Family First–a Family of FRANKS
No woman is an island. The last 14 days of Love-101 focused a great deal on YOU and of course, you should take care of yourself first and foremost. But today it’s all about branching out to get healthy connections with other people. They say friends are the family that you choose for yourself. If your biological family is doing you no favors, it’s time to start choosing new emotional family members to benefit you mentally, physically, emotionally, financially and spiritually.
Of course, if there’s anyone who’s happy, healthy, smart and strong that’s ever touched your life that you’ve lost touch with, the very first action item on your list is to reach out with them and reconnect.
But let’s assume that you feel you’re completely alone at the moment. No loved one. No one you share DNA with who’s a positive influence. No friends. No one to rely on at work OR you work entirely alone all day.
Okay…the acronym to remember to turn that situation around is FRANKS.
When you want to extend your personal network, you’re going to employ this acronym to increase your circle of influence. Even if the FRANKS in your immediate reach aren’t so great, start with those and go for their FRANKS.
Wait. What does “FRANKS” even mean? They are your:
* Friends
* Relatives
* Acquaintances
* Neighbors
* Kids’ Parents
* Spousal Connections.
You should add in co-workers, past and/or present.
You want to increase the number of contacts you have in your personal network in order to increase your sources of both personal and professional fun, friendship, power and influence. Whether it’s fair or not, the phrase “it’s who you know” is a truism. It’s a fact.
But it’s also a fact that, starting where you’re at and working from there, persistently and consistently every single day, you can start increasing the circle of folks you know.
Stephen Covey’s seminal book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, is a must-read when it comes to how, starting with you, you increase the quality of your Circle of Concern so that you can eventually increase your Circle of Influence. If you want to live in harmony with your WHY and achieve believable goals, S.M.A.A.R.T. goals, this is critical.
But starting today, let’s have you focus on you seeing yourself as the leader of your clan (even if you lack a clan to speak of today; tomorrow may already be a different story if you throw yourself into it). You want to focus on what you want–a serious posse upgrade–and what you need to do in order to bring that to you.
The best foot to start with in that dance is to be trustworthy. Follow through on your promises–both to yourself and to other people. So, if you promise yourself that, starting today, you’re going to live healthy on all fronts–mentally, physically, emotionally, financially and spiritually–then follow through on that, even if it’s simply done one baby step at a time. Do NOT fall out of integrity with yourself.
Of course, the same thing applies when it comes to other people–exhibit the principles of confidence and follow-through. Other people cannot see inside your mind; your skull isn’t made of glass, you know. So they can best judge you on how you follow through on your promises and how confident you are when you do what it is you said you were going to do.
Look, you’ve gotta name it to claim it. You now have a target to shoot for, where you’re interested in getting a new clutch of chicks to hang with that will bring out the best in YOU while you’re bringing out the best in THEM.
And certainly, that sort of existence is pretty fun and rewarding…for you and for everyone. Your family may be tiny today, but with concerted effort, you can have a larger, healthier, happier clan to enjoy as fast as you’re willing to commit to growing it.
A Dream Team can be an excellent outcropping of this effort.
The book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey, is again a must read and is available on Amazon.
https://youtu.be/Z9p4vlGAIgA
