What do you think about most?
Take a moment to list what most dominates your thoughts…
I ask this question, because in the words of The Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius: “A man’s life is what his thoughts make of it”.
If our thinking is dominated by ‘how swamped with work we are’, we will live life overwhelmed. If we live in fear of losing a client or clients, chances are we will lose that client.
I’m no psychologist, but I know from experience that we tend to ‘go’ in the direction we’re looking. If I’m out cycling and I see an obstacle (like a rock in the path), I need to look at the way around that obstacle rather than at it. If I look at a stone, I’ll probably hit it.
I heard somewhere that there are so many head on collisions because people stare fixedly at the oncoming car as the accident unfolds. Looking away from the oncoming car might help you steer slightly away from the centre.
I don’t know how true this is, but it resonates with me. What we focus on is what becomes of us.
Within a networking context, if we leave our networking meeting or BNI meeting, and don’t think about it again, the chances are we won’t be very effective at generating referrals.
The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that if we want to become good networkers, it must become a core focus of our business – particularly if much of our business is generated by referrals.
One way to do this is to develop an action calendar of networking activities and to enter these in your Outlook or Google Calendar as re-occurring appointments.
Another is to create environmental prompts in your environment, such as a poster. If networking isn’t a focus and we would like it to be, create ways to remind yourself to keep it top of mind.
Colin Kennedy is a Keynote Speaker and dedicated storyteller. He is the Marketing Director for BNI New Zealand and assistant director for the South Central region of BNI. When not working with BNI, Colin is a copywriter and influencer marketing consultant in his business, Iron Road Ltd.
