Blogivation

My name is Marshall Jones, and I used to tell friends in college that I was a Junior… because my father has the same name. I live in beautiful Louisville, Kentucky, and blog to encourage people to encourage people. Right now, I have two active blogs, bondChristian, which is a practical guide for serving others, and Marshall Jones Jr, which is about learning to love carrot juice, snagging two B.A. degrees before turning 20, and my journey to becoming the most marriable man in theworld. :>)

Here’s the story of why I blog: When I was in high school, I had a very cute friend, the kind of girl all the guys liked at summer camp. She and I grew really close, and we knew a lot about each other: she liked Care Bears when I met her, but I think I changed her mind. Anyway, years later after I’d gotten into my degrees and she’d gotten married, she posted one of those goofy notes on facebook. The note listed descriptions of various friends in her life, and everyone she tagged was supposed to guess which description was theirs. Naturally, I picked a good one for myself – not that good but still good – and I was pretty sure I’d guessed the right one (remember, I knew a lot about her). Later, though, she told me I’d missed it completely. The description she gave me said I was her best friend through high school and some other “wonderful” things. :>) I felt ecstatic. I knew we’d been close, at least from my perspective, but I didn’t know for sure she’d felt the same about me.

So what’s this got to do with blogging? Well, about an hour after reading her response to my pick, I realized in a general but “I’m not going to be able to get to sleep now” way what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to make deep, deep friendships. I wanted to give people something that would last them the rest of their lives. I wanted to encourage people to be amazing, and I wanted to encourage those people to encourage other people to be amazing. And I still do. But that’s like a young, “Philosophy major meets old philanthropist” type goal. Without any practical details, it’s easy for that goal to turn into a dream and fade in the daytime. So that’s why I blog. I blog because it’s a small, actionable detail in my Hulk-like, life goal. I blog because I’m so insanely thankful for everything I have and I want everyone else to feel this too. I know Blogivation isn’t about giving advice, but I’ve got to share something anyway… two somethings, actually (and if you’re reading this now, you know it wasn’t edited out):

1) Figure out why you’re blogging.

2) Make your “why” humongous.

If you don’t know why you’re blogging or if you think your main reason is to build a platform, you shouldn’t be blogging. I mean, come on, this is life, not elf practice. If we mess this up, we don’t get to quit – we die. I seriously want everyone to be amazing, and I think figuring out why we’re blogging or living or playing freakin’ Wii all day is a tremendous step in that direction. Will you do that for me?

Thanks,

-Marshall Jones Jr.