If you’re looking to move ahead in life, then you might need to consider the concept of conscious networking. Are you stalling in any area of life, be it professionally or personally? If it’s both, then the size of your true social circle could be at fault.
Successful people in business in life are learning that their success isn’t measured by how many followers they have on social media or how many subscribers their newsletter has. It has a lot more to do with the right relationships.
Relationships are supposed to be about people, and the right relationships are long-lasting, working for both sides. However, you might not need that many.
A growing school of thought centres around the idea that an average human being can only have about 150 relationships at one time. Anything more than is just too many connections for the human brain and results are diluted.
As it turns out, more relationships aren’t always better. While you’re going to inevitably know more than 150 people, especially in an always-on and online world, about 150 relationships is the most you can actually invest in and expect real results.
The secret is identifying which relationships are actually valuable to you and investing in those relationships with purpose. If you’re not sure who is truly valuable to you or not, consider putting together a list of people to invite to your own birthday party. Just jot down 10 or 20 names.
Don’t fret over the number of names, but just jot down however many names you think would be fun to have at the party. Come back to the list a little later and then sort it into columns of people who could be fun and those who actually mattered to you in the year between birthdays. One list will be shorter than the other.
You might see that you’ve not been good at relationship management. Have you let opportunities slide? Physical distance, things in common, being helpful to each other – these can all be legitimate concerns that keep you from reaching out to others.
Real friendships can strike back up with a simple phone call. Don’t worry about nailing 150 all at once. Start with one or two, and build from there.