Russell Beattie Shares

Russell Beattie does a great job sharing from Foo Camp. The next paragraph may seem mundane, but it's very important:

I'm *not* particularly social, so every moment I'm talking to someone new, somewhere deep inside my mind is something screaming at me "run, run, run!" and I have to simultaneously ignore that voice while actually thinking of things to say. Preferably intelligent things to say. I'm not sure if I've actually succeeded at that yet. You'd figure at a gathering filled with anti-social geeks this would be a common thing, but everyone is chatting away merrily. Me? I almost had a heart attack getting up to introduce myself.

This is why people should blog. It takes guts to really admit what's happening inside your head. But once you do, you connect with other people. I'd be willing to bet that a number of other geeks will suddenly feel a lot more at home once they read Russell's words. That makes the conference more productive. That productivity gets carried into the technology world in the form of better ideas and geek relationships.

It takes a blogging mentality to do what Russell did. A hallmark of this mentality is the desire to share until it hurts. In theory the world becomes a better place as the artificial walls of society that don't provide value fall. It brings people together. Builds tolerance. The sharing hurts at first, but then as people agree with you suddenly you realize that there's no reason for it to hurt... that you're normal... that other people care.

And it all starts with seemingly simple personal observations. Good work Russell! Next time you need to introduce yourself you can say "I'm Russell Beattie and I'm changing the world one entry at a time."