Vanessa Gennarelli talked to Alex Hillman for a new edition of “The Stack.”

Health

Operators spend a lot of time looking after other people that they forget to look after themselves.  They tend to give everything they can to the community. However, there needs to be limits and boundaries to what lengths you will go for it.

Alex decided to reinvent his lifestyle in terms of health with exercise routine and a better diet.  After embarking on his new routine, he now has more energy. He feels better about himself. This sense of confidence comes with getting good at something.

However, he notes that some slack needs to be built into the plan.  Otherwise, it will not stick. To stay sane, you need to allow yourself some room to do what you want.  You can eat and do what you want, but you need to calibrate it in another area. Health is a constant juggling act.  It is all about finding a balance.

Money

Money is not a system in itself, but it is an important part of many systems.  Not understanding money puts you at a disadvantage in the world of work.

You cannot let money control you.  Money is inert but people often treat it as if it is active and has power over them.  However, money is a source of empowerment. The empowerment that comes with increased sums of money is behind much of the social injustice that is happening.

Although you might want to, you cannot pretend money is not there.  A lot of the nonprofit world pretends money is not as vital as it is.  So much of the sustainability of an organization is tied to money in some way — sum and source of it.  Money can allow you to do the kind of outreach you want and see the changes made. However, in order to do that, you have to acknowledge to role of money.

Accountability

Indy Hall has a Slack channel called “Daily Goals” where people individually post what they want to get done.  It is a form of pure accountability where you are individually accountable for what you do. The Slack channel allows members to do a better job of communicating what they need to get done to make sure they have what they said they needed.  That way, if it does not get done, the only one responsible is the individual.

Another benefit is that members get to see what others do.  It is valuable to see where other people’s head are at and what they are working on.  The channel is a tool to help members commit to their goals. By posting them, other people can hold you to them and act as a support network.