Are you connected or disconnected?

Now I don’t mean connected or disconnected to the Internet. I am talking being connected to you, those around you and those that care about you the most. It is those that care about us the most who will be by our side when the TSX or the DOW crashes below 7000 points later this year or in early 2009. So now is the time to reconnect with your loved ones or even find someone out their that will care about you.

I subscribe to Success Magazine and this month Amanda Gore has an article in the Relationships section of the magazine. I truly admire Amanda Gore when I first saw her speaking about a year ago at the “The Power Within” event in Calgary. She was so full of energy and immediately connected with a number of us in the room. In her article this month she talks about connecting with people and with ourselves.

Do you connect with yourself?

I know my coach Jean Hudson speaks about this constantly about being still and in the silence truth emerges and that is the reality of the world in which we live in. Do you take time to sit quietly? I know that I don’t do it enough, even right now I am sitting on a WestJet flight from Calgary to Toronto, three hours that I can just be still, however I am connected to my laptop, maybe not the best use of my time, however this is what happens when we have deadlines that are either thrusted upon us or that we make stupid committments of our value time and resources outside of office hours. I know that this is something that I need to work on myself.

So back to connections. In Amanda’s article, found on page 88, entitled “Connection: The Life Saver” shows us how connecting time helps us with our meaningful relationships, now I have a tremendous amount of respect for my clients however I don’t know if I have meaningful relationship. I posted an entry a while back on “Investing in People”, sure we need to invest time with our clients however it is also more important to invest time with our families, spouses, kids, and at the office with our staff and others on our management team. Something I need to do a better job at.

When was the last time you went out with your spouse and left the Blackberry at home?

This is something that I committing to on Sunday’s – A Blackberry free day, just leaving it in the charger for the day. We have to start with one day and go from there. This past weekend I left my laptop in the office, didn’t need it. Of course, I have a PC at home and was able to get some emails and non-important tasks done. It was sure nice, not to have the anchor with me, I felt a little lighter.

One exercise I think about all the time is the “Tombstone” exercise or even better what type of legacy do you want to leave? Do you want to be remembered as a workaholic who had no time for family or someone who cared about people, loved ones and those closest to you? It is never to late to decide which way to go.

Pick up Success Magazine today and read Amanda’s article, I know I didn’t cover a lot here, however, this is what I love about writing, start and go and see where we end up.