How Flammable Are Your Bridges?

As you go about your business day, think about the bridges you are building. No matter what you're doing, you're establishing connections, even If only one brick at a time. The idea is to build bridges that will last through the fires of life. For instance, if you were to leave your company unexpectedly tomorrow, would your relationship with Phil what's-his-name (strange, men don't usually hyphenate their names when marrying...) in receiving continue? Considering that you talk to Phil once a week and you don't know Phil's last name, it's doubtable. The "fires" would wipe that bridge out and your connection would be gone. Think now, however, of someone who you would keep in touch with after an unexpected leaving of the company.

Is this person someone you look forward to communication with? It's very likely. Is this person someone you communicate with on a routine basis and with whom you feel a bond? Yes. That bond is the bridge I'm talking about. Some people are natural bridge builders, throwing up lasting connections wherever they go and maintaining those bridges in ways that would leave the greatest engineers scratching their heads in awe. The vast majority of us, though, are not innately built for connecting, and could benefit from a few exercises in visualization to prevent us from ending up an island after a fire...

So take a given day when you're not going to be super-ultra busy and imagine each conversation, each contact, each email as a varying amount of structural integrity that you are putting into that bridge. Some people are farther, requiring a much greater expenditure of energy and time to reach stably. However, much like the longest bridges in the world, once they are built they are rock solid and a pleasure to drive across.

The idea of bridge flammability is extremely useful in personal life, but becomes imperative in professional life. The contacts that you are creating today, the bridges you can walk across each day, can be the way you escape disaster. It is widely held that more than 70% of upward mobility is gained through familiarity with those making the decision rather than prowess alone. 70%!!! When the merger comes, the layoffs happen, the natural disaster strikes, the economy tanks, those iron-clad, unbreakable, act-of-God bridges will be the ones you can escape on in order to survive. Then again, there's always the chance that you'll be the one saving a friend, which is often even greater than being saved.