Yesterday I argued that while it’s true some people might benefit by having more of a tendency to better promote their work, they probably won’t be capable of doing so. My argument isn’t that it’s impossible to be more thoughtful about the decisions you make and choose to go against your nature. The problem is understanding what those choices are. Let me give you an example. One of my coworkers got advice from a friend that she should always be nice to people at the gym. She responded that she’s always nice to everyone (which, in my experience, is true). Then her friend explained that she should be especially nice and friendly to people who work at the gym for marketing purposes. Guys at the gym who are interested in her will ask the gym employees about her, and it’s important to have a good reputation with them. That had never occurred to her, and never would have occurred to me, either. But it’s the sort of thing that people who have an instinct for marketing think about. So it goes beyond deciding to market yourself, it’s about having a sense for what marketing yourself entails. My theory is that it’s difficult to develop that sense if you don’t already have it, but I’d be delighted to be wrong. Here’s a reader challenge: let’s say you wanted a specific person (who has their own blog) to be a regular reader of your blog, because you admire them and think they’d be interested in what you write. What would you do? Just keep posting my regular stuff and hope they one day notice me is a perfectly acceptable answer, but I imagine there are people who are more creative than that.