I’ve been reading Tynan’s blog for years.
His blog is a mixture of life advice, entertaining exploits, and productivity tips.
He has a gift of uniting people into strong friendship groups.
Last year he and his friends bought an island. They visit it frequently.
He also took a group of friends on a Transpacific cruise.
So much of our social contact is done in familiar locations with fixed rules and expectations. Nothing really changes and this is good. Every social group needs a home – a patch of turf (online or offline) which they can call their own. That sameness and routine actually provides the social group with its structure – rules via which they communicate.
But it doesn’t provide the group with it’s memories. It’s the memories that help make a group feel special and unique. It’s the shared history that ensures members stay with one group as opposed to quietly distancing themselves and joining another.
We need to push social groups through abnormal events to have those memories. A simple way of having a close group of friends is to do strange things.
This is as true in business as it is in online and offline communities. It’s too easy to have another coffee/drink in a bar or another christmas party, than it is to do a road trip to see the world’s largest honey factory. The former is certainly easier, but the latter will create the memories your group needs.
