“Each relationship nurtures a strength or weakness within you” – Mike Murdock
As you plug into the 2nd month of the year, its important to take stock of your relationships – those that serve you and those that do not.
Interestingly, this has been a recurring theme in the two online programs I launched last month, even though they were in two different contexts.
The first context came up when I led and taught from the classic book – Think and Grow Rich two weeks ago.
In this program, the participants realized the people they surround themselves really matters. You will need to build and nurture relationships that will serve you.
“Serving you” in this case – means you are getting value from the relationship, and/or you are also adding value to the relationship.
Adding value to a relationship could mean, for example you are mentoring someone, or helping to rehabilitate someone – similar to a project
I am working on where I am helping to rehabilitate some ex-prostitutes by getting off the streets. This means you need to know the purpose of each relationship.
Conducting a relationship audit will help you identify relationships that are worth nurturing and/or eliminating. You may need to deliberately let go
of some relationships after conducting this audit.
You will also identify some gaps in your relationships and be intentional about building some new ones that will service.
For example – you may need to join some new professional, charitable associations and be active in them.
A few questions to ask, while conducting a relationship audit include:
- Do we really have anything in common other than a shared history?
- Do I feel better or worse about myself when I’m in their company?
- If I didn’t continue to make contact with them would they keep in contact with me?
- If the current challenge I’m experiencing in this relationship or situation is here to teach me something, what might that gift of wisdom be?
The second context where the importance of relationships came up in one of my programs, was in one of the live Q&A sessions in my course – Exponential Business Growth Academy,
I facilitated last week. In the session, I helped the participants hone in on who their target market was.
If you are in business, this could be rather challenging even though it appears like a simple exercise.
This could be a challenge, especially when you think your product or services can serve different segments of the society.
However, the more focused you are in identifying your target market, the easier it is to identify them and focus your limited resources on this target group of people.
When I started writing, I thought my message should be to as many people as I could find. So I got upset when a few people unsubscribed to my mailing list,
thinking that my message was not good. But then I realized later, that my message is not for everyone – but for growth minded individuals who desire to be their best selves,
while living significant lives. I now get excited when I am notified that someone has unsubscribed from my mailing list.
It means I am doing a better job of reaching those I want to serve.
Question: What relationships do you need to build, nurture and eliminate?