Everyone Communicates, Few Connect | John C. Maxwell | Part 5

Connecting with people and growing your network requires a lot of energy! It doesn’t just happen over night and it takes a long time!

“If you want to connect with others, you must be intentional about it. And that always requires energy.”[note]Page 72[/note]

If you’re in sales, marketing, customer service, HR… or any job working with people, you’re always connecting and communicating. You’re spending countless hours doing your job. Are you tired at the end of the day?! Heck ya.. I’ve had the opportunity to connect with Jack Kosakowski (@JackKosakowski1) on LinkedIn. He puts an incredible amount of time and energy into his work and I can tell you that it makes a difference. He is a change creator… And he’s always connecting and providing value… and he does it intentionally!

“If you want to connect, don’t wait. Initiate![note]Page 79[/note]

Basically… Get it done! One of my favorite quotes is from bodybuilder Ronnie Coleman, “Ain’t nothin’ to it but to do it”. What do you have to lose? You can’t go through life scared! You’ll never get anywhere. People are people. Find a talking point to initiate a conversation and go for it.

“If you wait until you can do everything for everybody, instead of something for somebody, you’ll end up not doing anything for anybody.” – Malcolm Bane[note]Page 79[/note]

I think that’s a fun way to look at it. You’re never going to be able to please everybody, so you might as well start somewhere and start pleasing anybody. Call the CEO of a company and begin a conversation. Tweet someone really powerful. Send a connection request to your favorite writer.

For some reason, we think that there is a perfect moment in life to do things. There is no perfect moment to initiate a conversation with someone. It might be awkward or you’re scared, but you have to move past it.

“The people who connect with others are the ones who go ahead and do what the rest of us never quite got around to.”[note]Page 81[/note]

They’re change creators; they ask for help; they acknowledge their weakness and see the strength in someone else. Get over the insecurity and worry, and just do it!

However, once you’ve made a connection with someone, the rest takes patience. Remember, you have to get off your agenda and onto theirs. You can’t just email someone on Monday and expect them to trust you by Friday. It doesn’t work like that.

“Good connections don’t always run the fastest, but they are able to take others with them. They exhibit patience. They set aside their own agendas to include others.”[note]Page 85[/note]

Would you rather move extremely fast by yourself or a little slower with a team? Getting to the finish line is great, but having a group of people to share it with is even better. And, if you move too fast, you have to wait for everyone to catch up… and then you’re still losing time. It takes energy to move with someone faster than you and it takes energy to move with someone slower than you… so if you operate at the same speed, you’ll save energy and frustration. Patience is key in all aspects of life!

 

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Everyone Communicates, Few Connect | John C. Maxwell