need?
6. Gather things together. It’s much easier to compare, say, possible blog niches if you’ve assembled a list of them in one spot.
7. Narrow your field. Of vision, that is. Limit the options to make the right choice easier to discern. For example, instead of wondering which of a billion post ideas is best right now, you could force yourself to choose from among just three.
8. Ask for help. Maybe someone in your blog audience, in your email contact list or in your apartment building has a better sense of discernment on a particular matter than you do. Maybe they’ve got access to a light source that you don’t. Or maybe they’re just positioned at a better angle.
9. Write everything down. Well, not everything. But if you’re stuck in the discernment process, having a written collection of thoughts can help you begin to get clarity.
10. Refresh your focus. Sometimes you lack discernment because you’re distracted.

Pobody’s Nerfect

Not every tactic in this article will work well for you. That’s part of the point here – you need to try to discern what to apply right now. The only one who can make up your mind is you.

You cannot expect to have perfect discernment in all areas of your life. You will make mistakes. But as you identify and learn from your mistakes, you will improve your ability to discern between good and bad choices, or between useful and useless knowledge. Discernment is the key to making better decisions in spite of human weakness.

So, Your Homework

Your homework this time is simple. I want you to leave a comment below and tell me how you intend to hone your discernment over the next week. Don’t be shy. I’ll do it too.

What’s Next?

In Part 4, we’ll discuss the fourth element of visionary blogging: imagination, the ability to create.

Photos: fork of divergence by djloche; Cliché by Mayr; /ponder by striatic

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Related Articles

1. Elements of Visionary Blogging, Part 2: Sharpen Your Focus
2. Elements of Visionary Blogging, Part 1: Increase Your Awareness
3. Elements of Visionary Blogging, Part 5: Strengthen Your Diligence
4. Elements of Visionary Blogging, Part 4: Excite Your Imagination
5. What is Visionary Blogging?