What seems like an eternity ago (but was really only last April ), I wrote about David Armano’s concept of “Sun-Shaped People”, and after getting a chance to watch him present and shake his hand at SOBCon07, I’ve been more than impressed with his uncanny ability to take tip-of-the-spear concepts that most people are just starting to wrap their heads around, and explain them—visually, no less—in ways that make you say, “oh, of course… that makes so much sense.”
Well, David has done it again. Pure brilliance.
How do you manage all the ways you could be spending your interacting-with-others-online time? You know; social media, email, blogging, posting photos of your family online, all that digital jazz. You’ve probably got lots of “channels” for interacting with the world, and if you’re like most people I’ve been in touch with lately (and tons of others), there are some channels that you subscribe to wholeheartedly, and others that may have once been important, but now are fading away.
Enter: The Social System.
Doesn’t that just make perfect sense? On his post about it, DA explains the whole thing, but I think the picture does a pretty good job on its own.
As I’ve spent more time in social media circles, and tried balancing the time that sites like Facebook require with all the other responsibilities of life, work, etc., I’m coming to see that I want a lot fewer planets in my social system than before.
Now, the time may (will) come when I need to expand this; there are strategies that require more of a presence on some planets than others, and there are some planets I’ve yet to set foot on that I know will move very close to the middle of my system, when the time is right.
My social system could go from “Me -> blog -> mastermind -> email -> Facebook -> LinkedIn” to, “Me -> blog -> StumbleUpon -> email -> mastermind -> YouTube -> VideoSticky -> Facebook”, or something like that, all depending on what’s necessary and important to my strategy.
In the meantime, though, it sure is liberating to realize that I don’t need as much interplanetary travel as I once thought… after all, it can be tiring to spend so much time on (and traveling to) all those distant planets! And that’s why I got lit up about this topic enough to write a post about it: finding the balance—in every aspect of our lives—is living “monkishly” (hey, it’s my site; I can invent a word if I like, right?). Because are we going to make the kind of impact/live the life we want if we’re spread too thin, or exhausted from doing so?
Now, two steps for you:
1) What’s your social system look like?
Don’t worry about creating a graphic (although don’t let me stop you from it, either); if it’s easier, just use the “one -> two -> three” diagram, and plot out your social system. Share it in the comments, too.
How’s it look? Is it serving you? Is it giving you enough contact with others, or too much? Or, not enough of the right kind? Make adjustments as needed; after all, you’re the creator of this universe, so make it right for you.
2) Apply the analogy elsewhere.
Where else could this kind of system-thinking help you in your life? Work projects? Family responsibilities? Home maintenance? Personal development “practices” (meditating, praying, reading/learning, service, healing)? Fitness/health?
For example, you could come up with all kinds of systems for keeping you on top of your goals, in the right proportions:
- eating healthy -> exercise 4x/week -> supplements -> bodywork
- do the dishes -> laundry -> sweep/vacuum -> mow the lawn -> clean out the gutters
- play with my kids -> read to them -> build stuff together -> take mini-vacations
- write articles -> networking -> work with clients -> write book -> joint ventures
Sky’s the limit. So, what’s in your universe(s)?
Want a podcast of this? Click here.
Image by pingnews.com on Flickr, via Creative Commons license.
And thanks to all those who commented on the previous posts so far: Karl Staib, Tshombe, Judy Murdoch, Nathan Ketsdever, MichelleVan
Monk at Work is Adam Kayce's website about personal webdesign, inner peace and outer effectiveness, and helping you bringing your best work out to the world.
The link didn’t work that well. Is this a non-linear system? A bit unclear? Though I get that everything impacts and supports everything else!
Sorry about that; the links have been checked and fixed (but there are a lot of links in this post, so if anyone finds any more, let me know…).
The basic gist of it is that some things are closer in, and frequented more often, whether it’s because of their higher value, or effectiveness, or efficiency, or whatever… these are the “inner planets.” Whereas other things lose their value, or take too much time to be practical, or whatever… and we start using them less and less. These are the “outer planets.”
Here’s my current social system in descending order of importance: me, blog, coaching clients, fellow coaches and email. Right now the social networks are in a much farther galaxy and receive only occasional investment of resources.
I know that’s likely to change soon because one would have to be deaf to ignore the buzz. Thanks for this post Adam. I always enjoy a visual representation that challenges me to question my actions.
I find it interesting to look at the sunny side of information overload as I did in my latest post. In this wide-open global world there’s a deeply relevant reason why each of us sees the information we see.
Wow.
Similar to a mind-map? I like the graphics actually, I can see it way better than the arrows — >linear way.
The last year has been a sort of dark night of the soul for me…I’m coming out of it, and finding all I left is a bit discombobulated. In trying to get my brain around next steps, strategy, and managing my time and energy, this concept is really useful.
I’m imagining my planets having tumbled out of orbit, so it’s just ME at the center…some planets have exploded, other’s shrunk, others grown, some nebula are forming….a new star, my new blog, shining bright but very small still, my original site needing to be dusted off…
It’s a great image. I think I’ll work on drawing a picture.
It will include Me, StumbleUpon, my blog, my website/blog, and I am now finding I don’t know how, or if I should, separate the Non-digital things I need to do: network locally, find a practice site, assist my mom with household chores, walk the dog, time with my daughter…
Do you have a block of time you spend JUST with digital?
Oh boy. There’s so much I still need to learn!!! I was on the fringe of learning podcasting a little over a year ago…then, you know, LIFE happened and everything got put on hold…so back to that, but some things have to come first…or do they? I’d love to have podcasts on my new blog…
Ok. Your article here has got my brain spinning…in a good way I think…
Thanks Adam. Nice to see ya again. Virtually, I mean! :)
Hey, is that little green dude (emoticon) a smiley?
Yep. It sure is (I changed the default (read: boring) yellow smiley with the green guy that I like so much. :-)
I’m trying to soak up this social networking info, and imagine a good balance between being connected and going overboard. I’m developing a website that will be a connecting point socially for folks that want to get healthy. I’m trying to think of a good way of setting about participating in this social universe by attraction, and the idea of synergy keeps coming to mind. What I develop is 2 dimensional, but with other people’s input, (all those social channels) it becomes 3 dimensional in thought, more alive than my thoughts alone…. :-0 (low tech smiley!)
Penny, finding that balance is probably the toughest part. Between the allure of fancy networking apps, the juiciness of connecting with friends, and the “you never know what you’ll find out there” aspect of blogs and social media sites… it’s enough to hog your entire day, if you aren’t careful.