Orange is not a colour, it's a state of mind

This might be a strange exercise to do in this format but after going to a Community Management workshop recently and hearing a stat that Community Managers usually burn-out after 18 months, I realized that I’ve been doing this for 3 years and either coping remarkably well or have burnt out and just don’t know it. Although I thought burning out meant you couldn’t function much any more or spent a considerable amount of time in the corner or under your desk crying or eating way too many Advils. I thought about some of the things discussed at the workshop and how some traits of the job which turn out to be common to Community Managers all over the world define us and some mechanisms for coping.

12 steps to avoid Community Manager burnout

1. admit you are doing it all on your own, that you have been for too long, and that this might not be the best thing for your company. Dedication to your job doesn’t have to equal no sharing and unhealthy, unsociable, stressful behavior
2. try to do one thing at a time, like dealing with emails in turn, oldest to newest, people will phone you if it’s urgent
3. see the funnel, be the funnel … realize that it’s OK to not know all the answers to all the questions, your job is a funnel or more likely one of those Willy Wonka contraptions for collecting and getting information from one place to another and connecting people or questions with the right people or answers
4. create a system for keeping up with who you’ve asked for more information from
5. believe, really believe, that asking for help or an assistant is not admitting failure, and ask for it
6. look at your book or your husband as the last thing you see before you go to sleep at night, not your iPad
7. identify something you can do for yourself – actually doing it probably occurs in the next 12 steps! But identifying it is half the battle.
8. walk to work or walk to get your coffee, fresh air is your friend
9. make a connection or friends with another Community Manager
10. call your mother
11. accept that just because you don’t get praise very often that you’re still doing a good job, your peers just honestly can’t see all the work that goes on behind the scenes to keep a community busy and happy
12. book at least one day’s vacation, even if that’s a weekend day.

I was super-excited to actually lay eyes on the shuttle riding on the back of it’s 747 as we were arriving at JFK on Sunday. You have to look hard at the photo, under the road sign but you can see it – I’m impressed The Mister managed to capture it out the back of the crazy cab window!!

Spotted this little tag on a tree in New York last weekend – there’s a project to plant one million trees. They’re almost at 600,000.

milliontreesnyc.org

Girls showed New York a bit of orange last Sunday – Nichole wore some orange to keep me company! Had brunch and a wander and came upon a cool looking orange bike at a random store in Tribeca.

Also got to see proof that Triburbia as Tribeca is often colloquially referred to because it’s one suburb on Manhattan that attracts families is true! All these strollers parked outside a Tribeca cafe at brunch time!

We came upon another Joe’s coffee on this trip to New York – on the Upper East Side. It was big enough to sit inside even! Lovely friendly staff and people sitting around reading the paper or using their computers.

Another great cup of Joe

The gluten free peanut butter cookie was SO good – no flour meant it was probably all peanut butter and sugar

Joe’s Coffee, 1045 Lexington Ave, New York @joecoffeenyc

We didn’t quite make it to Laughing Man, the new Australian owned shoe box of a cafe in Tribeca last time we were in New York, recently opened by Hugh Jackman. After Sunday brunch and a stroll through Soho we decided to bypass the sheep at Kaffe 1668 (quite difficult!) and try the famous flat white, endorsed by Hugh himself.

The place was tiny! No-one was in there which is pretty rare for the good New York places so we didn’t have to wait long for our 2 individually made flat whites. They were good. Good strength, Ethiopian which was ok but no so malty or with the caramel edge we like but I appreciated the strength. There was a tiny window seat and a couple of iron chairs on the stoop but it was such a fine day that we decided to take our coffee and wander down to the park to drink it.

Another great option in the area. It was lovely just sitting in little park in the sun.

Laughing Man, 184 Duane Street, Tribeca, New York @livelaughingman

We spent most of our coffee-drinking time this trip to New York in the new Kaffe 1668 that’s opened not far from the existing one we’d visited on a previous trip. Cousin Grant told us that a new one was opening not far from his apartment and it wasn’t until we went out to Wholefoods to grab some dinner supplies our first night that we realized just how close! We were walking along chatting about getting salad and whatnot and there in the window were little fluffy sheep – ding!

I’d been harboring a quiet hope that we’d be going near Laughing Man (another new place in the neighborhood to try) on our trip to Wholefoods so I was already in the mood for coffee – 7pm local time but only 4pm San Francisco time and the only coffee I’d had that day was half a dozen sips of airport coffee at 7am in San Francisco. We were talking about this at the counter when the barista said “With accents like that would you like flat whites?” Yes please! He was a lovely chatty guy, just returned from helping a kiwi set up a cafe in London so was very interested in where we drank coffee in New York and San Francisco.

His flat white was eye-rollingly good. Perfect gulping temperature and milk like velvet right to the last mouthful. The beans were from Intelligentsia – full of malt goodness. We noted a limited breakfast menu that offered another option for our next 2 early mornings that would take us up to Midtown for the Accounting Technolgy Show and Conference we were in town for (Xero had an exhibition stand there).

I love the little sheep in the cafe – I should’ve asked the relevance of them – larger ones in the window, tiny fellas on the shelves – I patted as many as I could that first visit. Over the next 4 days we were in town we went in every day – to grab coffee before the conference and on Saturday I went in with my book while The Mister sat with the tomato sauce bubbling on the stove for a home-cooked meal we were making for the Cousin Grant household. The cafe is quite dark, the ambiance they’re going for I guess, lit by candles even during the day, however it’s spacious enough that they’re not rushing you out the door. Their cranberry pound cake and homemade granola bars are really good.

Here’s my sheep friend who kept me company by my chair when I was reading my book in the window of the cafe. I enjoyed watching the little dogs out for their Saturday afternoon walks who came up to the window to say hi to the sheep – one little sausage dog got quite a fright!

Kaffe 1668, ~ 401 Greenwich Street, Tribeca, New York @kaffe1668

Very exiting moment for me after a tall man stepped around my luggage at JFK this evening – I noted his luggage was the same brand as mine and that he was being escorted somewhere by someone in a slightly flasher United Airlines uniform than the people at the departure podium so I kept watch. He was taken through the barrier and by then I began to realize it must be someone important – side profile and bingo, I recognized him. Tugging on The Mister’s sleeve I whispered “it’s Nathan Fillion!!” – to which The Mister gawped, not sure to believe me until he realized I was right! We didn’t get to see much more of him. He let a United staffer take a photo of him in the gangway before he was off and boarding the neighboring flight to Los Angeles. I felt quite star-struck! For those who don’t know the significance, he’s the actor who plays Richard Castle, one of our favorite shows.

From IMDB

Was SO excited to see this lovely puss sound asleep in the warm window of a doggie accessory shop on the Upper East Side today. Kneeled in front of the window for quite a while but he didn’t show any signs of waking up and I wasn’t willing to tap on the glass and give him a fright.

Sara and Lucy have adopted a lovely furry kitty and keep sending me pictures of her – trying to entice me to go to Australia I think but for now, I’ll just introduce you all to Rosie and make her famous on my blog!