Musings of a Marketing Maven

Reflect­ing back on 2009 and look­ing ahead to 2010, I came across a great quote that got me thinking:

You are the same today as you are going to be five years from now, except for two things: the peo­ple with whom you asso­ciate and the books you read.

— Source: Charles Jones, cited in Attract­ing Per­fect Customers

What a won­der­ful thought. It’s an inspi­ra­tion for being more mind­ful in 2010.

What You Choose to Read

You have lots of con­trol over what you choose to read. Are you read­ing the mate­ri­als that are most nour­ish­ing for what you need right now, in your per­sonal life or to take your career where you want it to lead?

I’m a vora­cious reader, as my friends and fam­ily know. But do I always take enough time before div­ing into a book or mag­a­zine, or a blog, to con­sider why I’m read­ing this one instead of some­thing else? If I thought about its impact 5 years hence, would I choose differently?

The Peo­ple in Your Circle

I’m blessed with a ter­rific spouse, a won­der­ful cir­cle of friends, and a large and lov­ing fam­ily. Hol­i­day times like this pro­vide ample oppor­tu­ni­ties to remem­ber such bless­ings, and say thanks.

But as I think about the quote from above, I’m inter­ested in cre­ative ways to expand my cir­cle of friends and asso­ciates. Yes, social net­work tools are one path for doing that, but I prize more expe­ri­en­tial ways to meet peo­ple, via thought­ful exchanges by phone or face-to-face.

Food for thought: Fol­low­ing a trade show a few months ago, my hus­band shared his boss’ game plan when attend­ing events or con­fer­ences: he takes time to iden­tify the most inter­est­ing or smartest per­son he encoun­tered that day, and invite him or her to din­ner or cof­fee. That’s an approach I’d like to put into prac­tice in 2010. It sounds like a fab­u­lous way to meet peo­ple who can spark whole new ideas or opportunities.

For 2010, I’m look­ing for­ward to meet­ing new peo­ple from whom to learn and expand my hori­zons, so I in turn can make a greater con­tri­bu­tion to friends and fam­ily, clients and the larger community.

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