How to stop being a lurker.
I’m a reasonably private person. I’m not the center of attention in large groups, and wouldn’t necessary volunteer to be a keynote speaker at a conference. I was a huge fan of this TED talk and book by Susan Cain.
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In a parallel universe, I can be a mixed of intrigued, amused or turned off by MAJOR EXTROVERTS! People who are aggressive “personal brands” or seemingly constantly shouting from their soapbox about how important their opinions or their accomplishments are really turn me off. As a result, I shut down and become paralyzed. I conjure examples of friends that shy off of social media completely and think maybe that’s the answer.
In my search to find that balance, I recently read Austin Kleon’s Show Your Work, which I recommend. I’ll happily pass along my copy to anyone interested — more info below.
I had an amazing moment of discover yesterday, and wanted to share it. I spent some time in Israel a few years ago and had the opportunity to study hebrew with the fantastic Rabbi Shlomo Eitan. Last night I somewhat randomly stumbled across his Hebrew For All Udemy course. I was upset that I didn’t know about this course before because he’s an absolute treasure. I signed up immediately.
My point is that I WISH that he had been persistent about staying in touch with me as he launched new things. I imagine there were several channels I could have found out about this, but just didn’t. Reflexively, I wonder how many great personal connections that I’ve missed out on by not putting myself out there. Maybe there is someone out there that will be as excited to find something I’ve done as I was to find Rabbi Eitan.
I’m resolving to contribute more in many simple ways. If I click a link on hacker news I’m going to upvote it. If I see something that reminds me of an old friend, I’m going to email them a note. If I like a blog post, I’m going to thank that person for it.
It sounds silly to me as I type it, but that’s a struggle for me. But in the end, we’re all people trying to connect and create cool stuff in the world.
If you’ve read this far, follow me on medium or twitter. If you tweet me and I haven’t yet given it away, I’ll happily send you my copy of Show Your Work.
