Your Calling Circle

I use to have a cell phone plan that only allowed me to call a certain group of people at no charge. The company called it my "calling circle". With a limited number of spots, I had to think carefully, and choose wisely, who I would let in.

Who would be worth my coveted free airtime? Family? Friends? A couple of coworkers? And I wasn't the only one making this type of decision. I knew other people who had the same type of plan. Would I make it into their calling circle? Have I fostered enough relationships to be worthy of someone else's talk time?

Fast forward a few years, and most of the plans now allow you to call anybody and everybody at any time. People no longer have to think about who to let in and who to exclude. That's what technology has done to us.

With so much access to people and information available in every possible form, we no longer have defined parameters of deciding who, or what, gets let into our "circle". We get emails from companies we don't remember signing up for. We get "friend requests" from people we barely knew years ago - or don't know at all. We have access to the Internet from just about anywhere. And we have hundreds of television and radio stations vying for our time and attention. No wonder it has become so challenging to manage our circle.

With a New Year just a week away, now might be the best time to become the gatekeeper of your circle again. To evaluate all the things that have infiltrated your circle - the good, the bad, and the complete time waster. Your circle is valuable space and should only be occupied by those people, and things, that contribute to your joy, fulfillment, peace and to the path that leads towards your family, personal, and career goals.