Brought to you by UpHabit, an easy-to-use Professional Network Manager app that takes the heavy lifting out of reaching out, following up, and building an effective professional network (needed for your career and future job prospects). Stay connected with UpHabit, now completely free! Download the app on iOS, Android, and MacOS.
Busy, busy bee
We all know that life doesn’t slow down. With so much of our life penciled into our calendars between travel, meetings, conferences, trade shows… it can be challenging to find time to maintain activities outside of our agendas. One of the most significant issues that we face is how difficult it can be to stay in contact with relationships that aren’t in our immediate working vicinity.
It’s a quickly spiraling process that we all have come across at some point in our careers. One call that you forgot to make or a single un-responded to email can quickly snowball, suddenly your inbox is full of unread emails, and your phone is permanently red with unread notifications. Weeks go by and suddenly it is a capital-T Task to reach out.
So what’s the problem?
Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. Some people are seemingly born with the innate ability to foster and nurture relationships (read Relationship ROI for more!). To the rest of us, however, this dedication to connection is a daunting task which keeps us from taking the first step.
What holds some of us back is the physical act of picking up the phone or typing that email. When the thought arises to get in touch we are frequently in the midst of another activity, and say we’ll do it later… yet hectic work schedules keep us incredibly busy, and there isn’t enough time in the day (or in the night!) to do everything on your to-do list. Sounds familiar right?
Need help to get in touch?
If keeping in touch with professional relationships isn’t your strong suit, that’s okay! Just like you can go to the gym to work your body out you can create goals and habits that will work out your relationship skills. At UpHabit, we are dedicated to helping you maintain and develop your professional relationships sincerely and authentically.
Small methods of contact may seem superfluous but are necessary to cultivating authentic and sincere relationships. You have to tend to flower buds to watch the petals bloom, and you don’t need a green thumb to water your plants!
4 simple tricks
With that in mind, here are some tips to help you make small and meaningful connections with your contacts:
- Take a quick five minutes each morning to look at your contact list (read How to Highlight Your High-Value Relationships to help set up this list) to determine who you need to contact that day. Set a reminder in your calendar for a small chunk of time (15 to 30 minutes should be plenty) to reach out to everyone in one fell swoop.
- Keep brief notes in your contact spreadsheet to track your conversations and stay on top of what’s happening in your relationship.
- Use your spreadsheet to plan out recurring reminders (as well as any special dates), so you’ll always remember to get in touch.
- If you don’t have the time for a full catch up, or find yourself unable to reach out regularly, you can pass on articles or videos ad hoc that you see online. It’s a simple way to touch base, provide context, and add value without overextending your time or mental energy.
Make it a habit!
It is true when people say that the little things add up. Small steps, like those above, are stepping stones to cultivating a more prosperous relationship with your connections! Once you create a habit of keeping in touch with the people that are most important to you, will you find that your relationships become more prosperous and fulfilling.
UpHabit aims to take that fulfillment to the next level. We help to tag, sort, and streamline your contacts and set the reminders for you! In a few quick taps, you’ll see a daily dashboard of your connections, a timeline of your previous points of contact, and look at any notes from past meetings to give you the context you need. Read more about us here, and sign up here for news of our beta launch.
About UpHabit
UpHabit is an easy-to-use app that takes the heavy lifting out of reaching out, following up, and building an effective professional network. Stay connected with UpHabit, now completely free! Download the app on iOS, Android, and MacOS.
