Managing relationships & information is at the core of our life’s work. We don’t think about our life’s work in these terms but should. Past the technical skills we acquire and use, a great part of the content of our lives revolves around relationships and information.
Every interaction we have with others, no matter how brief, is the start of a relationship. How we answer their question, how we greet them, how long we listen, do we show interest by asking a follow up question? Are we kind or critical of them? Do we answer with anger or patience? Do we stereotype before learning more?
Our lives are never confined to only the ten people we know well. We meet new people almost every day. Our opportunities most likely will be created from the next person we meet. We never know when this will happen.
When working with others, no matter what the setting, many times it is the depth of our relationships with those around us that will impact how successful we are in either finishing a project or advancing our careers.
Our companies, organizations, and families derive their stability as well as their chaos from the many interactions between humans throughout the day. One relationship at a time. Where collectively, a tone gets set that people follow. Each relationship giving us the opportunity to be proactive in them.
How we manage relationships decides how deep they become. The level of engagement that we have with others is not a social media metric, but a practical description of the energy we feel when with others. This is where the concept of flow appears, where time passes quickly when we are with people we enjoy.
Information. Wow, so much of it all around us. Where did we put our password for a website? I saw an email with the information I need but can’t find it. When is my doctor’s appointment? What time was my child’s soccer game? Is it this weekend we visit Aunt Mary for her birthday? Where is my to do list for this weekend?
This is not to mention all of the facts, news, weather, sports, opinions, quick tips, self help articles and job related training we are bombarded with daily. How we organize the pieces of information that we need for our lives to function without drama and our world to expand right in front of our eyes are key to evolving. To nudging us towards a better life.
Relationships and information are both big parts of our daily life that we take for granted. These are the two things that I spend most of my time on. Whether a teacher, a parent, a business owner, a production line worker, a driver, or a freelancer, how you manage your relationships and information in your day can mean all of the difference between “being on top of things” and drowning. Between being content and frustrated.
Take a few minutes to reflect on your relationships and ways you organize information. All of us can use work on both. Slowing down for reflection might just be a path to getting more movement in your life going forward if you try.