Linky Brains, are there different levels?
A week ago I read this by Alex. That led me to read this by Doug and this by Chris. Check them out if you want to see if you’re one. And i’d love to hear from you.
A lot resonated so I went for it, I wrote my confession here. I think I was the first female, gulp. It’s always slightly terrifying to write something and put it out into the world.
Some female Linky Brains have messaged me, which is bloody great. That was the whole point, to connect with people from ‘my fellow gender’. Find more in my tribe. Sorry fellas I’m not saying you’re not, I’m just very curious about the differences (maybe) between female and male Linky Brains.
A few people have referenced me, which I’m humbled by but also it makes me question myself, am I really one. Is there a test to validate it. When I did altMBA (Seth Godin’s leadership MBA) there are no exams or tests. I’m a big believer in that. We don’t have to be measured against each other.
Yoann thanks for writing this. Here’s my childhood blurb.
Where it all started
I got put into school a year early when I was 3ish. I’m not sure why, I should ask. I kind of remember finding learning about time really confusing. It was so rigid, strange.
After that little school I joined Dame Alice Harpur School (for girls). The girl gang, and what a fiery, independent, incredible group they are. Me and my mates started playing hockey, with plastic sticks when we were about 11.
When we were 13 we won the National Championships, we were the best in the UK. What! I was the captain. I remember they asked me to give a speech, and I just said how great it was and well done to the TEAM.
I was in ALL the sports teams, swimming, hockey, tennis, athletics (100m and 200m), and netball. I loved it.
When I was 16 I had my first boyfriend, and got a bit distracted. I also started to get a bit bored. I went to the same school from 8–18. I did Politics, Biology and Chemistry and hated Chemistry. I wanted to mix it up and do Business studies or English. I wanted to learn about lots of different things. I don’t think any teachers really understood or supported that.
What happened after
I’ve since done lots of different things. Worked for a digital start up (which got sold), freelanced at social enterprises like JustGiving, The Big Issue, Pocket Living. Set up a small festival. Launched a global social good group as a beta test. Started a clothes swapping community. Did an MBA which disrupts the status quo. Freelance at w+k ventures (current).
My Linky Brains level
I’m not like some Linky Brains in the gang. I’m not *that* clever. I love learning but my memory isn’t *that* good. I used to talk too much at school, I had too much energy I think, so they split me us so I wouldn’t distract people. I started getting quiet(er). I’ve learnt to go into myself more, rather than say it out loud. So I’m not as vocal as some Linky Brains.
So whether you’re a Linky, semi Linky or not one, if you have a desire to learn and have interdisciplinary thinking that’s the main thing?
I’m currently reading ‘We are all Weird, The rise of Tribes and the End of Normal’ by Seth Godin.
‘The future won’t always be fair. But we can try. We can care. We can choose to connect. It can be better if we let it. ‘
The distribution of a population is often shaped like a bell curve. The anchors holding this behaviour in place though have loosened, the bells have spread, allowing variation, niche, weirdness rather than ‘normal’ and ‘mass’. Thank god.
So if you believe in this, then maybe you’re a Linky Brain. With my limited knowledge of games theory, perhaps a #LinkyBrains community can help people move into the top right ‘Flow’ quadrant.
p.s. shout out to Smadar and her mantra ‘Everything is energy’. Once you trust in this, and follow the good energy, incredible things can/could happen. There’s going to be a LinkyBrains conference in the summer. You have to write a confession to come though, and I think it’s limited numbers. So get going :)
