The funny thing about onlyness is that, to get there, most of us need inspiration from and conversation with our communities. Whether it’s yoga classmates, a religious organization, a book club or a volunteer organization, communities like these are what shape us, awaken us and inspire us to explore and chase our big ideas.
I wrote about this idea in a recent series of post, where I also explained that I was joining forces with Equinox to give away five custom Mophies, designed to power our lives and communities. To enter the contest, I simply asked that you share your thoughts about what support and community has meant to you in 2014, either via the blog, Twitter, Facebook or handwritten notes.
The responses were eye-opening. Networks mean different things to many people, but it’s clear that the force of community is instrumental to all of our ideation processes and identities. Tell me your community, and I’ll tell you who you are. And more importantly, you can see it for yourself.
Without further ado, here are the randomly selected winners of the Equinox-branded Mophies. We hope these help you continue to power your ideas and communities forward. (If your name is below, please send your physical address back to the email you get as a subscriber, and we’ll make sure you get it.)
Linda Alepin gets her inspiration from the global community of women who graduated from the Global Women’s Leadership Network program as well as a subgroup of the International Women’s Forum called Advancing Women’s Futures. These are women who share her commitment to empowering women, and simply by virtue of this, give her the strength, support, wisdom and inspiration to push forth in achieving her goals.
Mukesh Gupta belongs to the Corporate Rebels community and also to what he initially described as Seth Godin’s tribe. I asked Mukesh about the language of “Seth Godin’s tribe,” because although Seth has helped create a vibrant community of creatives and freelancers (myself included), it seemed surprising to me to describe the group as “Seth’s tribe” instead of “our tribe that believes in xyz.” Mukesh considered my comment, saying that he understood what this change in perspective would enable the community to do.
Marie Cameron talked about the many communities in her life—communities of ideology, of geography, of circumstance and of association. She called out specifically her community of association: the fellow artists that she went to school with and has gotten to know over the years. This network is full of support, kindness, creativity, innovation and motivation—all things that I also associate with Marie.
Marcus Dowling had a slightly different perspective. Instead of one specific community or network, Marcus talked about how he has created his own custom community comprised of the top ten or 20 thinkers that he admires most. For him, growth has come not from finding one group, but from culling what he thinks are the best people and ideas from every other network that he engages with across disciplines and platforms. It’s an approach that thrives in the social era.
Rohan Light belongs to a community of New Zealand public servants, a group of people who refuse to accept things to be the way they are if a better way is possible. Motivated by belief, this is a group that has taken responsibility for making things happen for fellow citizens in a Government 3.0 era. Rohan’s post struck me, because it seems that as the workplace becomes more transient, we are looking to rediscover that sense of belonging, conversation and community that we once had at the office through civic communities. We are looking more than ever for ways to connect to what matters to us.
Thanks again to Equinox for giving us the gifts to encourage all of us to dive into this meaningful exchange of ideas. Equinox brings the best to everything they do, to help each of us power our lives more effectively. [Or, as they say it, It’s not Fitness, It’s Life.]
This conversation has been a good one, and looking forward to the one we have going on now, around “how do you find your onlyness”. Part I of this series is published already, here. It’s called “What Color is Your Onlyness” and features a Yes & Know community member who is courageously letting us into his thinking. 13 comments so far on that piece; and well worth the time to digest. Add / Question / Challenge and Explore this together. This is how we navigate the social era, powerfully — together.
