gm community builders, creators and CMs of web3,
This week I’m introducing two sections to this newsletter:
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“What do you think?” → short opinion or think piece
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“TLDR” → news on community building for brands, creators, indies
I’m also testing out Mirror as the new home for my writing (find a 🎁 at the bottom).
Disclaimer: I’m not a health professional. This is the fruit of my personal research and lived experience. I’ll share more resources at the end.
The link between building and the nervous system
Lots of relationships to manage, calls to attend, DMs to catch up, important decisions to make. All that in addition to producing outstanding work in a distracting world. Increasingly we feel like things are “overwhelming”, “stressful” and “draining” our energy. Building can be like this at times.
If you’re a masochist that’s where you want to be, you can stop reading this now. In all other cases understanding your nervous system a little more can help.
Underneath all actions and emotions is a nervous system ⚡ , a network of information highways and command centers (like the brain) which coordinates events in our body.
I used to be clueless about my own nervous system. Today I wouldn’t let my nascent knowledge go for all the airdrops in the world.
Nervous system capacity = most important resource
Nervous system capacity is so important because it sets the bar for how much I can take on in a period of time while being my normal -feeling in control, high quality- self.
Any type of interaction with the world uses up some capacity. Everything has a cost!
For example:
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Answering a DM is in the low range of resource consumption,
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Programming for an hour is medium range,
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Attending a week long conference like ETHDenver is extremely stimulating and taxing.
I’m over capacity If the needed resource isn’t available in my system anymore. That’s when feelings of being overwhelmed start to show up (for me at least). Its fine if I keep pushing in that zone for short periods of time. But as I go I’m depleting more and more resources and creating debt that’ll have to repay (i.e. take much longer to rest). If I keep pushing for too long I’ll throw my system off balance entirely (gm burnout 🤕).
Maintaining NS balance = growing capacity
Instead when we keep our system within its healthy boundaries it can keep functioning optimally and we’re already growing our capacity to take on more!
My current understanding is that this balance depends on what’s commonly known as the two main components of the nervous system:
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Sympathetic NS → Dominant when I am excited, frightened, activated, engaged…
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Parasympathetic NS → Dominant when I am relaxed, digesting, regenerating…
These two are often presented as complementary opposites but they’re tightly integrated and balance out each other in a yin yang fashion ☯.
When my two systems are in balance and working full speed I will ‘rest and digest’ more efficiently and I will face challenges with fresh and vibrant energy the next hour or the next day. Finding optimal balance is already a way to maximize capacity and to increase my readiness.
When I gradually reclaimed my nervous system from long held trauma and poor self-management practices, I thought:
“WOW is there a world where I can get much more done in life while being healthy and rested respect myself and others???”
And the answer is yes, its a possibility for many to understand and grow their NS capacity. There are so many incredible recovery and growth stories out there.
Where to start healing your nervous system and growing capacity?
On your nervous system mastery journey you’ll hear about things like:
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interoception & exteroception
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somatic experiencing
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breathwork
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meditation
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exercising
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diet
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connection
And many other new complex concepts.
So the important part is having some time, good resources and guides. Those creators helped me:
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Jonny Miller and his NSM Course (you can enroll for Spring cohort)
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AwakenWithAlly great insights into nervous system and trauma
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Connie Biesalski for live instagram breathwork
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Huberman’s podast for the muscles and the science
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Grimhood who have an incredible story themselves
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Mastin Kipp for trauma/healing/NS tips
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If you’re hungry for books and podcasts DM me @albiverse
Before we part ways a real world illustration of how this looks like:
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Layer3s biggest update so far - the new layer3 quest UX is really good for education. It made me think deeper about quests and their ability to communicate information through noise.
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Guild’s feature payments is being rolled out gradually - with payments community managers are able to set a price on access to different memberships, roles, content, events and so on… this frictionless experience integrated with Guild opens up a wide design space for monetization. Watch the Guild!
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Christina’s piece on UGC 2.0 - straight from the brain of Lens Head of Growth. How web3 might help niche creators, brands and communities monetize and do (more) meaningful work.
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3 reasons why retention is king for products (and communities?) - people you retain end up 1. paying for your product 2. telling their friends 3. make you grow more in the long run.
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Web3 has ‘Salsa’ building on POAP, Instagram has ‘channels’ - this thread explains how instagram broadcast channels -allowing creators and brands to create private group channels- is comparable to WeChat groups which gave rise to a whole new breed of private channel marketing. Article linked.
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CM360 is live - Crew3’s new educational program for their user community managers has kicked off last week.
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Collab Land announced their token and 3rd Party marketplace - its in the title! You can claim tokens if you own their membership NFT.
Thanks for reading this issue, let’s chat! <3
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