Healthy Relationships to Be or Not to Be
Developing quality relationships is the second distinct condition you can cultivate to increase your AE (Absolutely Exceptional) factor.
Quality Relationships. Relationships are the currency of your future, and the core theme and purpose of all social engagement is to create relationships. That is why www.facebook.com, www.twitter.com, and www.linkedin.com thrive—millions of people take the time to grow and nurture their networks. We no longer have to send a message in a bottle, write a handwritten letter, or release a carrier pigeon to transport our thoughts. In just a few strokes on our mobile phones or laptops, we can build and maintain relationships.
Men and women with high AE factors prefer a group of quality friends with whom they can build deep roots instead of a quantity of folks who are like leaves—easily swept away by the winds of change.
Just because someone likes your Facebook post, retweets your 280-character statement, or shares your video doesn’t mean they are building a quality relationship. Quality people are in your life when the chips are down. Quality people are not hooked on drama. Quality people say what they mean and mean what they say. Quality people are comfortable being alone because they are qualified to be exceptional, thus they are not often lonely.
Guides for quality relationships:
Men and women who see themselves as having a high AE factor love others at the expense of self because love it not what it says, it is what it does.
Quality relationships are a judgment-free zone. Your quality relationships accept you for who you are instead of what they want you to be.
Quality relationships understand how to listen between the sentences and value the power of silence. This is called “meta-listening,” or the ability to tap into one’s intuitive sense by giving voice to what is yet unspoken.
Quality relationships happen when individuals decide to Velcro themselves to another for what they can give instead of what they can get.
Quality relationships are like a fine wine. They only get better with time.
Quality relationships are not forced; they ebb and flow accordingly in life.
Developing and maintaining quality relationships is one of the most important principles I wish to convey to my children. If you have a dream, idea, or concept that requires a financial investment, you need a quality relationship more than a loan. Be a multimillionaire in relationships. If you have a relationship, you can secure the necessary resources.
In opposition to quality relationships, there are some relationships that are like weeds. These grow in the garden and suck the life out of everything that you are doing. Weed relationships have disqualified themselves from your life. The only way they can re-enter your life is—in the words of my friend Terry Watson—by requalifying.
Why? Well, the quality of your future is determined by the quality of people around you. People with high EQ (emotional intelligence) factors associate with like-minded individuals, who expand each other’s breadth and depth.
Can you think of any weed relationships that drain the life out of you? These people are reducing your AE factor. Focus on disqualifying these individuals from your life. Once you’ve weeded these relationships out of your life, you’ll be ready to move on to the third distinct condition you can cultivate to increase your AE factor.