The Network You Build With Good People

A few years back, I had a motivational speech that changed my perception about people's network. The speaker made one statement that caught my attention, he said "no good achievement is done in isolation, you will need people to achieve your dream." Over the years, I have come to understand that you will need a good network of people in other to grow both professionally (in your career) and personally. There is nothing that opens one up to opportunities, provides help and support, and can even improve learning like contact with good people. This is why you need to learn to build and sustain your good network of friends.

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It is worthy to note that your overall network will be greatly influenced by the kind of network of people that you have built. Over the history and even in this our contemporary times, there are many examples to point out to the benefits of building your friends. I once told a friend that "connection does not fall from the sky, it is the friends that you make today that will provide you with the connection." Of course, you can only reap the kind of friendship that you have sown.

In order to build a network with good people that will benefit you, you need to understand a few things and get them handy. The first one is that you need to have a clear and defined purpose. You cannot just connect with every person you see because they say you should make friends. In fact, connecting with people who are going in an opposite direction as you are may be one of the biggest mistakes you can ever make, because they will drag you from your own and will distract you from fulfilling your dream. Note that the quality of your friends is far more important that the quantity.

In order to build a good and beneficial network with good people, you also need to be sincere and genuine. Trust me, people can sense your intentions for friendship and if they are not pure, they may not want to be your friend. Building a good network does not mean using people for your own selfish purpose or using people for solely as a means to an end, but looking for people who you can grow together with and make them better versions of themselves which they will also reciprocate for you. You have to know that friendship and building a network of good people is not a parasitic relationship where just you alone would have to benefit, but a mutualistic and symbiotic relationship where all of you gain from each other.

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Furthermore, you also need to invest and build the kind of network you want, starting with building up yourself. Building a solid network is not a one-time action nor what you just do once and stop, but it is a long-term investment that you keep doing. Successful people are constantly putting efforts to upgrade on themselves, thus making themselves more valuable. When you are valuable, you will contribute meaningfully to the growth of your network. Remember that the idea is for the entire network to grow together, so responsibility is also laid on you to add value to the network.

The last point to build a strong network of good people is to give first - offer the first value. You cannot expect people to go a mile for you if you have not given them the reasons to do so by doing it for them first. People will value you more when they know that you are supportive of them and not just having them as friends because of transactional reasons. So be first to add value to them and you will gain their trust and they will not have problem doing the same for you. Remember that networking is not all about seeking for what the other person will do for you or for favour, but about helping each other to grow and supporting each other.

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