How Do You Live Without Blood Flow?
Potential is nothing. Performance is everything.
What if I told you that you have potential blood flow that would be meaningless unless the blood actually flowed and give your body nutrients or else you die. It is the actual performance and use of the blood that makes it valuable and gives you life.
The same goes for relationships it doesn't matter how many phone contacts or Facebook friends you have it is only a potential network because you are not communicating with all of those people. A network is useful by the actual flow of information and communication that goes across it. Our Facebook friends and phone contacts are useless unless we are communicating and connecting with people.
Networks have value is in its use. How much flow you have in your network determines your net worth. Think of a network as a fishnet the bigger the net the more fish or resources you can capture. We are living in the information age; if you are not connected with the right information you will have a lack of resources for your family. Further back in history communities were closely tied together by common interests such as the local grocery stores and the owners of business was on the first name basis with the community people. Of course populations have increased and online businesses like Amazon has taken market share but that still doesn't replace human interaction.
People crave a good story, human warmth, and someone to listen to them.
We are humans and the online contacts and the world can't replace a human conversation. So make sure you are "pinging". Pinging means to communicate with people in your network. You don't have to talk with everybody every day but you don't have to spend a lot of time to show that you care. One thing about humans is with some people it can feel like you have been friends forever and just met. A lot of people communicate but few click. If your able to do your homework and click with people while you are pinging. You will be a person that has truly fulfilling relationships. Your talent would shine even brighter because we are in an age where companies are trying to "automate" us humans.
You have to learn how to organize your relationships in order of importance. Find out which relationships are vital to you and pump the most blood to those areas. Meaning communicates more frequently with them as oppose lesser important relationships. Of course you must communicate with your family frequently. But don't forget to call other people once a month or every two or maybe every six months just to say that you are alive. It is amazing how many people got jobs by just touching basis with people. The reason is that you will be first on their mind when something comes up.
"Pinging" doesn't have to be a waste or time-consuming. People care more about the fact that you called them. I doubt they care how long you stayed. Even if it's a text always be communicating with your network. Once you are pinging it will be amazing how much surprises you receive.
So don't keep count of how many people you know or how many people that know you or how many people you're communicating with. It only matters how many people you're clicking with.
That's what makes it a connection. Research "pinging" and become good at this skill and eventually you will become a Network Designer more on that tomorrow.