This is post is part of my Weeklongs Project.
Last week I hung out with a non-tech friend every single day of the week. It was great.
One thing about the tech scene is that there is no off switch to value creation. There’s no shortage of work to be done, networking events to go to, classes to attend, drinks to grab, and blog posts to write. As a hard-charger hellbent on progress, I’ve prioritized these things since I got into the scene.
I’ve always enjoyed great friendships outside of my industry. But in my self-imposed sprint to get ahead, I can’t say I’ve approached maintaining many of these relationships with the same diligence I have with my “contacts.”
Over the past year I’ve usually spent the weeknights/mornings with people that were in my industry outside of a special lady friend. Weekends I usually spend with non-tech friends. I’ve met so many great friends during the week and it’s definitely been fruitful for building a network. Yet this in balance has not been so great for maintaining close bonds with many people I care about that border the small group of people I hang out with most weekends.
Last week was a first step towards changing that. It was so awesome to get insight into all the amazing things different people are doing and to recall awesome memories. It revitalized relationships that had gone stale and fueled new insights in the way that only outside perspective often can.
We all have personal CRM challenges, but it’s important to be cognizant of those that exist outside our professional sphere of influence. Last week was a great reminder of this.
This week: Giving the whole vegetarian thing a try. Though I don’t plan on eliminating meat from my diet at all, I’m interested to see if it changes how I feel and it should be a good test of discipline.
