Lisa and I went to a Mud Hens minor league baseball game tonight down in Toledo. It was part date and part networking (the U of Toledo Alumni Association organized the event). We met a number of lovely and interesting folks including one gentleman named Bob.
Bob was a lot of fun. He had retired about a year ago after forty years of work. You may have heard of those folks who retire and then get bored.
Bob is not one of them.
He now views his life as “seven days of weekend”. He’s doing all the things he always wanted to do but never had the time for.
He taught himself to fly fish — including tying his own flies. He talked about his yard and his gardens. He told us about going to the museum to learn how to paint watercolors. He’s travelling a lot more now, too, going out west to see his sons in California and Oregon.
Now the interesting thing was, he never spoke about his old job, he just talked about all of these new activities he was pursuing. Not only was he talking about them, his eyes almost glowed with excitement as he extolled the joys of each new thing. We joked that he had the energy of a teenager.
What he really had was a rare passion for life.
It reminded me of how much fun it is to listen to someone who is truly passionate about something. That emotion is contagious and can’t help but infect those who witness it.
So, no matter where you are, if someone asks you about your business, your family, or any other aspect of your life, speak about it with passion. Be the inspiration to those around you and help them find the passion for life within themselves.
Because those are the kind of people you want in your network.
Photo credit: Eric Lubbers
