DESIGN CONNECTIONS > BREAKING-UP

We are already in our 3rd week of Design Connections? in Mat-Su, Alaska.

It is spring here.?

Alaskans call spring Breaking Up.?

The ice in the rivers and lakes frozen solid during the winter literally breaks up into pieces and melts as the weather gets warmer. After a long, cold, dark winter, spring is arriving here overnight. We can see it happen in front of our eyes—the frozen lake in front of our space is turning into slush, birds who were not here yesterday are now flying overhead, you see flowers pushing through the snow, and it is still light out after 9 PM. ?

I love the symmetry of it.?

Nature is breaking up and bursting forth with life.

So are we.?

We are breaking up the ice and making connections. In our workshops, we are seeing new connections appear with laughter, empathy, and optimism.?

These people are showing us you can make connections with intention.

We are helping them manufacture friendships.

Love is found, and friendships are made. If friendships are made, you can manufacture them. Think about it as an equation:

Share place + shared time + shared interests = Friendship Factories

Once you have this simple but profound equation, you can intentionally combine these three elements—shared place, interests, and time—to design connections.

1. Look for places: Cinemas, cafes, museums, nature, classes, gyms, clubs.?Offices, conferences, workshops, seminars, meetings, and retreats. These are your Friendship Factories.

2. Remember your interests. Dancing, watching movies, reading books, walking your dog, quilting, working out, writing, racing, and cooking. Philosophy, science, coaching, mindfulness, design, art, finance, accounting, and marketing—add your specialty here. Each one has the potential to be a shared interest.

3. Schedule time. Sign up for a class, a conference, or a talk. Join a club, a committee, a team. Buy a ticket. Mark your calendar. This is how you create shared time.

These are conditions for making connections.?

Next, go in with optimism. You might meet your next best friend, a new collaborator, or someone really interesting. You might even help someone and make someone’s day.

I now enter new situations thinking I might meet my next best friend there. And that is what gets this introvert out the door and into a Friendship Factory.

Or to Mat-Su, Alaska, where we are breaking up the ice. And seeing new connections come to life.

Happy spring!

Ayse

INSPIRATION

If you missed my earlier reflections on Design Connections from Alaska, you can read them here:

DESIGN CONNECTIONS > WE ARE IN ALASKA!

DESIGN CONNECTIONS > WHAT I WOULD TELL MY YOUNGER SELF

For our design programs, please email Leah Caplan, VP, Design and Project Planning, Birsel + Seck, at?[email protected] .

For coaching engagements, please email Jacquelyn Lane, President, 100 Coaches, at?[email protected] .

For speaking engagements, please email Nancy Aaronson at?[email protected] .