With success comes many things — including a much larger business network.
How can you possibly keep in contact with everyone, let alone respond to their requests? Apply Pareto’s 80/20 rule: Think about your most important relationships, and then highlight the top 20% of them.
These are the people you should spend 80% of your time, energy and resources with.
Proactively set up regular lunch dates, walk-and-talks, coffees and face-to-face meetings.
Get creative — commute to work together, take up a shared hobby or interest, or create a peer support group. For second-tier contacts, consider organizing a social event two or three times a year to keep in touch.
This 80/20 system allows you to continue to nurture and protect your relational ecosystem — which is the greatest determiner of your personal happiness and professional success going forward.
(Adapted from “How the Over-Networked Can Manage Their Contacts,” by Matt Bird)
