The Power of Hanging Out

January 15th, 2010 | Posted in Uncategorized | By Jordan Cooper | View Comments

Hanging Out: to socialize with your friends, whether it is of your choosing or not; most of the time the term is used to refer to a type of fun.

After the initial allure wears off, we all come to the realization that it is indeed hard work to succeed as a blogger. We start focusing more on serious business-building efforts, putting in long hours to create helpful content that inspires others to seek us out.

Our to-do list keeps growing exponentially as more ideas pour out from our minds. We attack each task with a sharp knife, inching closer to what we perceive as the holy grail.

Getting our hands dirty, we promote our work hardcore using tools to spread the word and position ourselves in a market. Never passing up a networking opportunity, we vigorously attempt to connect with anyone that takes a glance at us and rush to influencers at the slightest chance to get our names in front of their eyes.

In the process, are we missing out on opportunities simply because we’re too focused on the work at hand?

Relax. Loosen up. Take a break. Open your Twitter client. Spend some time on Facebook or Linkedin. See what others are doing. Not even when it comes to business, but as real people with real lives. Talk. Interact. Joke around. This is what truly bonds people together and helps build relationships. Not talking ’shop’. Not incessant self-promotion. Not the bottom line.

You can very well make the same impact on someone simply by sharing a common interest outside of business. You can get your “big break” simply stemming from being the person who’s enjoyable to ‘chill’ with.

In a world where so many people can be connected to one another easily, the ability to network has never been more important than it is right now. How are you taking advantage of the opportunity to make an impact? Simply using the tools for work, work, work like most are? Or can you make yourself stand out more by connecting with others as real people?

Put away the business proposal. I’m not interested.

Put away your latest published book. I’m not interested.

Put away everything. Let’s just hang out. Who’s with me?