This article comes from Entrepreneur.

How Cultivating Relationships Helps You (and Your Company) Thrive

You don’t have to wait for a crisis to hit in order to clarify your highest objectives. Below are some ways to help you reach this sense of fulfillment and purpose.

1. Identify key relationships to foster

Think about the people who anchor you and share your values. Who do you confide in? Who motivates you? Similarly, consider who you learn the most from. Which experts in your network help you fill in knowledge gaps? These are the relationships you want to be proactive in nurturing.

2. Invest in community

Take stock of your professional and personal schedule for this next month and then pick an activity you would like to invest more time in as part of a group. Cross’s research found that anchoring ourselves in one or two nonwork communities is essential for us to thrive. Instead of grabbing the occasional lunch with a friend, sign up for a class together where you’ll both be immersed in a learning environment.

3. Guard your time

It’s vital we create buffers against draining interactions. You can do this by setting up rules for how you’ll shift your focus from your professional to personal life. For instance, I make it a point to turn off all devices as soon as I get home. I’ve also taken Slack off my phone, and made sure to not review work emails on weekends. This has allowed me to take back control and redirect my time to more meaningful relationships.

4. Re-focus on others

Michelle Tillis Lederman said it best: “Building fruitful and lasting relationships starts with abandoning the conventional ‘’me’ based thoughts that are so prevalent in the business world and so easy to slip into in our personal lives.”

The greatest strategy of all is to leave all thoughts of work behind — and give the people in our lives who give us a sense of fulfillment — our genuine, undivided attention.

We do this by listening intently. We do this by making them feel seen and heard.

Sculpting our lives this way won’t only give us more balance, it will help us forge a path toward what really matters.

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