Embracing Harbingers: Using Trends to Grow Your Community

In today's hyper-paced digital world, being ahead of the game is everything. Of course, we can’t all be ahead. And you don’t have to -- you just have to know the people, brands, and movements that are. For community-based businesses, community Harbingers can unlock the ability to anticipate

Don't Compete on Time or Effort --Win by Focusing on Depth using a 3-Step Flow State Framework

The rules for success are becoming clearer every day -- it's not what you know or what you do. It's how you do it. First, it was the Internet. The smartest person in the room was the one with the best wifi signal. Now it's AI. All the mundane work

To Do Lists are Addictive and Ineffective

We all love the feeling of checking off completed tasks on our to-do list. ✅ work 💪 It gives us a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction. What if I told you that the very act of making a list could be sabotaging your productivity? It's like setting sail on a ship with

5 Ways Athletes Leverage Focus to Perform at Their Best

As a leader, whether on the track or in the boardroom, it's easy to fall into the trap of using past performance and visible cues to correlate success. Turns out, it's a lack of self-knowledge that holds people back.

Introducing the Agency Agenda

As individuals, we all strive to create our best work, whether working solo or as part of a team. In today's dystopian tech-driven work environment, continuous communication disrupts value creation. If you aren't sending, you are receiving. Either way, you aren't creating. So I created the Agency Agenda to give

Three Ways Living a Life of Practice Unlocks Your Success

All of these experiences have taught me a tremendous amount about what matters in life and what doesn't. Most importantly, they allowed me to figure out my creative DNA and understand my personal pathways to success.

Five Strategies to Tame Your Beast of a Workday

Themes: Bias to Action, Hacks Any job, given enough time, can turn into something that you don't like. This feeling of discontentment might not result from the job itself or the people you work with. Instead, it's an unspecified malaise that takes hold of your experience. You don't have to

How Racing For 20 Years Changed My Work Forever

I have been a competitive endurance athlete and a business owner for over 15 years. During that time, I qualified for the Ironman World Championships ten times. In addition, I created programs, events, and a community for 10,000+ athletes to achieve their fitness goals. I have invested so many

The Minimum Viable Plan for Your Workday

Unpopular opinion: The most valuable skill in the modern workplace is the ability to learn. We are constantly bombarded with examples of new types of work. New jobs couldn't even have imagined five years ago. A quick glance at Twitter -- my gateway into what's evolving quickly (sorry not sorry

The One Step That Unlocks Your Work Day

Today I'm going to share with you the simple hack I use to plan the first hour of my day at work. The 21st century world in which we work has no off switch. Red dots everywhere. Notifications start streaming in after everyone has had enough caffeine. Work is no

Do You Even Plan, Bro?

It's useless to plan your work for the day after the day has started. That's like deciding to drink more water when the only option available is a fire hydrant. Buckling into the rollercoaster along the way. Tying your shoes while running the marathon. Your personal mileage may vary. Seeking

Learning from Games

This is part of my new focus on the #EnduranceMindset as it relates to leadership and personal growth. If this focus is new to your radar, check out the manifesto update.   +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Mistakes are an inevitable part of the learning process. But there's a difference between learning from mistakes and feeling

NFTs Today, DAOs Tomorrow: The Role of Incentives and Transparency in Shaping Our Future

People interchangeably describe Web3 as an JPEG wasteland or the digital version of a financial Wild West rife with token-speculation. They are not wrong. This is an important first step, not the endgame. The truth is that something much bigger is afoot. We are witnessing mass collaboration and organization-at-scale through

An Update from Web3-landia

This is the first article in a series that will cover my lessons learned from making the leap to Web3 communities. I hope you find it useful. All comments and feedback are welcome via Twitter @pmcrann [https://twitter.com/pmccrann/] -- it would be great to connect with you. Over

Join the Launch Club: December Edition 🚀

Taking your new community out into the world is as daunting as it is important. You have endless lists, competing priorities, and deadlines you can't afford to adjust. Aside from drinking more coffee and giving up your weekends and social life, you feel powerless to control the final steps of

An Exponential Framework to Evolve How Community Scales Your Impact and Outcomes

As creators, our expectations for community focus on outcomes instead of process. We imagine community will make things better for what we are building. This place is vibrant! Participants are engaged! Things are bustling! However, community isn’t something that you can simply bolt on. Community is at the core

Course+Community Project Launches Nov 1, Applications Open

👋 Hey Friends! I talk to 35 community builders a week and I am starting to notice common opportunities and obstacles. It's 🤯 amazing to see the diversity of ideas, projects, and passion that are driving us forward. It's 😲 stunning to note how many of you share similar challenges and yet simultaneously

Community Apprenticeship

The push is on. The internet needs community managers and community professionals...and there aren’t enough of them. So where to start? Whether you are a start-up or a community professional, the answer is the same. Your journey begins inside the communities that are active right now. See who

Launch, Getting Started, Paywall, Corhort, Access

Managing the Doors to Your Community

What is the best way to bring people inside to your community? This was one of the most popular topics during the summer Community Design Bootcamp that I facilitated for Circle.co. It was clear that community builders of all levels are seeking some version of “best practices” for launching

A New Stop on My Community Journey!

Hey Folks! I have a personal update this week that I'm excited to share with you. As of Monday, I am part of the incredible team at Circle [https://circle.so/]. Circle is the go-to platform for modern-day communities and creators. It's the home for creators you know like Pat

How to Restructure Your Communication for Better Community Outcomes

The early stages of creating a community are full of anxiety. Building anything online isn't easy, after all. But the real danger is acting on that anxiety when it comes to messaging and growing your space.  In the blink of an eye, the most informed and prepared leaders can become

Zero to One: Four Scripts to Spark the Community Design Process

Did You Know? Starting a community in a group setting is harder than doing it on your own. Hear me out. You need people, right? Absolutely!  Moving from zero to community is already difficult. But at the start, more people can make things more challenging. The issue is there’s

Community Planning Like a Professional Athlete

Vegas plays with your mind, they say, as all evidence of time disappears. The early allure of no limits gives way to the realization that “24/7 YOU” is simply unsustainable. Vegas is a great place to visit, but not the kind of place that we want to stay. Before

Creating The Hero’s Journey

Creating value for the members of your community is complicated for a simple reason: you have assumed the “Builder’s role” which instantly changes your perspective. Not to worry! We can use a really simple device to create a meaningful and sustainable experience: The Hero’s Journey.

Overcoming FMD [Founding Member Dilemma]

It's Tempting to Search for the Right People to Start Your CommunityAfter months of hard work and planning, the soft launch of your community is around the corner. But there’s a difference between bringing ordinary people in and bringing the right people in. After all you, your team, your