My Simple Community

August 24, 2010

You may need to think of this one off and on throughout the day – and that thinking would be worth it even if you don’t follow through. Observe those around you. Think of the things they do. Some of them will be conscious of you. And I am pretty sure one of them will intentionally do something nice for you, something they didn’t have to do.

This may be someone you know or a total stranger. But the thing you will note is that they go ever so slightly out of their way to somehow favor you.

Having seen that, you can complete the loop in 5 seconds by consciously thanking them specifically for what they did.  Not “Thanks!” – which is one second community – but call out the action and even say you noticed they went out of their way.

Having someone do something kind for you is great. Calling it out doubles the favor and encourages engaged community.

May 25, 2010

“How thoughtful…”

Engaging in simple community can take as little as five minutes or even seconds – maybe not five seconds, but seconds. In 5 second community I will provide examples of thoughtful things you can do in under a minute that will strengthen the bond you have with family, friends and neighbors.

While I am very strong in my insistence that Internet communication of any kind is not community any more than a telephone is a “social network,” they are all magnificent communication tools. Today’s example of 5 second community calls on one of those tools.

In 25 words or less, FOR NO PARTICULAR REASON, send an encouraging email or text message to someone in your community today.  Pick someone you will not otherwise communicate with today.  Pick someone who does not have a reason to be encouraged – not a birthday, not good luck on a new job, not get well soon (do those too). A quick note for no reason sends a big message. It says to the other person you thought about THEM – not what they are going through or a benchmark in their life, just them.

I might come up with a few 5 second ideas that will help. But together, we can come up with dozens.  Got a 5 second community idea? Please post it in a comment and I will convert it into a post.  Thanks!