Do you use an Mac or a PC?

If you’re using a Mac, do you use iCloud or Google?

If you’re using iCloud or Google are you backing up your photos to one of the two? How about your contacts? How about your calendar?

How much of our life is in an ecosystem? And once we’re in, how hard is it to get out?

Here’s the thing with ecosystems: once you’re in, it’s hard to get out.

This matters because we often find ourselves in ecosystems beyond our phones or our computers. The people we associate with, the news we consume, the blogs we read, our music taste, and our beliefs are each an ecosystem within a larger one. Our challenge is to leave what we know and try something new.

How might you leave the safety of the ecosystems you know and explore something new?

• If you have progressive beliefs, spend time consuming conservative news. Vice versa.

• If you only read fiction, pick up a piece of nonfiction.

• If you only hang around one type of person, seek out a different type.

Seek out different ecosystems, learn what you can from them, and find ways to incorporate them into your life.

Spend more time understanding people, places, and things.

That’s how we make things better.