SΩ24 - Differences

For the last few years it seems like there are increasingly more people voicing their support for various causes and social groups. For example April is Autism awareness month and there was a protest for science. My question is when will we evolve beyond the need for that? Our differences are what help us grow as a society. If we truly learn to understand one another we’ll find that the interests we have and the challenges we face are truly universal. Here are a few stories of people you will hopefully relate to.

The AC Wizard
Like a bell the clink of his fork on the plate announced the end of his dinner. Leaving the cozy restaurant he walked with dread to what awaited him. Although the life of solitude gave him some peace the city refused to leave him alone. Each night was a struggle to find his way to dreamland. Everything from the train miles away to the creak of the stairs far below him or the flashing of lighting in the distance kept him awake. His body yearned for just a wink of sleep.

This was just an example of the challenges faced by my role model: Nikola Tesla. Many believe that he had some form of Autism, which would explain the hyper-sensitivity mentioned before and his limited social life. Yet thanks to him we have AC power, which is used worldwide to run all our lights, appliances, computers, and more.

Magic from Poverty
She looked out the window of the cafe and contemplated her predicament. Her thoughts were interrupted by a rustling sound and she looked over at her daughter sleeping blissfully in her pram. It was at that moment she realized that it was pointless to feel sorry for her penniless situation. With that in mind she attacked the pages with her pen with an intense ferocity. She owed it to her daughter to finish this book and find a way to get a decent meal on the table.

This female author went from being a single mother, unemployed and on wealth fare to a becoming the writer of the globally loved Harry Potter series. Yes indeed Joanne (JK) Rowling had struggles of her own. Furthermore, she had to hide the fact she was a woman, because publishers believed it would be less appealing to boys. Never the less it goes to show even someone with less than most can bring magic to the lives of others.

The Peace Jab
One could almost smell the frustration in the air from the two men talking. The sturdy man kept repeating ‘Shoot them for what?’ His companion nodded with approval. As their discussion continued one realized the meals they had ordered where more of an after thought. On that evening they were there to exchange their beliefs and how to show the rest of the world. In the end it was decided the sturdy man would publicly announce his Muslim beliefs on peace and refuse to be part of the mindless killing.

It might be tricky to believe that the king of boxing, Muhammad Ali, was a firm believer of peace. Especially in this day an age when many ignore the millions of Muslims who have kind and giving souls. When refusing to join the draft he showed the world how one truly stands up for humanity. 

Albeit fictional anecdotes the struggles these change makers faced were indeed real. It’s time we see our differences as strengths in building a better future. People as diverse as you overcame their struggles and offered something to the world. How will you turn your differences into gifts to the world?

SΩ23 - Who We Meet

How do strangers turn into friends? Most of us meet new people on a weekly basis. The two years developing Society Ω has made me come to appreciate the complexity and serendipity of social connections. Hopefully, these anecdotes will give you a taste of my upcoming project: Ω Teams. For a chance to join, sign up here.

Having lived in three countries one might consider me a modern nomad. What few know is that I’ve lived in over 17 shared flats! This means I’ve lived with around 50 different people and yet I’ve only kept in touch with a few. However, my experience in one shabby flat in Worcester was different. It’s here where I met a physicist, who I spent enjoying many late night discussion with. Although we differ in many ways, like religion, somehow our friendship has withstood the test of time. Even as he and his family have bounced between Asia and his birthplace of Nigeria he remains a close friend.

When you think of Belgium you might think of waffles, chocolate, and fries. However, for me it’s capital of Belgium brings back much different memories. It’s there where I met my first girlfriend. We are both adventurous people with a love for traveling and sports. Yet somehow we drifted apart and she eventually returned to China. It’s incredible how we can find love in the most random places imaginable. It’s just as surprising how time can sometimes evaporate those seemingly unbreakable connections.

A more recent tale comes from Barcelona. Here you'll find dozens of startup events and meetups on a daily basis. Last December I participated in a hackathon with a blend of amazing people. If you’ve ever participated in a hackathon you’ll know that the event is a bit of a blur. A few days later someone contacted me on Twitter. As politely as possible I responded to her ‘who are you?’. Yes that Venezuelan chica turned out to become my spunky co-organizer for makeathon.info. Even as I’m still getting to know her interests our values and work flow synced in just a few days.

Why am I sharing all this with you? Well we meet new people on a weekly or for some on a daily basis. Any of those people could turn into a friend, romantic partner, or partner in crime for a project/startup. This connection forming is fairly mystifying, which can be fantastic for friendship and relationships. However, for turning an idea into reality finding the ‘perfect’ teammate(s) is rather frustrating.  So I’m launching a new initiative, Ω Teams, to explore how to build strong teams from the start. I'm looking for 12 highly motivated participants with ideas or who'd like to contribute to one. For anyone who wants a chance to participate, just sign up here.

SΩ22 - The Breath of Giving

They strode side by side, a tall man with a scruffy elderly man. From their amiable chatter you’d guess they were close friends or perhaps relatives. In fact they just met earlier in the nearby park. The elderly man was ecstatic for the companionship and the invitation to share a warm meal. You see the park has been the elderly man’s ‘home’ for the last 4 years. As fate would have it the tall man’s evening route brought him to the park and united the two. The tall man visits this neighborhood weekly to comfort the ill-fated people congregated here from his homeland. 

For him being concerned for others is as natural as breathing.

This realistic tale was inspired by a friend’s experience with the inherently communal culture of Moroccans and Berber hospitality. Discovering this anomaly I asked myself;

How can more of us develop this natural habit of giving and supporting others?

To explore this idea further, I decided to actively grow this giving habit in myself. This November my objective was to spend a half hour to give or support someone each morning from Monday to Friday. This quickly transformed into the November Giving Challenge, which I encouraged others to take part in. In the end there were over 76 visits to the challenge page from 9 different countries. To my knowledge there were over 10 people who contributed to the challenge. This included a teacher in the US who had a 10-minute giving challenge in her classroom. Perhaps the biggest success came from participating in the periscope #AttitudeOfGratitude live event.

As this adventure is coming to an end I’ve started doing a bit of deeper reflection. From all the lessons learned I'll highlight a few of my discoveries.

• Many of us already give and support each other (i.e. knowledge on the Internet)
• There are countless ways both online and offline to support one another
• In communities with common values/interests there is a higher likelihood of giving
• We can develop a habit of giving and supporting others 

Giving Communities
What was actually inspiring to realize is that many of us already give and support each other on a daily basis. A great example of this is the knowledge we share online. Especially prominent is the support in online communities that share common interests and/or values, such as personal learning networks of educators like Edumatch or the BCN startup slack community. It would be interesting to explore how these communities can be linked together to tackle global problems?

The Giving Comfort Zone
Another big success was seeing my personal growth. The last weeks of the challenge ways to support and give often popped up naturally. I think this is because my perspective had been opened up and I was more willing to go beyond my 'comfort zone'. Many of us are more than willing to support family, friends, or people within our personal communities. This is what I mean with our 'comfort zone'. Helping strangers outside of this 'comfort zone' is a struggle. The tough reality is that those who truly need support are either far from where we live or outside that ‘comfort zone'.

You all have the power to develop the habit of giving and supporting others! The first step is realizing that we all share challenges and we must come together to deal with global challenges. Also you can become aware of those around you and listen attentively. Even starting small can be great! Going past November you all have the chance to evolve your Breath of Giving.

Links & Relevant Posts
November Giving Challenge
SΩ12 - Our Global Impact
SΩ13 - Think, Give, Love (Holiday Gift Ideas) 
 

SΩ18 - Slack Peek: Entrepreneur Q&A

In January the Society Ω Slack group was born. At first the idea was to give readers a space to ‘e-meet’, provide post feedback, and discuss ideas related to the blog. In just a few months it’s developed to more than that! This is largely thanks to the superb members who are eager to partake in all the wild conversations & ideas. We’re always happy to embrace new members, either contact me for an invite or join here.

The group has also evolved rapidly in the last few months. Our new purpose:

‘An open group promoting global collaboration to better the world 1 day at a time’

Furthermore we have 3 different opportunities for members:

Live - A place where regular live sessions take place centered on a pre-chosen theme

The Agora - Here members can have fun and relaxed chats about anything

Weekly Question - If a member is facing a challenge, needs answers, and/or suggestions they can ask here

In our latest lives session we had a Q&A with Patricia on entrepreneurship. Originally from Holland and now living in Barcelona she has a wide array of business experience ranging from working at Nike, having her own business consultancy, being vice president of mentoring at PWN, and much more. Here is a link to her current business and her linkedin. Without further ado, here is a glimpse at the Q&A.

 Peter:

If I’ve been an entrepreneur for years and have yet to earn a profit at what point should I reflect on my experience, accept defeat and move on?

Patricia:

If you’re not reaching your business goals and objectives in 2-3 years it’s time to reconsider your next step. If you’re unable to live your preferred lifestyle with your business, it’s also a good idea to reassess your situation. Just remember few businesses are an overnight success, many entrepreneurs and freelancers struggle in the beginning to get where they want to be.

It's difficult to let go of your dream. A good choice before doing so is to review your situation and challenges with a business consultant or mentor. Often all you need is some focus and a different approach. A fresh pair of eyes can help you see things from a different angle.

Jaka:

Do you have any pointers on how to set up a marketing strategy based on knowing who the target group is?

Patricia:

You also need to know who your competitors are. Many people forget to address how you are different from your competitors. You need to position yourself in front of your target market. My suggestions:

1. You need to understand how your competitors position themselves
2. You have to highlight what you do differently from your competitors
3.  You need to identify what customer needs are filled by your product or service
4. What is unique about your product/service, your location, etc. 

Jordan:

What are the best channels to put your advertising budget?

Patricia:

Again this depends highly on where your target customer is. If they are online, social media is a good choice. If they read a specific magazine, go there. If you’re big and need a large customer base than TV & radio are good. As people are overwhelmed with messages all around them make sure to be as targeted as possible. A good book to read in that regard is “Purple Cow” from Seth Godin.

Josh:

What's the best way to gain followers when first starting a twitter account for your business?

Patricia:

Identify your target group and find them on Twitter. Follow them and most people will follow back. Post content that interests your target group. A good way to start is posting similar content your followers tweet or retweet. Engage with your followers by talking to them, thanking them, liking their tweets, etc.

If this all sounds exciting to you, feel free to join us. Contact me for an invite or join here.

SΩ14 - 2015 and Slack to the Future

Feels like 2015 just flew by! A year ago I wrote my first post, in which I shared my vision for ‘Society Ω’. Thus, it feels fitting to write a post reflecting how the blog has evolved and the plans for 2016! Ask for your slack community invite: here (explained below).

Discover a Better You by Blogging

The blog has often surprised me as if the blog has developed a mind of it’s own! For the most part this blog has acted like a playground for soul searching. As cliché as it may sound, blogging has helped me become a better person.

It’s allowed my creative side to flow and discover some of my closest interests: questioning the norms, bridging cultures, and shaping altr-umanity. Another outcome was uncovering that educational technology feels like the career path for me. I also discovered that every word counts and strive to keep a one-page limit per post. This has greatly improved my communication skills.

Most importantly, I’ve come to enjoy producing content that provides value to the readers! This got me thinking of how some of my posts entertain people and other posts can provide some guidance of issues I’ve faced. On a deeper level, it’s exciting to get people to question the world around them!

2015 in a Nutshell

Looking at the numbers, the blog was viewed in 44 countries and had over 1,600 page views.

Based on page views the top posts for 2015 were:

1. Global Kindness: Cultural Tales II 
2. Our Global Impact
3. Exploring the Job Jungle 
4. Cultural Tales
5. Culture Talks: Digi-Comm & Laughter

Clearly the cultural posts are the most popular! It’s great that the top two posts also had rather deep messages. However, with limited numbers and feedback, it’s tricky to tell what made these posts so appealing!?

Slack to the Rescue

In fact that’s a constant struggle! How can I give readers what they want, while sticking to my beliefs and the aim of this blog? Furthermore, how can I push the blog into actions? That’s when I realized all you readers deserve a voice as well! If used wisely ‘slack’ is a tool to develop and strengthen such a community. So here it is: societyomega.slack.com! Please ask for an invite: here.

I’m also considering new ways to present my ideas. Although text is here to stay, it’s clear that video is dominating the internet. I hope to create a video of sorts in the near future! I could definitely use some collaboration with that.

The target for 2016 is to have been read in at least 100 countries! Do you have some brilliant ideas of how to achieve that? Please share them in the slack community!

Finally, here are a few teasers to possible posts. Please tell me, which you'd like to see:

• Exploring Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) 
• Idea for the ‘Giving Vacation’ 
• The bliss of a minimalist life

SΩ12 - Our Global Impact

Beauty and chaos exist side by side in this world. Having children is a perfect example of this. It’s a complex balance of showing one’s child the best of the world and at the same time preparing them for all the uncertainty and hurdles to come. When parents are unable to remain together it opens an entirely different beast. Looking back on my childhood, I do feel my parents prepared me for this world.  Yet I believe they could have handled their separation differently. Reflecting back, I believe that had they dealt with it as a team and supported one another, it would have been far better for all. However, the past is the past and so I’ll focus on what came from it: my desire to help others.

I think as a child this ambition developed unconsciously, sparked by my parents’ separation. Digging through some of my previous texts, I came across a snippet I wrote at 19: “I will try my best to better society & make it livable for my children and the generations to come”. Although I have no recollection of what this piece was about, this message still rings true.

For me it seems clear that if humanity wishes to progress it must develop a collaborative environment. Although that has been clear to me for many years the way to reach this has developed over the years. During my university years, I was certain that bringing technology, like solar energy, to underprivileged countries was my calling. After university I realized that although this will help, it’d only make a tiny dent in improving societies ways.

Another realization was that the world’s inequalities, in many ways, have been created by society, especially due to trade & capitalism. Remember that we are globally connected and many of our actions have a direct/indirect impact on other people in the world. Shortly after moving to Barcelona I had a eureka moment: education was the answer! Children are key to building a truly collaborative society. What we teach our children shapes the global boundaries they perceive and follow.

 

Yet the reality is that although I believe in helping others and a collaborative society, my knowledge is limited on how to do this successfully. To educate myself, I’ve been finding ways to help others. To further this this knowledge, I created ‘The Project’. In a nutshell, I ask people to anonymously submit a problem and I try my best to provide advice/suggestions to solve it. Last month I asked 7 people to test it. Here are the 5 abridged queries I received:
  - How can I help the Syrian refugees?
  - What is the most efficient way of finding one’s calling in life?
  - What is the best way to help others?
  - How to budget if wages are fixed & living costs keep increasing?
  - Should I date, if I’m still uncertain of where I want to live?
You’ll find the detailed problems and suggestions here: The Project

My findings thus far are quite revealing. Here are my observations & follow-up questions:
  - People seem reluctant to ask for & accept help from others
     - Why do people feel they need to solve their problems alone?
     - What’s the best way to offer someone help, if you don’t know his/her problem(s)?
  - How we help people can differ from what someone needs
     - How can we improve the way we help others?
  - Helping others can feel amazing, especially if we know we’ve helped
     - How can we encourage people to provide honest feedback?
     - Why is appreciation difficult to come by?

Now I’m opening ‘The Project’ to the public! If you believe in a collaborative society, voice your ideas, feedback below in the comments. Also, if you need help with a problem, post your burning problems & queries here: The Project Form. For now, I'm accept 10 queries per month.