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Whether you’re here to grow your business, master the art of facilitating belonging, or elevate your mindset & vitality—what unites us is the belief that human connection is an elixir of life 🧪

As a token of appreciation for the care I put into writing this, can you forward this to one facilitator, community-builder, or human connection professional?

At last, let’s dance 💕🙌

WISDOM BOMB

1. Decouple idea creation and idea evaluation.

2. Don’t be a CAVE person: Citizen against virtually everything.

— Kimberly Weifling, Global Leadership Consultant, VYVE member

ELEVATE YOUR SELF

FACILITATION

Get people doing it together.

When people do things together, the social risk collapses. This is what I learnt approaching small groups in parks and getting them to dance this weekend. When other people are doing it, our subconscious says its OK.

PS: My friends at Scaling Intimacy, the best facilitation and experience design program I am aware of, offered us 20% OFF for their weekend intensive course led by a VYVE member. If you want to level up as a facilitator and event creator, please take a peak!

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Take breaks of divergent thinking.

So often, I work too much IN my business and not ON the business. To interrupt this pattern, I grab my clipboard and brainstorm other things I could be doing in my business. This helps me refocus on what matters.

WELL-BEING

Cool down your bedroom.

I just ordered a ChiliPad Sleep device which ensures my bed stays at the same temperature all night. In summer, I sleep much worse due to the heat. Sleep hackers all agree: Cool bedroom, sleep that makes you cool 🤣

FROM MY LIFE AND BIZ

LIFE LESSONS

I learnt that it’s possible to connect with anyone you want.

I did something extreme over the weekend. On Sunday night, I challenged myself. I put on my lab coat, attached a white retractable badge to belt, and set out on my scooter. My objective: Pretend to give out physical distance tickets to people in parks. This was the ultimate test of my facilitation and courage. Could I really do something so crazy, alone?

The first two groups laughed so much. I made their day. They were so into it. When I told them that the only way to avoid the ticket was to dance to “one song, one song only” they all laughed and started dancing to my music. Of course, I had my SOUNDBOKS with me the entire time.

The third group saw me as a pest… they wanted me to go away. They didn’t play along. I felt rejected.

The fourth, fifth, and sixth groups laughed and laughed. They started filming the whole thing. One of the groups even synchronized their dance movements and offered me alcohol.

So what did I learn? Well, I proved to myself that even during a pandemic, you can approach and play with strangers. We can choose to be vibrant and friendly, despite unfavorable circumstances. This is the power of the mind and the power of self-confidence. Both can be trained.

BUSINESS LESSONS

Practice option-creation.

Let’s be real. This week, I got rejected a lot and realized my process for enrolling people into my movement and entrepreneurs organization was not as successful as I thought. It wrecked my motivation. But it led me to practice option-creation.

Option-creation is when you generate new, divergent options for accomplishing your objective. Instead of accepting the default options, you create new ones. For me, this practice looked like evaluating all the different approaches to connecting with human connection professionals: Cold-email, blogging, referral partnerships, and facebook automation.

After seeing all the options visually, you can get an outsider’s view. You can look at the process and decide which systems need tweaking. For me, I realized that I was asking for people to get involved in VYVE before they trusted or liked me. Again, before making any ask, your customer should like, trust, and know you.

In response to this realization, I created a new customer journey—I brainstormed about all the ways that I could add value to human connection pros through my blog, VYVE, and connections.

I practiced option creation again for VYVE’s session design. And I came up with a “response menu” for participants to choose from. People like choice. Now, the session for VYVE can give people whatever they need! They choose.

HUMAN I’M CHEERING FOR

Edric, CEO of Warmspace, wants to make intimacy readily accessible anytime, anywhere. His technology promises to be the Insight Timer for human connection.

WHAT I CREATED THIS WEEK

Seven Principles for Peer Empowerment. Article.

HUMAN CONNECTION PROS I MET WITH

Brian Stout, Creator and Curator of Building Belonging.

Riley Drever, Co-Founder of Authentic-Relating Go.

Edric Subur, Growth-Junkie and CEO of Warmspace.io.

I CHALLENGE YOU TO…

Hold eye contact while telling someone you love them.

Remind fellow human connection professionals you care about their success and well-being. Be thoughtful—Forward this email to them.

Don’t forget, your body and belonging matters too, be-you-tiful.

—Jacques W. Martiquet, The International Party Scientist

PS: JOIN MY INSIDER LIST for $1/week when you’re ready for deeper insights and personal invitations 🙏