People collect a lot of things. To the collector, that what they collect is precious. My mother-in-law collects porcelain and wooden elephants. My children can play with anything in her house, but they cannot, and I repeat cannot, touch the elephants. At the facility in which I workout, their is a guy who I will call Bobby (This is not his real name for I did not get his approval to use it.) Bobby has a habit or hobby that has truly made him one of the most popular people at our workout facility, he collect names. This man knows every person who walks into the facility, close to 2,000 on an average week. Not only does he know their names, he knows their birthdays, wedding dates, when birth is given to a child, etc. One day a guy walked in to participate in one of our weekly workouts and Bobby gave this man a birthday card, for his wife! The gentleman and I looked in amazement, but Bobby proceeded to simply say, I remembered that her birthday was today. All we could do is laugh! Bobby can tell you all of the happenings at this organization and is a great resource for all of us. He brings humor to our exercise class and makes the time go by quickly with his constant joking and interacting with, well, everyone. I am quite sure that there is not anything that people in our workout facility would not do for Bobby. He cares about them and in return, they care about him.
Most people are the opposite of Bobby. They are rushed, stressed, do not reach out to others, and speak to their chosen few. This is amazing when you consider the fact that many are business owners, sales people, etc. who could benefit from building relationships with others. Bobby's passion for people has definitely helped me to open up more for no other reason than to be a nicer person. As a business owner it is beneficial as well, because it expands your resource base. From a career standpoint, it can give you more options, because the more people you know, the more connections you have. I know people who never have to place a job application when they are looking for work, they simply have to pick up the phone and call one of their connections. If you are teacher, your students (and the students in other classes) will benefit from you knowing their name, as well as certain aspects of their lives. This might impact your school climate in a positive way.
The moral of this story is how many people are you connecting with? Are you building up a mental database of friends and connections? It is not necessary for you and I to become like Bobby, for he is certainly one of a kind. But you and I can learn from Bobby. By making connections, you are not only being a blessing to other people, one day those other people might just become a blessing to you!.
