King Henry's Roladex

It's not what you know but who you know. But sometimes what know is the reason you know the people you do.

In medieval times, noblety would travel from their castles to far off lands to expand their realm of power. A king or prince would go to talk business with another country or dynasty in order to gain lands, rights or simply build rapport. I think sometimes this is one of the reasons people join dating websites. Hold on, it'll make sense in a sec.

Now don't read this negatively, there is nothing wrong with dating websites. They serve their purpose quite well. Sometimes though, one of the reasons people join them is because they just don't have many opportunities in their schedule to meet new people. They get up, go to work, see the same 32 people they see everyday. Weekends they might hit up the local redbox and spice up their life by making a potato casserole. Not alot of social interaction. Thats fine. Thats why Match.com can afford to waste money on TV commercials. What I'm saying is that these types of people are not going out to expand their lands as much as they should.

To un-fog this thought, what King Henry was doing by traveling to meet other leaders is he was simply expanding his sphere of influence. And that is something we all have. About the time when I discovered deodorant and I hit my growth spurt was when I started to develop my sphere of influence. (Anyone who has ever made fun of me, gets the growth spurt joke) This makes sense for most people, because in our teens when we starting to figure who we are going to be, we also figure out who we want and don't want to associate ourselves with. Now even I hung out with the freaks at table 9 at some point in my life. I think that's just part of the process when developing your set of friends. Or maybe I'm still a freak at table 9. Which I'm cool with too. And typically, as we physically and socially grow, so does our sphere of influence.

And as youre sphere of influence grows so too do your opportunities.

The opportunities I'm talking about could be occupational, social or romantical. But with a larger sphere of influence comes a larger database of contacts. And with more contacts, comes more opportunity. I read a study the other day that said a majority of people found their current job through a loose contact. Someone they kind of know. Makes sense. The beauty of it is that we have complete control of how big our sphere of influence is. Depending on the personality type, it could be the size of a jelly bean or more comparable to the arctic circle.

Another great thing is we don't have to ride in a wagon for a week to find opportunity. We've become much more socially efficient. So whether it's Match.com, or a book club, or church or your local watering hole; make a friend.... expand your lands. Who knows, it could be your next job. You don't necessarily have to be popular to have a great sphere of influence.

New in my life: As a toddler all I needed was my tricycle and my driveway. Then as a kid, my bike and my gravel road became my life support. Sequentially, at 16 a little blue pick up truck was my new found source of entertainment. And now at 24 I find only aviation can keep me satisfied. I feel I have peaked on my mode of transportation curve. At this rate, I don't even know what's next.

Keep smilin'

JM