Connecting with people.

It’s the secret to business, life, and success… but right now, we are losing the genuine human connection we should be making with each other in the name of “advancing technologies” in devices that supposedly increase that connection.

Think about it, do you spend more time on Facebook than you do writing a letter to a family member?

Do you text back and forth with someone, rather than making time to eat lunch with them and talking, uninterrupted, face to face?

Whatever happened to genuine human connection?

Have you ever thought about the time you’re missing out on while your life is supposedly being made “easier” by mobile phones, bluetooths, and other connection devices?

Is a Facebook “like” the same as a genuine connection?

Because you have 500 friends on Facebook, are they real friends who would do anything to help you in your time of need?  Would you drop everything and do anything to help them in their time of need?

I propose this…

You stop playing on the human gerbil feeder and start reconnecting with people on a deeper level.  Yes, that does mean slowing down… moderating your use of technology… actually having a face to face conversation with people (novel idea huh?).

But this isn’t some “checklist” idea… something you can knock off the list as accomplished… you have to make it a habit.  I’m asking you to make a big change in the way you value the human interaction.

Which means no more taking a cell phone call right in the middle of the conversation with the person right in front of you… no more texting while driving a motor vehicle… and quit placing value on the fact you have over 1000 “followers” on Twitter (instead place value on the 20 genuine relationships you can build from those 1000 followers).

Humans shouldn’t want to become the machines they are holding in their hands.

Bottom line… your business is about the people that support your business, your life is about the people who support you no matter how successful you become, and your success depends on how well you connect with people on a meaningful basis (and that isn’t because of some “Facebook like”).

So go… create meaningful connections with at least 3 people today.  Schedule time to talk with them on the phone (not text, not on your Facebook page etc…).  Then, eat lunch with them, slow down, and enjoy life for what it is supposed to be…

Connection.

You’ve heard the phrase…

“Take action.”

But why haven’t you?

Why aren’t you doing the one thing that would fulfill your purpose in life?  I am (writing).  But I don’t say that to brag, because at one point I wasn’t, just like you… then I learned (the hard way) I’ve already wasted most of my life completing someone else’s dream.

I discovered it was time to complete my dream.

But now it’s your turn, your turn to complete your dream.

You see, “do more” doesn’t mean waste your time “doing stuff” for the sake of doing, this isn’t a checklist item.  This is important.

What do you want to create?  What do you want to do?  What do you want people to remember you for over the next thousand years?

Go… do that.  If it scares you, you’re probably on the right track.

And, don’t do yourself the disservice of simply “talking about it”… we don’t need more talkers… we need more doers… and badly.

That freedom of choice we have might disappear soon, it could be ripped out from under you.  You could look the wrong direction while crossing the street, and it could all end.  That pain you’re having, it could be “that” pain.

You need to create, ship, publish, put forth whatever it is you’ve always wanted to.  If you think it’s “stupid”, or you think people will laugh at you… do it anyway.  We need to see it, because perhaps your true passion is buried beneath whatever it is you ship.

This is not an option, do more.

Do whatever it is that will bring more to this world, because we’re waiting to see your next big thing.

Read more.

Sounds simple on its surface, doesn’t it?

The sad reality is the average American doesn’t read another book after college.  When they do read another book, they don’t read past page 18 (on average).

Unbelievable isn’t it?

We live in a country that allows freedom of choice (for now), and we’re wasting that freedom on mobile phone apps, texting while we are 15 feet away from the person we’re texting, talking on the phone while driving etc…

It’s just plain sad.

So I”m asking you, what do you want to contribute to the human race?  What do you want to create?

What are you afraid of?

That’s what you should create… go, do it.

But more importantly, expand your mind in the process of creating.  Read more, intelligently (not just for the sake of reading, this isn’t a “checklist item”).

Read Mark Twain’s autobiography, Steve Job’s biography, and The Magic of Thinking Big to start.  That will begin the process of opening your mind.  But read all 1800 or so pages of these works… don’t stop because you think you know it.  You don’t.

So, go, read more… and create your legacy when you’re done.  The world is waiting.