The Reliants Project #39
How networks shape our lives
Welcome back and happy new year! If you’ve set an intention to cultivate your community this year, I am here to help. Here are some nuggets about how networks shape your wellbeing, relationships and community to help you actively cultivate yours.
Wellbeing
Thinking about investing time and energy into your relationships, community, or personal network this year? I’ve written a series of articles starting with “It’s not only who we know, it’s who they know” to help us get started. The goal is to help us internalise many of the ways in which who we know and who they know impact us. Then, I walk through a simple 3-step process (refined with many of your input) to make our own social map. This map will help us navigate the changes we are hoping to make this year. As always, welcome any and all feedback.
Relationships
Came across this absolutely delightful post that Neel Nanda wrote about his experience of Intentionally Making Close Friends. For those of you who are into rationalism, you’ll appreciate his approach. I loved how he reflected on his situation and turned the experience into an experiment. Also, he points out and names a pattern that I have seen time and time again. We often believe that making friends is supposed to happen organically, and therefore we don’t develop a sense of agency around it.
“Not realising I could make close friends was a failure of agency, an unknown-unknown that cut out a massive amount of potential happiness, without even realising it.”
Community
Over the holidays I reflected on my community and all the invaluable “weak ties” that have helped shape my life. In A Thank You Note to My Weak Ties I highlight a handful of the countless people who have left their mark. Afterwards, I reached out and said thank you. I also traced back chains of connections (someone who introduced someone who introduced someone else…) in order to honour them. If you’ve never tried doing this, I highly encourage it :]. It’s a fantastic way to bring these ideas to life.
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About The Reliants Project
Reliant is my word for a person that someone depends on, an essential component of our social networks. With each edition, I’ll share useful nuggets about how networks shape your wellbeing, relationships, and community to help you actively cultivate yours. Whether you want to make better introductions, build better social products and services, or activate networks to make an impact in the world, let me help you reach your goals.
You can find more about The Reliants Project here.