Hello everyone, this is Helen Huang @ Organizing, based in Beijing, China. In order to better learn and practice the YiXiaoNeng Time Management System, after finished publishing 100 Chinese articles, I decided to continue writing and publishing a daily English article in another 100 days based on the "YeWuBin Time Management 100 Episodes" audio program. Today is the 175th day.

Today's topic is: The Four Keys to Manage Weak Connections

Previously, I explained that strong connections result from an emotional bond. Almost everyone prefers strong connections, but studies show that weak connections can provide us with more valuable information. No matter what area of study or business we are in, we should spend more time managing weak connections, which means networking and developing relationships with people beyond your close inner circle of friends and family.

Today, our theme is how to manage our weak connections so they help us improve productivity and our lives.

First, we need to have expertise in some area. Just like a company needs a competitive advantage, a person needs expertise.

Over ten years of study, I have created the Yixiaoneng method of time management and then created this company to share that method with people like you. Over the last three years, I have incorporated these time management methods into my own life. I've continuously improved the method as I've experimented with different techniques and habits. Continuously improving the Yixiaoneng time management methodology is the long-term goal that I focus my energy on.

So today, I advise you to do the same thing. Find one goal that you can focus on and then channel all of our efforts, your learning, and your growth into this effort. Study it continuously so that it becomes your advantage. Develop it further until it is your foundation. Once you have this special skill, you will be valuable to others and you will be able to give others something that is very valuable to them… information from experience and knowledge.

When we continue to learn, and continue to provide this information to others, we will become a conduit within a network. Conduits exchange information. As a conduit within a network, you both give and receive information. Not only that, but a conduit combines, refines and distributes information as well. And the only way to do this is first be a specialist in some area. This ability to both receive and provide information in a meaningful way is the value that you bring to the network. This value exchange is the foundation of successfully managing weak connections.

So the first part of managing weak connections is to become an expert in some knowledge area.

The second part of managing weak connections is called sharing. You must share your knowledge extensively. The more knowledge you share with more people, the better your networks will be.

There is a theory called the long-tail effect, which says that the more value you create, the more people you will reach. Instead of providing a lot of information all at once, provide small bits of valuable information over a long period of time and you will reach more people. 95% of the value comes from the quantity rather than the quality of information you shared.

When I first started teaching time management, I gave big lectures in Beijing. For the first year that I did this, I didn't have that many students. Gradually I expanded my lectures to major cities all across China. Even so, it was taking a long time to build up my network of students. It took a full year of teaching classes to get to 1,000 students just by teaching classes alone.

Later, I decided to add online classes with these offline classes combining those methods. Through live broadcasts on Tencent and the Youxue Education platform, I was able to teach hundreds of people at the same time. One time I taught over 2,400 people at the same time. That's 10,0000 people in a single year which is ten times more than before. That's a tremendous improvement using the long-tail effect. However, I actually believe that is still too slow. I want to be faster.

I thought about how I might be able to reach more people even more quickly. So I begin to record each broadcast. First, I recorded videos of my classroom instruction. And then I added additional content. In order to contribute to more people, I put these videos on Youku (which is China's version of YouTube). The number of views for each video numbered in the hundreds of thousands!

Still, I wasn't satisfied. How could I increase the number of views even more? My next thought was to create audio lessons in the Ximalaya app, the very same audio that you are listening to today. After only three months, I have over 3,000,000 downloads in the Ximalaya app.

Notice that each of these methods of sharing information reduced the amount of information in each installment, but increased the number of installments, as a result increasing the number of people I was able to reach over a longer time of period. That's the long-tail effect in practice. I was able to bring more value to more people in a shorter time of period. Now that's productivity!

The third part of managing weak networks is effective contact. There is a theory called the twelve-contact theory. It's a method of efficient networking that allows you to convert many strangers into connections.

I practice this theory of twelve-contacts using my classes. You see, after I finish teaching a two-day classroom course, I leave my students with a framework and plan to create the habits and master the skills. Over a period of 90 days, practicing this framework transfers knowledge learned into actions taken and finally habits developed. By sharing this method with my students in small pieces over a period of 90 days, I establish tighter emotional connections with my students and endear them to the Yixiaoneng Company. 

The idea is that it takes 12 different interactions with someone to form a close and lasting relationship. So, I focus a lot on increasing interaction on my online classrooms. It is easy to create more touches with someone in online classes than in a classroom.

For example, I provide a live broadcast of my course online for only 198 RMB. I organize and establish Wechat groups to let people interact with each other and give them a group of people to practice the new habits together with. I also gain another touch with the students when I ask for and respond to feedback for improvement.

I expanded the scale of my enterprise using Ximalaya. More people listen to Ximalaya allowing me to reach more people. I will continue to ensure the communication is flowing in both directions by listening to and responding to comments on Ximalaya. That is why I encourage you to provide comments each and every time you finish listening to these lessons each day. Because I will make every effort to respond back to you, and to continue the bilateral communication between us. Commenting is a small but effective and critical form of communication, so thank you very much for interacting with me. If you ever have questions, please reach out to me.

Smaller chunks of information provided to a larger group over a longer period of time will give you the 12 or more contacts you need to have a lasting and reliable relationship. We must give more and more to establish these weak connections. In fact, my true desire is not just to get more people to listen, but truly to help people learn the information.

The fourth part of managing weak networks is feedback.

By focusing on building skills and competencies in others, sharing information continuously, and genuinely wanting to serve others, I have been successful at building my weak connections. My desire to give to others is what fuels the desire in others to give back in the form of feedback. When I am invested in helping others succeed, they will be invested in helping me succeed. This reciprocity is the key to the fourth piece – feedback.

So to review, developing an effective network of weak connections requires four key traits: expertise, sharing, contact and feedback. So please, please remember these.

I strongly suggest that you find your specialty, that area of knowledge you have expertise around. And if you don't have a specialty, you should gradually build your skills in such an area.

Secondly, continue to share. The more times you share information, the more value you will have.

Thirdly, when sharing information, focus not just on the amount of information you share, but the quantity of people you share it with, and share more over time. This key is the trick to expanding your network.

Fourthly and lastly, you should strive for continuous feedback from others and convert that feedback into motivation to improve.

These are the keys to developing an effective interpersonal relationship with others. Always improve your abilities and maintain your relationships.

That's all sharing today. Thank you being with me together. Have a wonderful day!