The Wednesday Wellness threads are meant to encourage users to ask for and provide advice and motivation to improve their lives. It isn't intended as a 'containment thread' and any content which could go here could instead be posted in its own thread. You could post:
-
Requests for advice and / or encouragement. On basically any topic and for any scale of problem.
-
Updates to let us know how you are doing. This provides valuable feedback on past advice / encouragement and will hopefully make people feel a little more motivated to follow through. If you want to be reminded to post your update, see the post titled 'update reminders', below.
-
Advice. This can be in response to a request for advice or just something that you think could be generally useful for many people here.
-
Encouragement. Probably best directed at specific users, but if you feel like just encouraging people in general I don't think anyone is going to object. I don't think I really need to say this, but just to be clear; encouragement should have a generally positive tone and not shame people (if people feel that shame might be an effective tool for motivating people, please discuss this so we can form a group consensus on how to use it rather than just trying it).
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
So I've made a lot of headway into my local neighborhood. Next month, I'm set to join the board of my neighborhood organization. I'm replacing a member who has too many commitments. (Note: this neighborhood does not have an HOA, so membership is voluntary.) I'm also the volunteer webmaster, so thankfully I get to structure how our online real estate looks and feels.
My goals as a board member are twofold:
Out of curiosity: what would be some good reasons to join a group that reviews building permits, holds open meetings with bureaucrats and local elected officials, and serves cheap chicken dinners to dues-paying members?
Hell of a selling proposition, I know.
Better yet, what more would we need to do to make it worth leaving your residence on a Thursday night? Y'know, instead of being here on The Motte with you fine folk? 🙂
You alluded to this, but I'll make it more explicit. I'd split that point into two pieces:
1a) Provide valuable services to the members.
1b) Create effective rhetoric to persuade people to join.
Right now, it sounds like the valuable services you provide are: a) political/bureaucratic organization, and b) a social club. That's a small niche, and wouldn't be attractive to many people. I'm not sure if you could attract a substantial fraction of your neighbors without branching out into new activities.
I and another new member are well aware that the status quo is not attractive. I am probing the other board members to find out where their curiosities & passions are. They used to have tables at city-permitted events, but that dropped off years ago.
One thing I'm thinking of is using the speaker as a platform to reach out to people further down on the career pyramid. As an example, in April we'll be having the city's parking manager presenting. This could be useful for people working as traffic control, as valets, as meter maids, et cetera. We have local nonprofits literally training people off the street for these entry-level positions a mile away from our meeting location. This is a working class neighborhood, and this could attract those whose aspirations aren't yet smothered.
The intended message: "He started from the bottom, now he's here. You can learn from his example. We're capable of bringing in Top Guys. You want access? We make it happen." This can increase the range of speakers in the neighborhood beyond just civil servants and new arrivals.
This is just one example. There are more, but I'll wait for another time to add them.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link