My wife has asked me why I blog about the books that I read and the hotels that I stay at. After she asked the question, I realized that one of the main reasons that I do this, is so that I can find the information again when I need it.

Sure, I could make notes about the various hotels, or books, or cool software programs that I find, but where would I store them so that I could find them again? A blog, however, is a perfect way to store this information.

Not long ago, Kevin O’Keefe blogged about using a blog as a personal knowledge management tool. Kevin explained:

With a blog, you file what you read or hear and want to keep in a blog post. Make a note or two offering why the information is worthwhile. Upload key files to your blog. Blog live from seminars you attend. Why make hard copy notes that end up getting tossed or lost?

A blog gives you complete navigation by category & sub-category, tags, and a complete search. You can find what you want over the years.

Plus, the blog is fully searchable using Google.

In the little more than a year that I have had this blog, I have found myself searching my past posts to recover some information that I could not easily find another way. You may not want to post information for everyone in the world to see. Nevertheless, you may want to create a blog that is not publicly available, just to manage your own information.