Are you running in circles?

No, I don’t mean “Are you so crazy-busy that you’re running around in circles and not getting anywhere?” Although that’s always a great check-in question.

What I mean is:

• How many circles do you have in your personal and professional life?
• How much diversity and value are you finding in these circles?
• When was the last time you took stock of your circles?
• When was the last time you considered updating or expanding them?

By way of example, if you only hang out with your golf buddies (the same ones week after week. year after year…), your immediate neighbors, the people you know at work, your best friend from high school, or that same leads group or professional association you joined 17 years ago, it may not be enough to sustain or build your personal or professional life. Or help you meet the goals you’ve set for yourself. (You do have goals, right? Along with a vision and intentions to guide them? If not click here. A little gift from me.)

“But I like those people. I feel comfortable with them. I’ve known them for years. We’re really close.”

Okay, great. Fair enough. There’s fantastic value in that. No reason to ditch them.

Still, if your social and professional circles haven’t grown, expanded, shifted, multiplied, and developed over the years, there’s a good chance you’re in a circle of stagnation.  Change and growth requires just that: change and growth.

I posted a favorite line from John C. Maxwell today on my Intentional Networker fan page:  “[Will we] select a destination and steer a course toward [what we want] or allow ourselves to be swept along with the tide, letting others determine where we’ll end up?”   In other words, are we being intentional about all things in our lives?  Even the people?

Evolutionary anthropologist Dr. Robin Dunbar notes that 150 is the ideal number of people with whom we can have substantial relationships.  Some of us have more than 150 people in our spheres, and it can get a little difficult to stay in touch with all of them. (Thank goodness for Facebook and Twitter).  But, sadly, many of us fall short of that 150-relationship mark.

What about you? Could you expand or improve on the number, diversity and quality of people — and circles — in your life?  Could you get a little closer this year to spending time with “your people”; the ones who will move you closer to what you want for yourself and your career?
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Wondering what I mean by that term (“your people”)?  It’s time for you to read (or re-read) Chapter 4 of my book The Intentional Networker.  We’re talking just eleven easy-to-read, yet thought-provoking, attitude-shifting pages that will change your mindset on how you view, experience, measure, and improve the quality of your associations, connections, and relationships.

Want the chapter now?  Click here or contact me at patti[at]intentionalnetworker.com
Want the book?  Order here.