Social Networking and You
How can one individual become a World Champion in both chess and Tai Chi Chuan?
More importantly, how can his insights help you?
Josh Waitzkin, a world-renowned chessmaster and Tai Chi Chuan Push Hands champion, in his book, The Art of Learning, says:
“A key ingredient to my success in those years (his youth) was that my style on the chessboard was a direct expression of my personality.”
Later in the book Josh often references how he adjusts his approach to Push Hands competition to reflect both his personality and his physical capabilities.
What does this have to do with social networking? Today’s latest craze has spawned a plethora of “experts” who tell us exactly what we need to do to attract opportunities using the overwhelming number of social networks available to us. Each, of course, has enjoyed great success with his or her model.
Personally, I have wrestled with this advice. Logically, it has merit. Emotionally, I find myself resisting the effort. What’s going on? The advice I’m resisting doesn’t fit my nature!
As soon as I read Waitzkin’s words, I knew what I had to do. I had to embrace those bits of advice that felt good to me, adapt them to my nature and run with them. The other advice, while good, won’t help me because it drains my energy. It doesn’t feel good so I’m not going to make a worthwhile investment to make it work. Armed with that knowledge, I know I’ll get much better results with activities that fit my nature.
It’s counter-intuitive, but when you’re getting advice, regardless of what that advice is, if it doesn’t feel right, don’t do it – even though what you’re hearing makes perfect sense. Instead, examine the advice you’re getting to determine:
- What makes sense about this advice
- Why you are resisting it – what is it that you’re not likely to do?
- How you can adapt the approach to fit your style
- What alternatives exist, if you can’t adapt the approach to your style
Success is a function of clear, concise and consistent effort. You can’t achieve any of them if what you’re expected to do goes against your nature. Be true to yourself and you’ll enjoy greater success.
For more information on Josh Waitzkin, visit www.joshwaitzkin.com
The 7 Steps to Becoming INVALUABLE program I offer is designed to help you see more effective ways of doing business – ways that dramatically improve your bottom line while making your life easier.
In today’s blog I used Step 6, Eclectic Education, to gather insights from a World Champion chessmaster and Tai Chi Chuan master, and combined it with Step 4, Seeing Similarities, to demonstrate how to overcome the challenges many of us face in dealing with the explosion of social networking tools available to us. For more information on the 7 Steps to Becoming INVALUABLE visit www.furtwengler.com/7steps.htm.
If you’d like to receive a weekly email reminder with a link to The Invaluable Leader blog or if you’d like me to address specific topics, please send me an email at dale@furtwengler.com. Please share your experience with our readers by posting a comment.
Tags: Add new tag, chess, counter-intuitive thinking, eclectic education, josh waitzkin, see similarities, tai chi chuan
