Appreciate Your Backyard Diamond People!

There's a huge trend these days for networking up a storm. And with this cultural encouragement to amass more people in your life -- you can a-miss the whole point of amassing.

In other words, the original goal of networking is: "Meet people who will make your life a happier and more fulfilling place."

However…if you’re always spending time amassing new people and creating a quantity of non-quality relationships, it can ironically mean you're not taking the necessary time to enjoy the happiness and fulfillment readily found with the treasured people you already know and love.

Think about it.

Do you have have a network of truly amazing people whom you never get to see – because you’re putting too much emphasis on networking to meet a quantity of people?

Are you caught up in signing up for the slew of popular social networking sites -- which are all about "collecting a quantity of people"?

If so you might be suspect for being too caught up in this mass trend for amassing people!

And if so, you're a sufferer of what Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman calls "The Happiness Hedonic Treadmill" – which is fancy shmancy words for how we humans have a tendency to always want more, more, MORE! And as soon as we humans snag a precious something, we’re quickly reaching for another prized out-of-reach something – and no longer appreciative of the just-snagged something, laying in a discarded heap at our feet.

This Happiness Hedonic Treadmill is why lottery winners often return to their former levels of happiness within a year of snagging their gazillions.

And it’s why you might not be feeling so happy right now in your life.

Perhaps you’re being too focused on all those distant dangling carrots on the horizon, rather than appreciating the carrots you’ve harvested -- and in particular appreciating all those Acres of Diamonds People you've already amassed in your own backyard.

Keep in mind: Consistently happiness researchers report that being surrounded by people you sincerely care about is the top essential determinant for joy! Hence it's important to make sure you're not spending more time networking with strangers and creating superficial relationships, than you are enjoying your Backyard Diamonds People! Ignore your treasured relationships for too long and they will eventually turn to cold coal!

YOUR ASSIGNMENT:

Today decide to shed more of a light of appreciation on your treasured Backyard People Diamonds. Look through your contact book. Remember what you love about each individual, then write them or call them to share your admiration directly. Do it now. Seize the day, dammit.

And you know what? Don’t just do it today. Also do it tomorrow.

It’s not enough just to seize the-every-other-day. Or to seize-the-every-third-day. Seize your every single solitary day – and make sure you're not spending your days solitarily in a crowded room networking and amassing superficial relationships!