Welcome to the new year 2012. What is it that you want to accomplish this year? What do you resolve to do, to change, to achieve, to enjoy? Where do you see yourself a year from now? What do you need to do now to get there?

The above quote from Karen Lamb is one of my all-time favorites. Her words inspire me. She instantly sends me into visual mode – creating the picture of me twelve months from now. Her wisdom motivates and propels me into action. How about you?

Allow me to philosophize for a moment.

No man or woman is an island. We need each other. Relationships matter in business and in life. We are networked together.

While we all strive to be independent, we live in an interdependent world. Each person has impact and influence on others and on our Earth. You don’t have to have power, money or authority to have influence. It’s a bigger concept than that.

In our daily lives, we need people to help us solve problems and achieve goals and dreams.It takes courage to reach out and ask people for help. It takes strength and graciousness to extend yourself and offer help to others.

In college I learned that the smartest people were not necessarily those with all the intelligence, but those who asked for help. In business, I have learned the value of helping others achieve their goals. In that way, I am able to achieve mine.

So I ask you:

• Who will help you achieve your goals in 2012?
• Who will you help achieve their goals in 2012?
  

New Year’s Resolutions: “Stay in Better Touch with People”

Perhaps you have considered the above new year’s resolution. It’s a powerful one because relationships are key to personal and professional success. Trace back any success you have had in the past and you’ll find that in addition to your personal persistence, motivation and self sacrifice, other people were there to support you and help you along the way.

With a fresh new year upon us, it’s time to take stock of the strength of your professional and personal network.

• How many people do you know and know well? Which ones are trusted allies and advocates? Which ones are merely causal acquaintances?
• How deep are your relationships in business and in your personal life?
• Are you connected to the kind of people who can get you closer to your dreams and goals?
• How much equity have you built in those relationships? Have you invested enough time and effort into building the critical connections?
• How many people could you call upon right now for help?

Free audio download to help you jump start your network

If you feel like you could be doing more with your network or you have been neglecting it for some time, this next section is for you.

I want to share a deleted chapter from my book Networking Ahead for Business with you. The deleted chapter is called Jump Start: How to Re-engage your Network after a Period of Neglect. I’m not sure why this chapter was cut from the final book. After listening to the audio recording again, I think it is full of good ideas and examples of how and why you should keep your professional networking charged at all times.

I’m offering this audio program FREE for downloading as my New Year’s gift to you. I hope you will find value in the 7 1/2 minutes of narration from my book. After listening to this program, you will be inspired to stop thinking about networking as an activity or event, but rather networking as a strategy for life. Please feel free to post a comment after listening to the program or post them on my Facebook page.

• Please peruse the other networking programs available for digital download including Perfect Your Pitch, Motivated Networking Follow-Up and Top 10 Networking Tips. You can check them all out at my digital store: MotivatedDownloads.com

Your Networking Goal for this Week

Take time this week to reflect upon your successes, failures and lessons learned from last year. Think about the people who were instrumental in helping you create that success and movement towards your goals last year. That’s your network at work for you.

For 2012, I’d like you to include at least one networking-oriented goal as part of your New Year’s resolutions (or goals, intentions, or whatever you call them). How about doubling your Linkedin contacts and really leveraging this powerful professional on-line networking tool? Perhaps you want to get involved in a professional association or networking group? Maybe it’s time to get your contact database organized? Remember to put some teeth into your goals by adding specific measurements and time table in your goal statement. Make sure you can clearly tell if you made your goal or not by December 31, 2012.

Networking can help you create more opportunities for yourself and others in 2012 and beyond. You just need to tap into it and of course, continuously build equity and value in your network. Happy New Year!

About the writer: Kathy McAfee is known as America’s Marketing Motivator and is author of the book Networking Ahead for Business (Kiwi Publishing 2010). In her role as Executive Presentation Coach and Professional Speaker, Kathy helps her clients to become the recognized leaders in their fields by mastering the art of high engagement presentations and more effective networking and connecting. To learn more about Kathy, visit her web site MarketingMotivator.net. To receive free weekly networking tips, sign up at NetworkingAhead.com