Offers vs. Commitments: Remember That Life's Best ROI Is Always Measured in Relationship

On April 14, LinkedIn will be removing the Products and Services tab from all Company Pages.  Whoosh, just like that, it's gone.  Remember when Google stopped offering Google Apps for free to new users?  Or when Flappy Bird was brusquely yanked from the app stores?

That's how it is in life when someone is offering something, apparently for free, to large numbers of people.  Offers involve a nameless, faceless exchange and somewhere, someone is paying and looking for a self-motivated return.  Please, don't let revoked offers and similar matters define your day.

You see, maybe the problem is not that people or organizations let you down, but that you mistakenly understand their commitment as being directed toward you.  Perhaps it is directed toward greater sales, bigger numbers, reduced expenses, or less hassle, but it's usually not toward you.  If you take that to heart, you can engage in the ebbs and flows of life with much less anxiety over the changes that take you by surprise.

However, you do need to determine who is really committed to you--real people with real names and real stories.  You must also figure out to whom you are really committed--real people with real names and real stories.  If you keep in mind the fact that neither list can really ever be that big, you will begin to get a closer look at the most significant and valuable connections in your life--the circle where the return is always measured in relationship!

So go and have a great day and be sure to build the core of your life around commitments and not around offers.