I wrote on LinkedIn yesterday that as I’ve been exploring the communication intimacy with Threadsapp, I am contemplative of what’s been missing in our digital experience for the last few years, and how much this is a “reboot” of something former and familiar.
The subtlety of it being a “dot net” is not lost on me, because a “dot com” has a far different implication. It took me back emotionally to the space of the early 2000s, and I remember that connectivity that seemed to exist on the internet back then.
What is most present for me right now is that “more of the same shit doesn’t make the shit more valuable, or heard better.” I’m watching as some people are truly blossoming into their own voice on Threads, and others are asking the same stale questions to instigate engagement.
Have we heard of “digital body language?” Erica Dhawan wrote a phenomenal book about it.
I would never, in a real-life room, pop in with a bullshit smile on my face and say “list three things you’re grateful for AND GO!”
People didn’t do that 20 years ago. They came into the online space and spoke when they had something to say. What I’m feeling most through our current digital experience (sans Threadsapp) is the pressure to feel like I “should be talking” when I don’t have something to say.
Sometimes I simply don’t have something to say, and I don’t think it serves anyone for me to repeat the same story sixteen times in a row. You’d be thinking I was at the bottom of a bottle of Johnnie Walker if it was in a real-life space and I was doing that.
The engagement “tactics” have been draining us in a huge way.
Here’s a possibly controversial idea: we are NOT all thought leaders… and that is a GOOD THING.
The Ajna Center in Human Design
There’s my Human Design chart. Look at alllllll that color. Among my defined centers is the Ajna, our cognitive awareness center, which is also known as the “Mind center.”
“Approximately 47% of the population have a defined Ajna. Broadcasting, sharing their processing, formalization, reasoning, and anxieties with the rest of the world. While an estimated of 53% of the population are undefined or completely open. Which means they’re taking in the processing, realizations, ideas and even anxieties of the defined.” -Source
What does this mean?
I’m literally designed to figure shit out in my mind, come up with a POV that’s just mine, and share that POV with the world. Conversely, some people are here to take in the POVs of others. I actually find it to be moderately annoying that my crown and ajna are defined because I’m so in my own head all the time, constantly. And, it’s by design. I have settled into this as I age. This is why I am a writer, and why I don’t spend much time reading fiction.
Let’s go back to Ray Kroc and the McDonald Brothers
I’ve been saying it for a few years- the tick box method to show people “the way” is done.
It’s over. Everyone has their own answers which are by design, and the key is to be what you are and only that. If you’re carrots, be carrots. You won’t be the beef cubes. I don’t care if they taste better- you’re not the beef. You’re the carrots. This is why I say I 100% work best with a partner. I can do everything, but it drains my energy to try to. I’m most successful and happy when I’m part of a duo. I’m most successful and happy when I’m flowing with my design, and not trying to be anything other than carrots. If you’re not someone who can come up with and generate new and interesting POVs, you’re not meant to! You’re meant to take those and Ray Kroc the f––k out of them.
We all have our part. What’s yours? What flows with ease?
Let me know in the comments!
Last- I revived The Get the F*ck Off Podcast yesterday under a new name! (Can you guess what it is?)
I’ll just tell you what it is. LOL. I’m excited to get back to podcasting with a new, broader focus. While it was fun to try to make over 100 episodes that in some way had to do with “get off the smokes, get off the sauce, get off your ass,” I am bored with tying everything back to a “relatable” problem.
Your problems are not problems—they’re symptoms.
I realized that there are informational coaches out there who are mighty equipped to help you rearrange the furniture in the prison cell, but I’m in the business of hauling it out to the curb. I talk about consciousness, even if it means hiding the broccoli in the mashed potatoes. You’re getting consciousness. That’s it.
So, feel free to check out the podcast, subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Amazon. I look forward to sharing a deeper part of myself and my life with you, and who knows? I might even migrate it over to Substack.
Glad you shared your POV, Andee, and your brilliance truely shows through in how you crafted your delivery. I really enjoy your heart and mind.
I agree whole-heartedly, interviewing hundreds of people who thought they might be. Still, in the division of labor or societal placement, everyone has a spot, it’s just finding it that delivers the fulfillment intead of resentment; spooky cool.
Shifting to a different POV, I loved 🟦 Mark O’Brien’s response. I’ve spent decades as a drummer and love observing others for clues to accents and fills. Often default roadee, soundman or stage manager (New Christie Minstrels for a bit); I was front of stage as a presenter and for organizations over the years. Tuning in was always my goal; to deliver.
I had to hold the beat, and maintain it; no one else could. Cacophany ensued if I faultered. I could explore things with exquite timing, share my thoughts and, as a true Cancerian, my feelings as well. The latter served with supportive fills ubiquitously.
It’s been excruciatingly fun, I must say, and I’m nobody, really, just a servant. I’ve had ideas turned into businesses with no credit or invitation. I loved that folks were successful; disappointed in the consistent behavior of the takers.