If your primary connection with your kids is to text or email them, you may want to reconnect in a more healthy way. The same holds true with your colleagues. I know you have 128 emails that you need to respond to and 10 of those are family, but in the long run your relationships will be all the better for it.
Remember the last time a friend, colleage or family member just "dropped in" to say hello and connect? How did that feel for you? Aren't some of the best visits those that are spontaneous and without an agenda. Our society is in a serious connection crisis! We are so quick to judge the parent for smoking in the same car as their children, however, we sit across from our family at the restaurant accepting yet another call or responding "just this once" to our black berry. Isn't this a form of neglect too? Signs that we have let the scale go too far? Your kid starts skipping school or failing his grades to finally get your attention or your colleague starts to avoid replying to your emails because you didn't even take the time to visit when his wife was seriously ill.
Let's try an experiment. Leave your black berry or whatever device you have at home when you go out on a date with your spouse/family/friends. No issue here you said? We have become so connected to our technology that we forgot how to connect in person with the people that matter most. A habit I have been doing for some time is doing a nightly inventory where I ask myself have I truly been available as a parent/spouse/relative/friend/colleague?
I would like to revise the statement that we frequently hear to, "Treat your family like you do your clients. Treat your clients like family. Happy connecting!
