College Connections

You may have noticed this phenomenon as well...Every Autumn, you mysteriously run into people you haven't seen since high school or college.  Sometimes they reach out to you, sometimes you might reach out to them, and sometimes - most times for me - it just happens.

It's November, and I've connected with a few old schoolmates, just like every year.  Some relationships blossom once more, and others end in a warm-hearted remembrance of some shared event before the connection once again fades.

It's always interesting to see where others are, remember what we once were, and ruminate over the changes that happen in life.Here are two general thoughts around this:  one is a bit academic (not a bad thing), and the other is an application.  Let's touch on the academic first.


Academic

Are those reconnections in the Fall really happenstance?  Do they really happen more frequently this time of year?

What if we've been programmed by our experiences to believe that things start in the Fall?  The American school year was originally based on the seasons, and when children would be needed for additional help in the fields and on the farms that defined the early history of the country.  Vacations are taken in the summertime - ever tried to plan a business event in August?  Church attendance is always at its lowest point in Summer, and new programs and events always start in the Fall.

So in Autumn, with so many things starting, we associate it with connecting with people - new and old - and rekindling the routines that lay dormant over the long preceding months.  We're going back to school, back to church, back to work, back to [insert your annual routine that begins here].  We expect to make connections and to rekindle old friendships.

A psychologist named Wason coined the term confirmation bias, which in general terms means that we seek information that affirms what we already believe or expect and conversely discard information that contradicts our pre-set beliefs or expectations.  Often, what we perceive is different from what the data bears out.

So if we expect to make new connections an rekindle old friendships in the Fall, and then we see a few folks we haven't see in a while....Who's to say we haven't had those same opportunities all year? :)

Application

The application is more interesting than the academic, a truth I'll bear out in a later post.

So if we're making all these connections in the Fall, what are we doing with them?It's a great opportunity to build (or rebuild) your network, find new people to help and that can help you, and to remember all of the things you've been - in case you want to recapture some of that old glory. :)  Your alma mater probably has a robust alumni association through which you can maintain these connections and find new commonalities.

And if these connections are happening all year round and not just in Autumn, the opportunity doesn't stop at the end of the season, and your network can grow and become better with each new connection.

I encourage you to always be on the lookout for the next opportunity to connect, to add value, and to grow your network of relationships.