How To Use Your Network
Keyword: schnorrer.
Productivity501 warns us to make sure that we don't waste hours figuring out how to do something that someone else can explain in 5 minutes.
He urges us to deliberately build relationships with people who have expertise in different areas than our own.
Offer to help them with your special knowledge, he says. Then they will want to reciprocate.
Problem:
This author is telling you, essentially, to set up an informal barter network for information sharing. The problem is that it comes in the guise of a personal relationship or friendship which really doesn't exist.
This amounts to using people for practical purposes.
Many outgoing people can do it easily. And, indeed many don't mind taking advantage of people, plain and simple. But lots of people don't like doing this. And they can't always offer something in return.
Moreover, often, you need a lot of preliminary knowledge before the expert can tell you something in five minutes. And the only way she can help you is to do the job herself. Or spend an age explaining it to you.
See also: How To Mooch
1. Hint that you need help.
2. Show a bit of pain.
3. When the offer comes, say something like "I don't know. Are you sure
you can spare the time?" That shows you care about the donor. (haha)
4. Don't take too much.
5. Offer something in return when you can.
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