1-0-0 Pennies 💰

Imagine waking up with 100 pennies in your pocket each morning. However, instead of spending it on bubble gum, you can only withdraw and deposit it socially.

When you exert energy socially, you withdraw from your bank of 100 daily pennies. When you take time to rest, you deposit pennies back into the bank.

For example, 7 pennies spent on a conversation at the company water fountain. 20 pennies replenished from a no-plan Wednesday night in. Or vice versa, depending on who you are.

Call this your social currency — how you spend and replenish the relational battery you wake up with each morning.

However, without knowing how you uniquely spend and replenish your social currency, you run the risk of sputtering on empty. Hello, burnout!

Therefore, gaining understanding of your unique social currency is important to protect against burnout and promote flourishing. Something we all long for, right?

So together, let’s work through what it looks like to steward social currency well as a young professional:

1. Who You Are

2. Where You Are

3. How You Withdraw & Deposit

To steward social currency well, understanding who you are (and who you are not) is the first step. Why?

Without knowing who you are, you may withdraw and deposit your currency in places (where) and in methods (how) that don’t align with your unique wirings.

Here’s an over-simplified example: As an ambivert (extroverted introvert), while I enjoy quality time with people, large gatherings for an extended period of time is draining. However, if I were to mistake my ambiversion as extroversion and constantly insert myself in large gatherings, my social currency would overdraft. Make sense?

So, to steward social currency well, begin with who you are:

• Analytical or creative

• Storyteller or listener

• Extroverted or introverted

• Risk taker or security seeker

• Big picture or detail oriented

The above is a starting place. We are detailed humans though. So, it may be worth spending currency (maybe 12 of your pennies 😉) on understanding who you uniquely are and are not.

Not only is understanding who you are important to stewarding a social currency, but so is understanding where you are.

• Macro: there is a time and season for everything. Busy seasons and slow seasons. In busy seasons, social currency is spent widely and quickly. In slow seasons, social currency may be spent sparingly with a cup that overflows. How you spend and replenish in one season may look different in another season.

• Micro: there are spaces and places that require different levels of social currency each day. A dental hygienist spends a small amount of pennies on several small-talk conversations with clients. A counselor spends a large amount of pennies on a handful of appointments throughout the day. A middle manager spends a dozen pennies on mid-year feedback meetings with their team. Based on your professional and personal day-to-day, social currency spends and replenishes differently.

Disclaimer though — two people, uniquely wired, may have the same job and similar personal circumstances yet assign a different amounts of the withdrawal and deposit of their social currency in their life and work.

The key is discernment, giving careful thought to where you are and what season you are in.

King Solomon writes — “Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways” (Proverbs 4:26, NIV).

Moving forward, knowing who and where you are is essential to clearly see how you withdraw and deposit your social currency.

Knowing who you are and where you are unlocks how to uniquely steward your social currency.

If you are an introvert (who) working in a sales job (where), attending a trade show may zap your social currency (how). Therefore, a planned night in may be wise in order to deposit pennies back into your social currency.

If you are an extrovert (who), pursuing a job role in public speaking (where) could be a wise long term investment of your social currency (how). But remember that depositing pennies back into your social currency may look different than the introvert’s. Dinner out with a large group of friends comes to mind.

The bottom line is: (who you are) + (where you are) informs the how.

How you withdraw from your social currency and deposit pennies back into it.

We are “wonderfully made” (Psalms 139:14, NIV) beings. We have unique fabric. Because of this, read today’s newsletter as a starter pack. You will need to do the deep work on your own over time.

However, we don’t want to leave you hangin’ 😄

So, consider the resources below to help connect the dots between who + where = how:

• The Yo Pro — 4 W’s of Endless Values — specifically the section on drivers.

• Call Your Inner Circle — simply ask, what am I good at? What am I not good at?

• Check Out Personality Tests — I recommend StrengthsFinders and Working Genius.

Stepping into more of your true self is an invitation to stewardship of your unique social currency, of your 100 daily pennies.

Withdraw and deposit wisely from being rooted in who you uniquely are (and are not) and aware of where you are (and are not).

I mentioned this on a previous newsletter, but it still reigns true.

Social currency is a lifelong journey. Not a destination.

The good news is that there is a wonderful counselor (Isaiah 9:6, NIV) who knows us more than we know us. He is the counselor to who we are and where we are. He is the shepherd to how we withdraw and deposit social currency.

Lean into him as you process your 100 pennies.

As always, let us know how we can help you navigate your world as you navigate the world.

In Your Corner.

See you next Tuesday!