How do you measure time?
Do you count the minutes, and hours, that you spend in your networking
relationships? Perhaps you should
measure your time spent in networking partnerships in deeds instead of minutes
or hours. After all, aren’t deeds more
important than minutes?
Entering into networking partnerships is a form of Appreciation
Marketing. We are marketing
ourselves and our businesses, and we should show our appreciation for
others. That is what we discuss here each
and every week, isn’t it? Well, it
should be Appreciation Marketing; otherwise we are just looking to get what we
can for ourselves.
How about the time that we spend in marketing through
networking? I’ll bet that you spend lots
of minutes, hours, and even more in this effort every week, if not
everyday. How do you measure that
time? Perhaps you record the time spent
in each meeting, each project, maybe each telephone call. Maybe you should not record time in this manner;
maybe you should just count the deeds that you perform in the interest of
others.
When we undertake making Appreciation Marketing our
guidelines for our networking, we determine that we will try to assist others
in improving their business, in improving the lives of others, and in making
everyone else’s success become a reality.
We do this by our encouragement, by our gratitude for their business and
efforts towards us, and by advising them in how they can improve themselves and
their lives.
This takes a toll in time from our own lives and
businesses. However, we must not look at
the time spent; we must look at the deeds that we perform. We also must look toward performing more and
more of these deeds than we routinely do perform. Whatever the number that we perform, it is
never enough. There is always another
deed that we should be completing for someone that can help them. Being a giver is a never ending lifestyle.
Don’t misunderstand; I do not mean that we should start
keeping score on the deeds that we perform for anyone. If you are doing that, stop immediately. That is not what we should be doing. Karma doesn’t work like that, anyway. What you do for someone will not be repaid by
something from them; it will come back to you from somewhere that you don’t
even suspect or even expect. The deeds
that we do for others should not show in a tally system or count listing of any
sort. Just do for others, and the result
will flow for all.
So, stop keeping track of the time that you spend in helping
others and trying to make the lives of others better. When you stop, you will find that there is so
much more time to do so much more. You
will be surprised by how much more that you can accomplish. Remember, there is always someone else that
needs your helping hand or your kind thought or gesture.
Yesterday, I received an email from a woman I helped about five years ago...I didn't know where she was or what had happened to her. She was writing just to say thank you for helping her to get on her career path.
ReplyDeleteTake the time to say thank you--these two words are worth so much to the receiver--and it doesn't cost anything and this deed is REALLY appreciated.