Sandi Saksena
BUILDING a network and gathering followers is great for business. But we need to be more conscious of who we accept/connect/follow and who we decline as we often overlook the quality and relevance of the people who make up our network. This is as good time as any to evaluate your network. If there are people you really wanted to keep in touch with, who don’t respond, stop trying to regularly reach out, your ‘priority’ contacts, you are not their priority!
How about ‘important’ people who love to show off their contact list that supposedly has the numbers of ministers, business tycoons, celebrities etc.? Were you impressed and felt you had to be connected to this ‘connector of magnitude’? Often, we hold on to these contacts that have done nothing for us! You meet at events, try to jog their memory and they look right through you!
VVIP contacts
Having been in sales I used to feel so elated when a VVIP shared his/her number with me and we took a selfie to be able to recall the connection only to realise that 99 per cent of follow ups to meet, present, share information was met with no response. The analogy of those ‘Faberge eggs’ that never hatch is a perfect example no matter how much you nurture the results are zero!! ‘Valuable’? Something to brag about I guess, that’s about it! Delete those that don’t serve you because they are useless, waste of space.
As we grow, develop and change, so do our needs and the connections that can help. Smartphones are now the ‘office’ banking, marketing, networking, conducting business and socialising. Your inbox has thousands of messages, your notification window is alerting you simultaneously to different social media apps that need your attention. You have multiple tabs open, each with some purpose that you’ve probably already forgotten. With all that going on just in your little hand-held device, it is next to impossible to truly focus on any one thing, let alone something that’s really important.
Stifling creativity
When there’s too much stuff, it can be overwhelming and stifle creativity and efficiency. Solution: Declutter and organise your ‘space’; you will create a more peaceful environment that helps you stay focused and productive. It opens up space for new contacts, new ideas and creative expression. This applies to your newsfeed as well. Un-follow, mute, unsubscribe, disconnect from people or accounts that make you feel upset, or dissatisfied with your life.
Now this can be a bit baffling if you think about the amount of people who are trying to gain extra followers. However, it’s another area to reflect on when you are lightening up your personal online energy space. Go through and delete contacts, keep those you know in real life. Or, those you have any real intention of staying in touch with. Same goes for ‘relationships’ support groups, networking groups that are long gone or that bring nothing to your life. It really feels lighter, cleaner, creating space to attract new friendships and connection that will be beneficial to you.
