Students, fresh talent, entry-level professionals and veterans, everyone alike are perpetually told that ‘networking is king’. Chances are you’ve been instructed the same at some point in your career. If you haven’t, you probably will soon enough. For emphasis, there is nothing wrong with networking. And as cliché as it may sound, your network is certainly your net worth.
Knowing the right people and reaching out to them at the right time makes all the difference. This is an opportunity that you otherwise lose out on should you not have a network of like-minded professionals, leaders in your industry and disruptive talent.
Professional networking, these are two words that encapsulate the dreams and anxieties of many ambitious professionals and entrepreneurs around the world. It is true that networking can either make or break your career. However, what if we told you that one can network themselves to fatigue? Yes, this is a real and tangible phenomenon that affects professionals on the day-to-day.
Under the guise of career advancement and professional growth, there are reports of people sacrificing their mental health and interpersonal relationships for the sake of adding another business card to their collection. We come across exhausted professionals suffering from burnout.
Am I a victim of networking fatigue myself?
Could networking fatigue be the reason why I no longer feel motivated to talk to new people?
What are some signs that I should be looking out for?
At what point do I know that I am suffering from networking fatigue and not typical exhaustion?
How do I get over this fatigue and begin networking once again?
In this blog, we’re answering all your questions about networking fatigue so that you will never have to read another blog on this subject again.
What Exactly is Networking Fatigue?
First things first, to know if it is networking fatigue that has your professional spirits low or just temporary exhaustion, we ought to define the phenomenon. We would also like to emphasize that while networking fatigue is not a clinical diagnosis, it has been noted and discussed by the professional world significantly. BNI (Business Network International) published one of the first few articles on this subject, thereby effectively bringing it to public view. More and more professionals then began resonating with the signs and symptoms that point to networking fatigue.
According to recent workplace studies, networking fatigue refers to professionals across industries experiencing unprecedented levels of exhaustion from maintaining their professional networks. Career advisors and psychologists have documented increasing instances of anxiety, overwhelm and genuine disconnection despite being more ‘connected’ than ever before. Well, now you may ask: Isn’t this just temporary stress?
You are partially right. Networking fatigue is completely temporary and, as mentioned earlier, is not a formally recognized clinical condition. There are a variety of symptoms that professionals experience when they suffer from burnout after excessive networking. What differentiates it from day-to-day exhaustion is that networking fatigue runs much deeper than surface-level tiredness. The former is exclusively associated with the dread of networking with people.
In this capacity, networking fatigue is different from the exhaustion you feel after a long day at work. Here’s a quick reality check on what networking fatigue actually looks like in practice.
The Signs and Symptoms of Networking Fatigue You Need to Recognize
You Experience Physical Exhaustion After Social Events: Your body tells you when networking has crossed from productive to problematic. You notice that your energy drops significantly at the mere thought of attending another conference or meeting. The physical toll could manifest as muscle tension, disrupted sleep patterns and even digestive issues when you’ve committed to too many networking obligations.
You Hold Dread and Anxiety About Upcoming Events: You struggle to recall the days when you used to look forward to industry gatherings. Now, all you feel is dread and overwhelm when you look at your calendar. This is a sign that something is truly amiss. You catch yourself making up excuses to cancel commitments you previously made with enthusiasm.
You Cannot Recall Names and Conversations for the Life of You: Your mind feels foggy during networking interactions because you’ve overextended yourself. You struggle to recall people you met just days ago at events. Conversations blur together and you can’t differentiate between what different people told you. This mental exhaustion may show you that you’re processing too many superficial interactions.
You See That the Quality of Your Interactions Have Come Down: You notice yourself going through the motions rather than networking authentically. You’re checking your phone frequently during discussions or looking for exit strategies mid-conversation. The depth of your networking interactions has become noticeably shallow because you lack the energy to show up fully present.
You Have Personal Resentment Toward Networking Activities: Networking feels like a personal enemy as feelings of bitterness creep at the mere thought of networking. The spontaneity and curiosity that once drove your networking efforts have now been replaced by cynicism and frustration. You question whether all this effort actually serves your career goals or just keeps you perpetually busy.
You Feel Guilt About Not Following Up: You feel immense guilt as you look at your inbox overflowing with contact information and follow-ups that you promised but never got to. You feel like you’re constantly letting others down while simultaneously feeling too overwhelmed to do anything about it. This cycle of commitment and failure adds stress rather than building your professional network.
You Are Cynical About the Value of Networking: You start doubting whether networking actually produces results proportional to the effort invested. You’ve become skeptical about the entire premise of professional relationship building because your experiences have been disappointing or exhausting. This is often proof that you’re well past your breaking point and have inched into networking fatigue.
How to Manage Networking Fatigue?
To counteract these concerns, it is important for aspiring professionals and senior executives alike to not rush into accepting every networking invitation that comes their way. Do not make decisions on the basis of flashy event marketing or fear of missing out alone. Instead, do your research about which events will benefit your career goals in the longer run.
Another important thing to keep in mind when you’re approaching networking events is that quality always overrides quantity. It is never about the number of events you attend. It is how many valuable connections you are able to make, even if that may be only a handful. This is not a social media following you can show up.
You should always focus on quantity when it comes to building your professional network. Instead of attending a dozen networking events per month, consider attending just 1 or 2 that genuinely speak to your industry interests and career objectives. This selective approach will let you show up as yourself. And not as someone masking exhaustion because they’ve been to far too many social engagements in the past week.
It is always important to have your boundaries drawn, crystal clear and affirm them loudly if necessary. Learn to say no to invitations that just do not serve your professional goals and look at every event you attend with a different outlook. It is not just the time you spend there that amounts to networking but also what you do beforehand and after. Networking is also the energy you invest in preparation and what you do to follow-up after an initial meeting. It is not selfish to preserve your time and energy carefully for, it is limited and therefore deserves to only be channeled in the right places.
The professionals who successfully avoid networking fatigue typically follow a few key practices that distinguish them from their exhausted counterparts:
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- The seasoned professionals schedule networking activities during times when they have the most energy rather than forcing themselves to attend evening events after a draining workday.
- They build in recovery time between networking activities, recognizing that socializing requires significant mental and emotional resources.
- They also maintain a small circle of connections rather than trying to stay in touch with hundreds of acquaintances.
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Networking Fatigue can be Dealt with Efficiently
For professionals at every career stage, this year can be productive in terms of networking. But only if you do not fall prey to fatigue. Networking fatigue is real and it helps to approach the process with some amount of healthy realism. It helps if you see networking as part of your career ladder rather than the end goal. Networking is only a tool that gives you a leg up professionally and there is no objective measure of how much networking one must do.
Quit believing what productivity gurus claim about needing to attend every possible event or connect with everyone in your industry. One meaningful conversation with the right person often yields better career outcomes than a dozen superficial exchanges at the wrong event.
Quality > Quantity.
If you would like to create more meaningful networking opportunities for your professional community or are an event organizer looking for ways to facilitate productive networking, Dryfta would be delighted to support your vision. Our online event management software will help you design and execute quality networking experiences. To see how we can help you create events that attendees actually want to attend, visit our website and sign up for a free demo today.