Networking: The solution to moving past the moral discomfort

Networking has a bad connotation because of people who build relationships just to exploit them. The key to successful networking is to add value to help others to succeed:

• Don’t keep score. Contribute generously to others and be willing to ask for others’ help. Adop...

• Gratitude: Think of how life could be worse. Be happy those things are not real. Appreciate the good things that are real.
• Reciprocity: I’ll say something nice to that stranger next time I’m at Starbucks if you do the same. Deal?

If you find yourself wanting to check your phone when you can’t think of anything better to do, tell yourself it’s fine to give in, but not right now: you have to wait just ten minutes.

It helps you deal with all sorts of potential distractions, like googling something rather than working o...