Isn’t this amazing? Click on it to see the detail. It’s growing in our yard near a tree. It’s a foot in diameter & about 6 inches tall. And the most wonderful orange color! which is my most favorite color (I have orange flowers, luggage & now a car).
I had been thinking about this topic before this lichen appeared. People want to know how to do so many things – the networking, building a brand, finding a job in social media, etc. Then once they get involved the next question is how to manage it all. I try to provide answers for those things & sometimes need to pause & take a break.
This post is probably mostly advice to myself. But you may find this pause helpful too as you juggle it all. After today I will return to full speed forward.
This beautiful piece of nature grew unexpectedly in our yard. The things that struck me are:
- it is unique, there are none other like it
- it is asymmetrical, there is no pattern
- it is very fragile & soft to the touch yet is resilient to the elements
- it is flexible (spears of grass have grown up thru one of the leaves)
- it is slowly growing & the colors are becoming richer
- it is unknown what it will evolve into? My mom asked & I didn’t know.
So how is this related to working online?
- plant yourself in unexpected places & grow
- be yourself & make sure that you have a unique perspective
- there’s no reason to have a pattern
- resiliency & flexibility are essential to growth
- as frenetic as the social media world is take it at your pace
- where will you take it? (note that I didn’t say, Where will it take you?!!)
Did that translate for you? What would you add to it?
Everyone needs a break once in awhile. Great job on describing what you saw in nature with what it relates to in terms of all of this social media stuff taking place on the web. Enjoyed the read and have added the blog to the RSS reader for managing communities :)
Hi Jeff (& others that are trying to leave comments)
It seems that my blog is not being cooperative today in taking comments. I’ve asked my sister to look at it.
I was going to write more here about the competitive nature of social media, how we’re all Type A’s feeling like we need to learn it all at once, keep up to the next person, etc… but maybe another time. :)
And if you can’t leave a comment, I enjoy email too! :)