Four Situations Where Connecting With Others Can Help You Achieve More!

Growth and progress is happiness. Hence everyone strives to achieve more to live a satisfying life. But, the road to progress or achieve more is not smooth. John C. Maxwell says that “there are no two good days in a leader's life.” It applies to achievers too. One cannot achieve more without courage, fight and help from others. When the challenges are significant, you need the support of family, friends, team or supervisor to achieve more. Such support often comes from them when they are connected with you. So, when you communicate what you want from them, they hear what you say and do what you want.

I have stipulated four situations where connection helps you overcome the challenge and achieve the unachievable.

1. You know WHAT to achieve but do not know HOW to achieve

"One is a small number to achieve greatness. No accomplishment of real value has ever been achieved by a human being working alone." — John C. Maxwell

“Once I visited the filing area of the company where I was working. I was amazed to see such a large filling area with almost ten large rooms and thousands of racks. But, everyone dumped the files there with no track of the location. I realised that I needed to organise the files. But, I knew that I would not be able to do it. So, I asked my two colleagues to fix this, and they agreed to work beyond their assigned job and make their hands dirty for this task. They gathered a team and worked for months to organise the unorganised files for the last four decades.”

When I look back and think about why they said yes to me to carry on this job, I credit my connection with them. I knew that they were the ones who worked beyond the job description to add value to the company. Connection helps you ask for help when you don't know how to do something.

2. You dare to change, but you don't have people support

"The first step toward success is taken when you refuse to be a captive of the environment you first find yourself in." ~ Mark Caine. Sometimes you need people to create the environment or make the change you want.

I have a friend named Ramesh. We met when I was doing a professional course in Kolkata. Ramesh had to get an important document signed by our institute authority. When he went to the Kolkata office, the administration said that the paper would be sent to the Head Office for signature. It would take a month. Ramesh challenged why the regional chapter's Chairman could not sign. The authority was clueless and said it'd been a practice since the beginning.

Ramesh decided to meet the Chairman to understand why he could not sign the document. So, Ramesh asked two other friends and me to join him. We went to the Chairman and got a similar answer: it was a practice. But, Ramesh had a valid point, and three other persons joined his voice. After the whole day of drama, Ramesh got his document signed in Kolkata itself.

The next day, I thought how we four had so much courage to knock on the door of the Chairman and argue with him. Because we were connected to Ramesh, we understood what he was doing and why. Hence, we joined his voice.

3. You want to fight for what you want to achieve

When you don't like something, you have two choices. Accept it or fight for it. Accepting is easy. Accept it and move on. Fighting may need the courage to take the step, communicate so that others can join your voice and connect to raise your voice to a more significant level.

My friend Ramesh decided to raise his voice to the Chairman and challenge him to explain the rationale for practice which takes a month to sign the documents. The first thing he did was seek the help of friends who were connected with him. All his friends were on his side because Ramesh could communicate why he was fighting. He could have accepted the age-old practice and moved on like other students. But, he decided to fight for it because he had friends who were well connected with him and would support him.

You either fight for your cause because you get the support of the people connected with you, or you know that people will connect with you because of your cause.

4. You want to influence more people to achieve more

"The measure of success is not the number of people who serve you, but the number of people you serve" ~ John C. Maxwell.

“I know a saleslady from Bahrain who often sends me the offers for her hotel where I had stayed a long time back with a friendly good morning message. I used to think she was wasting her time by sending the message. One day I received a message from a friend that he intends to visit Bahrain and is looking for a hotel in Bahrain. The first person who came to mind is that saleslady. I talked to her, and she gave me a reasonable price for the stay of two weeks for my friend. She finally got a business through me.”

I realized what the lady was doing? She was sending the weekend offers to me consistently. She remained connected with her old customer. She kept informing me about the offers. Finally, she helped me when I needed help. Now, I am part of her salesforce. Isn't it.

To sum up, connection always helps, especially when situations challenge you. You give up during challenging times for two reasons. First, when you believe that you cannot overcome the hurdle. Second, when you have no one to support you in overcoming the hurdle. Who can help you? The one who is connected with you. So, be a good connector and not merely a good communicator.