I have a couple of clients who spend too much time in their home office and not enough time out meeting people. (You know who you are.) Obviously that’s not ideal from a networking perspective, but it has another, more insidious effect.

Most people struggle, to one extent or another, with self image. The people we spend time with act as a mirror for us. When the person we spend time with is ourselves, we reinforce our less-than-ideal self impression. This often leads to a feeling of futility about our efforts.

Other people seldom see the faults we see in ourselves. Other people tend to see us as better than we see ourselves, and we need that.

A few weeks ago, I was feeling frustration with my social media efforts. Then I met with a new client, and I was able to give him some ideas. We had a great strategy session, and I walked away energized. I had some ideas to try too, but more importantly, my client reinforced to me that I do know what I’m doing. I needed to see myself through the eyes of another.

How do you view yourself right now? If you’re frustrated, how much time have you spent by yourself? If you’re like my clients, get out and meet someone. Both of you can view each other through different eyes and walk away better for it.

Tags: Networking, Relationship building

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 4th, 2010 at 7:17 am and is filed under Networking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.