To stay ahead of the curve and ensure opportunities never run dry, start fostering relationships right now! These don’t have to be transactional, reach out with an intention to genuinely connect. Think about mentors you admire; colleagues who exude creativity; even social acquaintances that might add value to your life. Don’t wait until tomorrow or next Monday: pick up the phone today and make a meaningful connection in just one small gesture, send a simple “how are you?” message.
Keep investing in these meaningful bonds today so tomorrow you get the returns of a lifetime!
Your Call to Action
(If you don’t have a phone, you can still do this exercise in principle. Read the steps anyway — it’ll make complete sense once you’re through.)_
Step 1: Open your phone and go to your text messages.
Step 2: Scroll all the way down to the bottom. These are the people who you have waited the longest to reconnect with.
Step 3: If there are any people that you feel compelled to reach out to, do so! You can skip the automated texts and one-time messages from randos of course, but anyone who you wish you had reconnected with sooner, now is your time.
Step 4: Just say hi, and in your own voice, say that they came to mind! Something like, “Hey, it’s been a while! I noticed we haven’t connected in a long time, how are you? How’s [insert thing you remember about them here]?
Step 5: If you get a reply, awesome. If not, that’s okay too!
You can obviously do this with DMs on a social media platform, or with anyone that comes to mind who you haven’t reached out to in a while.
During a live event, I asked the entire audience to do this same exact exercise, right at that very moment. I also asked everyone to turn ON the sound of their phone. After just a couple minutes, the entire room started dinging with replies. It was incredible.
Reconnections happening in real time.