#59 - Where do you want to invest your time?
All relationships, both personal and business, require on-going communication. Without on-going communication, business relationships break down because of lack of contact. This lack of contact opens the door to communication with business competitors and the potential for loss of clients and business.
The same is true for personal relationships. Lack of communication and contact also leads to the breakdown of the relationship. Withdrawal during times of stress can be common but, prolonged withdrawal is damaging and hurtful. Open and honest communication allows for the sharing of thoughts and ideas that can be conveyed in no other way. Shutting your mate out through non-communication begins to break down the emotional bonds that connect you. If this is allowed to go on long enough, the emotional bonds can be severed completely. Once this happens, one of two things will happen. Either the relationship ends, or it will take an extraordinary effort to reconnect emotionally. From experience, both personally and professionally, it takes much more effort to rebuild a relationship than it does to maintain it through regular and open communication.
Where do you want to invest your time…continually developing new relationships or maintaining and nurturing your existing relationship?