"The world brought me to my kneesThe "you attract what you think" principle has been proving itself quite well in the last few weeks. My recent interest in America's high consumer-to-producer ratio and how the web is contributing to lower it has led me into some very enlightening conversations off-line.
What have you brung you?
Did you improve on the design?
Did you do something new?"
--Lupe Fiasco, ala "Superstar"
The real-time nature of the web makes you shift your thinking from "What am I contributing?" to "What am I contributing NOW?" (totally Tim Ferriss). The latter used to be too resource-intensive a question for any one individual to ask until the internet came along. Take Yoani Sanchez for example. Her blog helps to make the rest of the world aware of the way the Cuban government controls its citizens. Even though it is only one person speaking out, the validity of the outcry can be judged by the response. And this entire discussion occurs on a market-governed online forum.
Whereas the ability to vote used to be the single source of contributing one's personal voice to the global agenda, now one's online persona, free of anonymity, fuels the underlying free-market democracy developing exponentially online. This is incentive enough to become a member.
Bottomline: Turn off the TV, get off your butt, and do something. You never know who you'll meet, help, or learn from.