When I come home from a trip, I usually start analyzing things. I replay conversations, review connections and sometimes I start feeling inadequate. I’m like man I am not doing enough. I can leave a business trip like the one I just got back from, where I made a ton of excellent connections and where I felt everything went amazingly well to get home and feel horrible and deflated.
I started to feel this way a little yesterday, as I scrolled Facebook looking at all the pictures that everyone was posting from the event, but then something struck me, and it put things in perspective.
Although I have friends that are doing BIG things and are highly recognizable, I do not see them in a high-level way. I respect their craft and the hustle they put into getting where they’re at, but they are just people. Each of them just want to be loved. I realized EVERYONE just wants to belong somewhere. Everyone deserves your full presence. It’s so easy to get FOMO when in the middle of a conversation and allow your eyes to wander the room searching for a perceived better spot. But don’t! One of my most favorite quotes is from Mary Kay Ash.
“Pretend that every single person you meet has a sign around his or her neck that says, “Make me feel important.” Not only will you succeed in sales, you will succeed in life.” – Mary Kay Ash
No matter what their status is or what they are doing in their business they deserve to be honored and built up. People may not remember every word you say, they may not even remember what you do, but they absolutely will remember how you made them feel.
At events where networking is the focus you find a lot of, “what can you do for me.” I took the opposite approach this week; I went through each day with a servants heart saying, how can I serve you today? So although I may analyze the heck out of each moment of my trip, hoping I did and said everything right. I have to remember we aren’t here to build ourselves up and show the world how important we are; we are here to make a difference in the world by building up the lives of others.
