Living by the coast, I spend much of my spare time along the shore-line. The combination of energy by the sea, oxygen in abundance, space, the solitude and of course, the dog are a great combination for inspiration.
I inadvertently scour the shoreline for washed-ashore treasure. Just fragments of colour glistening amongst the sand and pebbles perhaps, the cast-off once loved bits and pieces. The sunlight draws me in and catches them and I’m always tempted to pick them up and slip them into the pocket. It’s become a bit of a routine now.
You can picture it can’t you? The dog bounds aways one direction while I’m stuttering along, picking up pieces of broken ‘treasure’ in the hope of discovering the best piece yet.
Much to the dismay of Mrs Kenny (known as the ‘better half’) I’ve managed to now gather a really healthy collection of ‘pocket trinkets’ that are regularly brought to her attention as they somehow manage to confound the spin dryer …
No, not the spin dryer! I do spend a good deal of time with my network colleagues, it has become another routine. The routine here though is keeping an eye out for the glittering prize of referral, all shapes, all types of referral.
These come along through a developed understanding that when I’m ‘on the patch,’ when I’m attending The Forum I have the opportunity to hear what others are looking out for. Learning how can I help them, where might I find the prize they look for. I’m learning to keep an eye and an ear open for those friends I see on a regular basis.
Good referrals, treasure, do not come along readily enough for some. Maybe it’s because they don’t frequent their patch often enough? This is often the case when people errantly declare “networking doesn’t work for me.” Of course, these miss out, they are not available to give and receive, or perhaps they have yet to determine exactly what prizes others seek.
Know what treasure do you seek? Make the networking routine, embrace the structure and the opportunity of picking up the not so perfect and understand that we are learning, training our senses for the time we recognise the glittering prize.
