Also applicable to living alone vs. living with someone else imo.
Community Is Motivation on Tap
11–20 of 51 posts
Re: Community Is Motivation on Tap
#12Obligatory Schwarzenegger: "The kind of people who train alongside you in a gym makes a difference. If you are surrounded by people who are serious and train with a lot of intensity, it's easier for you to do the same thing. But it can be pretty hard to really blast your muscles while the people around you are just going through the motions. That is why good bodybuilders tend to congregate in certain gyms. By having…
very nice. that captures it.
But it's the same deal with the folks you work with, run with, climb mountains with.
In fact, in a recent Pump Club newsletter, he said coworkers can make you or break you. Especially if they're sub par.
So sure, maybe individuality is overrated. Sure, community helps.
Re: Community Is Motivation on Tap
#13I like to follow Arnold Schwazenegger's Pump Club free newsletter, but not because I am a body builder. You're right, it's a community where you get solid no-nonsense advice, like, ditch the supplements except creatine and maybe whey protein or vegetable protein. At the same time, he emphasizes building desired habits, to the point where thinking is not required anymore for that purpose. He even goes as far as saying…
Note: many neurospicy brains do not get the thing where something happens on “automatic”. If you’ve tried to “build a habit” and never got to the “now it’s automatic” stage, don’t beat yourself up about it. AFAIK, we have to rely on patterns and explicit attention and reinforcement (“everyday I do this, I have a good day, so now I’ve got more motivation every day to do it”)
Re: Community Is Motivation on Tap
#14I like to follow Arnold Schwazenegger's Pump Club free newsletter, but not because I am a body builder. You're right, it's a community where you get solid no-nonsense advice, like, ditch the supplements except creatine and maybe whey protein or vegetable protein. At the same time, he emphasizes building desired habits, to the point where thinking is not required anymore for that purpose. He even goes as far as saying…
Note: many neurospicy brains do not get the thing where something happens on “automatic”. If you’ve tried to “build a habit” and never got to the “now it’s automatic” stage, don’t beat yourself up about it. AFAIK, we have to rely on patterns and explicit attention and reinforcement (“everyday I do this, I have a good day, so now I’ve got more motivation every day to do it”)
For me it’s often that once a habit gets automatic, I forget about it and stop doing it. My habits are mostly formed by things I fear and think about a lot like getting out of shape and fat, going broke or dying lonely.
Re: Community Is Motivation on Tap
#15Obligatory Schwarzenegger: "The kind of people who train alongside you in a gym makes a difference. If you are surrounded by people who are serious and train with a lot of intensity, it's easier for you to do the same thing. But it can be pretty hard to really blast your muscles while the people around you are just going through the motions. That is why good bodybuilders tend to congregate in certain gyms. By having…
That’s the case for everything. I remember training in a boxing gym with some pros. Everything was on a level so much higher than I had seen before and I raised my own level a ton until I had to realize that my natural speed and strength was just not sufficient to really make it.
I think that’s also why children from high achieving families usually do better in adult life. What they view as “normal” is just a higher standard than what most children see. I remember being friends with the son of the local (big) factory owner. They communicated with their children on a totally different level than what I was used to with my parents. When they entered professional life they had a better understanding of the business world than most of us will ever achieve.
Re: Community Is Motivation on Tap
#16I feel like I am constantly looking for relevant communities but I find it really really hard to find anything. Maybe I live in a too small city or something.
I suspect that my current social media addiction tendencies is a compensation for not finding good communities for my interests.
Re: Community Is Motivation on Tap
#17A fun idea, but I'd like to read someone writing not about the concept, but about their experience trying to consciously shape their participation in community to help them achieve their goals. How well does that work in practice? What's awkward about it, and what goes smoothly? When does it break down? Which interests map well onto this approach?
Check out "Atomic Habits" by James Clear - he documents precisely this approach with numerous case studies of how community accountability transformed people's habits across various domains.
Re: Community Is Motivation on Tap
#18Also suggests 100% WFH is not as good as some weekly face to face time if part of the goal is to keep people motivated and disciplined
I feel like I grind harder if anything when I work from home. Just because you aren’t physically in the same place doesn’t mean there isn’t community.
I do occasionally do onsites that are valuable for community building so perhaps it’s more 98% wfh
Re: Community Is Motivation on Tap
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
Been "doing" community for 10 years from technical to leadership communities (focused on Brazilian CTOs). I can answer the question above if you'd like to know. I don't have much written, but I think about it daily.
I have a simple question. Is it worth building a community? Outside of being paid to do it, is it worth doing? Seems like more trouble than it's worth to me.
when it's a community of practice, yeah, I think it absolutely is worth it.
it’s where I learn the most. Talking to people facing similar challenges, hearing how they approach things, learning new tech, and new businesses models. It also builds networking and creates opportunities.
That said, I don’t think everyone needs to build community. Most people won’t, and that’s fine; but just participating makes (and helping the organizer whenever you can) is good
Re: Community Is Motivation on Tap
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
Been "doing" community for 10 years from technical to leadership communities (focused on Brazilian CTOs). I can answer the question above if you'd like to know. I don't have much written, but I think about it daily.
What are the most common issue/mistakes that make communities fizzle out?
Communities are basically promises: you create expectations, and they usually fizzle out when that commitment isn’t met. Same applies to events.
Most people think structure or rules keep a community alive, but they are just tools. What keeps communities alive is just being there for the users and in the channel they are used to talk and be active (whatsapp in my case)
Also when leading a community it is important to step back. Let others speak/ to leave them be. It is easy to "monopolize the mic" but the real magic happens when others start owning the space. Your role as a community organizer is to create a stage for others.
if you ever moderated an IRC channel, it’s the same energy: keep the lights on, be present, but don’t over-control :^)