Connector Field Notes #1

Welcome to the first ever send of Connector Field Notes, the new weekly Monday edition of Hobbyist Academia. This is a home for shorter form thoughts and ideas; I’ll be sharing stories, strategies, and observations from my systems thinking approach to being a connector in a hybrid world.

I’ll probably include one to three in each edition. This week I have three.

I hope they inspire you to be intentional about building relationships and feelings of genuine connectedness, in a way that works across the online and offline components that make up our lives.

Phone calls are still useful

Amid busy airports and flight delays returning from holiday travel, I managed to turn a commiserating text thread with a friend into a spontaneous late night hello at the airport. When we realized we had landed at the same terminal within minutes of each other, I called her and we coordinated to meet.

Here’s why it worked: I recognized the moment to switch from texting to a phone call. Texting is convenient and can be asynchronous, which is sometimes an advantage, but I needed to catch her at that exact moment before we both left the terminal. I also wanted to turn a possible run-in into a concrete plan. I could have just figured maybe I would run into her (and I might have anyway) but why leave that to chance?

It was a bright spot for both of us. It was another touchpoint in the many that have made up our friendship. This is why I make the extra effort to help a potential spontaneous interaction along.

Sometimes it’s fun to go grocery shopping on a weird day at a weird time

A lot of us have been out of our routines the past week or two with travel and time off. My favorite thing about it is that it puts us all on different-than-usual schedules for errands. You could live two blocks away from someone you know and never realize it if you’re on opposite schedules. Mix up everyone’s schedules and you get exponential opportunities to run into someone you know at the grocery store.

Why does this matter? Hyperlocal spontaneous interactions (seeing people you know at the store, the coffee shop, the park) are joyful, and powerful. They make a neighborhood feel smaller, more connected, and more like a community. They’re the building blocks of belonging. They’re unexpected moments of connection, the recognition that at least some of the people in the buildings around you aren’t just strangers living parallel lives. Maybe they spark ideas for planned gatherings, or renew your mindset of looking up and around for people you know when you’re out and about.

Be a regular somewhere

I hadn't been to the yoga studio in almost two weeks until late last week. I didn't run into my long lost best friend, or even any specific person I thought I might run into if I went to class. I don’t come back with a wild coincidence story every time I leave the house. But it was still another touchpoint with a community I'm a part of- a community that I interact with mostly by visiting a physical location.

Hyperlocal spontaneous interactions can go beyond the grocery store or neighborhood coffee shop. They can be an important, underlying layer of community at a local place you go for fun, like a workout class, a bookstore, or a running club. By definition, you have a shared interest with the familiar faces you see there. A greeting or a smile is likely to be well received. Some familiar faces will go on to become friends, but the ones who don’t are important too. Every time you show up and acknowledge each other, you're building on your sense of belonging and community.