It is always a delight when people I just meet tell me that they've found my blog useful. Earlier this month, I met a few readers at the Eyes-Off Data Summit, and I got to hear from a few of them something like: "Have you considered writing about topic X?"

But then, something weird happens. Without being prompted, people immediately backtrack and almost apologize for giving me suggestions. "Not that I want to tell you what to write of course! You must be super busy. That was just an idea, feel free to ignore it."

This makes me suspect that people might feel like suggesting new topics may be a bit impolite, or not appreciative enough or something. In this very short post, I'd like to dispel this and tell you in no uncertain terms:

Please tell me what to write!

I will never think it rude or ungrateful. I will always be thankful for feedback of any kind, and suggestions count as feedback. And if you like my writing enough that you want me to write about something else, this is praise! I like praise! It fills me with happy feelings which I can then convert into energy to write more things!

The worst that can happen is that I take your suggestion, add it to my list of potential future blog posts, and then don't get to it ever. Don't be disappointed if that's the case. I might prioritize other stuff (my list of ideas grows over time: I add more to the pile than I remove from it). I may not be the right person to write the thing you want. I might simply be not inspired.

But I'll still be thankful for your suggestion. I'm writing these blog posts because I want them to be useful. The more people find them useful, the more they will read and share them, which is good for my business. Feedback is a gift, and telling me "I would find it useful if you wrote about topic X" is particularly valuable feedback. So don't be shy! I look forward to hearing from you 💝