I was reading something on an online networking site that said every day one should contact at least 5 people within their sphere of influence that they don't see every day, just to keep in touch, without asking for anything.

I had to think about that one for a bit because, on the surface, I don't see myself as having that large a sphere of influence. Even the term begs consideration; is this a circle I have influence on, or one that has influence on me?

So I send a message to the originator of the statement for clarification, because sometimes I tend to be a bit literal. Her answer was that every person on that page who has me listed as a special contact (on this site, Ryze, they're listed as friends), each one of those people were within my sphere of influence. Every person in every organization I belong to is in my sphere of influence. Every person who's in my list of business contacts, or for whom I have business cards for, is within my sphere of influence. She said my sphere of influence was vast, and that I should take advantage of it.

That one got me thinking more, but I understood what she was saying. We sometimes meet people who we might have some kind of connection with, and suddenly they're out of our lives without another thought. There are business people I've met and talked to often at networking events, but suddenly I don't see them for awhile; sometimes I wonder, sometimes I just forget about them. And that's a shame.

No one in business, work, family, or friends can really stand to lose that connection all that often. Sure, we get locked into our personal and professional lives and it seems like we never have enough time to get to everything. We also can't remember everything. Still, there are times when the connections we make aren't only for us. We could contact someone on a day when things are going badly for them, and your reaching out could make their day. Often, we contact someone who says they were just thinking about us, and that makes us feel pretty good also.

I think I'm going to try to adopt that idea for one week, just to see if I can consciously keep it up. This follows connecting, though briefly, with someone last week who's one of my oldest friends, over 35 years. If I couldn't take time out for him, I don't deserve the right to have time for anyone.