LAST time we began talking about critical matters. We saw the fact that anything, issue or situation that is important and has a decisive role in the success or failure of our main objectives is critical. We also saw that for us to make our lives count we need to focus and direct the best of our energies, resources and skill to dealing with things that are critical. The other dimension of critical matters we want to consider in this article is “critical people”.

There is no way we can go through life successfully as a recluse. We are social animals – we need meaningful relationships to survive and thrive. There is absolutely no way we can make our lives to count without the input of others. We need people and people need us. The irony of life is that people can be our greatest asset and people can be our greatest impediment. We need to acquire skills in knowing how to successfully relate with people – interpersonal skills is not a luxury but a necessity for anyone who wants to succeed in life.

In the process of our journey through life we will come across different types of people and it is our responsibility to decipher the people critical to the execution of our dreams and people who are not. Many lives have been sentenced to frustration because of the inability to differentiate between people critical and non-critical to their purpose in life. This inability leads to depression, needless squabbles and a waste of emotions, resources and time.

A person critical to our dreams or purpose in life is a person whose actions or inactions will have a grave consequence on what is critical to us. If we are to succeed in life and if we are to avoid unnecessary hiccups we need to know “what people are critical to what is critical to us”.

Once we locate these people we must relate with them with understanding and wisdom. A student, for example, must know the critical people in his academic pursuit. He must identify the people whose actions and inactions will deal an indelible blow on his academic dream. Top on his list of critical people are his sponsors. If his sponsors (those who pay his school fees) become financially incapacitated or unwilling to continue paying his school fees, he is stranded. Also critical to the student are his lecturers. If his lecturers go on strike then his academic career also goes on strike too. If his lecturers do not disseminate accurate knowledge to him then he comes out a half-baked graduate. To the student a non- critical person in his academic pursuit are his friends who love to party and “generally have a good time”. Much as a student needs to have a social life, he must understand that his “socialite friends” are not critical relationships to the successful execution of his academic pursuit. This understanding will help him plan and prioritize his time and resources.

We cannot relate with everybody the same way. The more critical a relationship is to our purpose the more premium we place on it.  The way we relate with people critical to our purpose will depend on who they are and what input they can have on our purpose. Here are a few critical people – our mentors, spouses, bosses, business partners, pastors, financiers, lecturers etc. The question is have you discovered the people critical to your set goals and objectives in life? If you have, do you have a strategic relationship plan to relate with and get the best of the relationship?

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