Matt’s Mix Tape, Vol. 144

Hi, I’m Matt Tillotson, and this is Matt’s Mix Tape: ideas on using writing and exercise to remix ourselves in middle life.

This week’s Mix:

• Do mega-cushioned running shoes really lessen injuries?

• The 90-9-1 rule of online communities

• Writing through a shift

• This week’s Florida photo

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Do mega-cushioned running shoes really lessen injuries?

When you run and your foot strikes the ground, you experience two impacts:

• First: your lower leg decelerates as it hits the ground.

• Second: The force delivered by the rest of your bodyweight transfers to your leg.

Most injuries, apparently, are a result of the first impact. And cushioned shoes may help:

when Malisoux used mathematical techniques to separate the first and second impacts into distinct values, he found that the first impact—the one linked to injury—was actually smaller in softer shoes.

That’s vindication for the much maligned notion that shoe cushioning can lighten the load on your joints and reduce injury risk.

I have run in Hoka Ones, and there’s an adjustment period. It feels like running in moon boots for awhile. But the benefits appear worth it.

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The 90-9-1 rule of online communities

Forget the 80-20 rule. When it comes to online participation, the ratio is even more pronounced:

In most online communities, 90% of users are lurkers who never contribute, 9% of users contribute a little, and 1% of users account for almost all the action.

The study refers to this as “participation inequality,” but it’s not as insidious as it sounds. It’s largely voluntary inequality. Most people are content to consume, and/or too busy to contribute consistently.

For online community leaders, it’s not easy to change this ratio. But the study does offer some ideas:

• Reward and promote quality over quantity

• Make it easier to contribute

And I’d add: set the cultural pace.

Create an environment that is welcoming and positively reinforces contributions. In other words, lower the emotional risk and increase the rewards of participating.

(Hat tip to Alice Lemee for sharing the framework.)

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Writing through a shift

Publishing consistently means creating and sharing as you move through numerous seasons of life.

This includes the gaps and pauses between those seasons. And they can feel like creative dead zones.

I’m in one of those gaps now. Things might be different soon—new priorities and interests will push through. Some of the old will have to go.

Publishing through those mental and emotional transitions can be challenging—just what are you supposed to write about?

The familiar doesn’t feel as fun or resonant. And there’s not yet anything new competing to take its place.

But don’t just ride out the shift. Write out the shift.

Ask yourself one question:

What am I interested in today?

And write about that. I get stuck when I ask, “What should I be interested in tomorrow?”

Let the shift happen on its own. Ride—and write—along with it.

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This week’s Florida photo

When I lived in Arizona, people from other parts of America often said, “What about the rattlesnakes?”

I never saw one in two years.

Now, having lived in Florida for over 20 years, I see snakes all the time.

This one was getting some Vitamin D while I was running last week. It’s a Red Cornsnake. Non-venomous.

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Hello to 27 new subscribers!

Thank you for reading.

Whatever you’re working on or working through: keep showing up.

This week’s logo inspired by an Unsplash photo from Dicson.