Stop, Look and Listen… The Follow Up!
I am still smiling from ear to ear after the great response I received last Thursday from the “Stop, Look and Listen” post! Thanks to everyone who took the time to read it, and a special shout out to those who took the time to comment. In case you missed it, here it is again:
I have been “practicing what I have been preaching” on a couple of items and wanted to give you an update:
I recently reached out to an old colleague that I have not spoken to in many years. Our relationship was a little choppy to say the least for a long time and we happily stayed “out of touch” as our careers continued with different organizations. They were happy to re-connect via social media, and vowed to stay in touch going forward.
I also had a face-to-face meeting with an old friend when he visited my city recently. We had not really hung out for the better part of ten years, and it was awesome to see each other again! We were the best of friends in university and stirred up the occasional bit of trouble, so it was nice to sit down and chat. We picked up right where we had left off which is what I expected to happen!
For the above situations, so much time had passed, I was not even sure why we “broke up” in the first place. It is all water under the bridge now. Time to move on.
A third story has been on my mind a lot since last Thursday. I became quite close with a customer of mine many years ago early in my career. We had a lot in common, and loved to talk about hockey every time I visited his store. If memory serves me correctly, we stayed in touch for a bit after I started a new role, but we finally drifted apart and never communicated again.
As my mind drifted during work last week, I finally decided that it was time to take action and reach out to him again after all these years. Within an hour of making that commitment to contact him, I received a very disturbing email. He had passed away suddenly the night before. I was in absolute shock.
– Is it time to reach out to somebody from your past?
– Is it time to leave the “past in the past” and move forward?
– Is the time to do that TODAY?
Things can change in an instant – unfortunately my third story proves that.
Hope I can motivate all of you to take action!
Posted on April 16, 2013, in Inspiration, Motivation and tagged Business, Death, Decompressing, Leadership, Life Lessons, Priorities, Take Action, Work Life Balance. Bookmark the permalink. 4 Comments.
Sell, Lead, Succeed! 
Tim, better than the last one. Why? Because you took action and followed through with what you “preached.” I remember making a smaller commitment to participate more in my LinkedIn groups. I’ve done a better job at it.
As for the unhappy ending, don’t beat yourself up, bud. You gave it a shot, and we cannot control fate. I am curious about one thing though, what kind of trouble did you and your friends get into when you recently met?
Bob
Hey Bob! Thanks as always for stopping by. Yeah taking action sure feels good. With respect to the friend that I missed before I passed away, I am not beating myself up. It was just one of those things. And the friend that I just met up with after all those years, the “trouble” happened in university a long long time ago! Of course it was nothing illegal! Thanks again…
Takes a second to make a call and a great use of drive time–
Thanks for taking the time to stop by Rich! Nice to see you here. Yep as sales reps, we have a lot of drive (or windsheild) time. So take an opportunity to reach out to somebody that you have not spoken to in a long time. It might just make their day (yours too!) We still need to chat soon Rich. I have not forgotten!
All the best and stay in touch…