Guest post by Matt Gierhart
My Aunt has a fantastic quote, “your connections will get you in the
door, and your talent will keep you there.” Working life on the internet
forces us to focus on our connections more than ever. The concept of
the Internet is based on connections (links), or at least making connections. Those
connections can be to people (known or not), information or output.
What I am beginning to find in my internet connections is that I’m not
spending enough time making and keeping the connections I have with
people. I am relying too much on twitter, facebook, etc. to maintain my
connections for me. This is why I am implementing a self-imposed Correspondence Day.
Once a week, I will spend a majority of my time initiating
conversations, direct conversations with people. Not just sharing
links, emailing links (and annotated links don’t count); but actually
speaking with people about things I see upcoming in my life on a
personal and a professional level. I’m fortunate that most of the other
people in my industry care somewhat about my personal
life; on a side note I think using twitter for business use has help
merge personal care with business tasks.
I intend on implementing my Correspondence Day mostly through email (I
am writing a few hand written letters to my grandparents who are kind
of blind and don’t have a computer). I’ve heard some chatter about the
end of email, but I’m not much of a believer, especially with the rise
of email on mobile phones. I still leave my mail application running
all day and do my best to stay on top of my email-based correspondence. In certain groups which are very used to getting lots of annotated links (twitter and social networking
chatter) receiving a direct email can be a welcome return to “the old days” of the Web.
I’m going to try out this method for a good two weeks to see if I
notice an increase in business and quality of connection. I’ll report
back when I’ve finished.
In the comments: Let me know what steps you’ve taken to connect more personally to people through the Internet, or more traditional mediums
8 responses so far ↓
1 trif3cta // Jul 1, 2008 at 7:14 pm
Well put. I’ve rccently started trying to call one person a day, for no good reason other than to see how they’re doing.
Anyway, speaking of connections, I hope to see you at the SEM Meetup.
Off to write my grandma…
2 John // Jul 1, 2008 at 8:01 pm
It’s an excellent idea and I may try and follow suit too. Handwritten letters are more fun, if more work.
3 Johannes Kleske // Jul 1, 2008 at 11:57 pm
Yeah, let’s bring good ol’ email back
4 TrackSuit CEO // Jul 2, 2008 at 11:39 am
@trif3cta - I like the approach. It’s pretty refreshing to get a call from someone who is just checking in on you. When so much of our communication revolves around business and GTD, ‘just saying hey’ can be a welcome thing.
Definitely see you tonight at 6!
5 TrackSuit CEO // Jul 2, 2008 at 11:47 am
@John - Handwriting is really difficult to get back in to. We used to do cursive with such ease, now it makes our hands cramp. Personally, it makes me feel like I’m 6 years-old again, learning to write on my Big Chief Tablet. That was a good year.
6 TrackSuit CEO // Jul 2, 2008 at 11:49 am
@Johannes - email is still the killer web ap innit?
7 Matt Gierhart // Jul 2, 2008 at 11:29 pm
@John I think there is some romanticism and patients that is really nice about handwriting, but the truth is that it just isn’t as productive as email. I wrote this and want to follow this idea to increase my productivity of my contacts.
Of course for those that don’t email or anything handwriting is amazing. Really relaxing exercise I find.
8 TrackSuit CEO // Jul 3, 2008 at 9:19 am
@Matt Gierhart - Handwriting is not very productive, I agree. I’ve read essays on why they should stop teaching it in school, which I find compelling but am not ready to go that far. Strangely enough, for the first few months after I started this blog I would write my posts in a [paper] notebook and then type them when I got in front of my computer….the good old days.
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