Back when I was doing my MBA, I wish that I had realized two things:

1. It’s a lot easier to get strangers to help you with things you need if you approach them waaaaay before you need anything and then just begin a relationship, rather than approaching strangers only right when you need their help. Contact in little bits here and there can go a long way toward giving them an idea of who you are and what your skills and interests are.

That is one area where Twitter has been extremely useful. I wish I had known about it before January 1, 2008, when I signed up, or Summer 2008, when I finally started really using it.

2. If you have a skill, it’s a lot easier to work now and then to keep it up than it is to try and come back later and patch it back together. I’m realizing this now more than ever, when my language skills have degraded a bit. They were awesome at one point.

I just wish I had realized this earlier and hadn’t let myself get distracted by other priorities

Did you used to have something that was really important to you that just doesn’t seem so anymore? If you knew it might come in handy at some point in the future, would it be worth it to you to spend a few minutes on it now and then just to make sure you don’t lose your familiarity?

I realize now that it’s worth it to me.

Tags: forgotten skills, MBA, skills, Twitter

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 21st, 2009 at 11:30 am and is filed under Hobbies, Ideas, Twitter, life, social media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.