So, I'm a little uncertain, about a lot for that matter. Everyone tells me to network but there is far from a clear guideline for actually doing so. I have tried sending daily LinkedIn connection requests in people in favorable positions, often to no avail because the platform holds zero-to-no actual authenticity. The advice is all very vague.

As of late, I found myself a new mentor by chance. (you know who you are) The connection stumbled across me randomly, and while we are in different stages of our life and pursuing our own individual goals, a habit of his stuck with me deeply. His ability to network was just, different. He always seemed to be talking to someone. He gave me a genuinely very simple piece of advice — try to meet one person a day. That's it. While this isn't exactly the solution that I've come to (I'll get to that in a bit) it made me rethink how I approach meeting people.

I think it is also worth mentioning my personal reason for wanting to grow my own circle. I genuinely believe that a positive social circle changes you. What you see recalibrates your sense of normal and reshapes what you actually see is possible. I want to learn from not just my own experiences, but from other people and I think this is the fastest and most effective way of achieving that goal. Secondly, I find that actual connections with people can provide you with opportunities you wouldn't know of or be offered otherwise. This fact I'm sure everyone is aware of, but its very difficult to actively provide and offer people things in order to warrant them to actually provide you with something of value. I do understand that this idea can seem fake or immoral but I do think it is worth noting that all relationships, to some degree, are transactional whether you think about it or not. I think it can help an individual greatly by keeping this in mind and utilizing the idea intentionally.

With these factors in mind, I'll explain the method I will be implementing in my own life moving forward. I do understand that I lack credibility in this regard, because my circle is small as is and I haven't necessarily followed my own advice up to now, so I do welcome any tips or advice. I have labelled my solution "The 1-2-1 Method". Introduce this as a daily habit where you: reach out to one new person a day, add value to two people in your current network, and have one authentic (potentially difficult) conversation with someone in your network. In just around 90 days you will have 90 new contacts in your phone, and 180 people you've genuinely helped. These are intentional, but valuable connections that I don't think you can put a real value on. Preferably these individuals you reach out to will be people you look up to but this I do understand that that is a difficult task. I believe this beats out mindlessly trying to stumble across someone who will eventually give you a job or a referral, you genuinely have to be intentional with the idea. Whether this be through iMessage or in-person, try your best to have some form of genuine connection with these people you meet.

Write it down, or invest in a personal CRM (or not, there is notion and some other free(ish) personal CRMs) and write all of these people down on a list, along with when you last reached out to them, what value you've added to their lives and when you should probably check back up on them. The routine will get your further than anything mindless connection attempts ever will.

As I mentioned earlier, I'm just a student, a struggling one at that looking to gain my best shot in a frankly shitty job market, so take what I have mentioned with a grain of salt. I do hope my ideas can help or guide someone on a better track though. Feel free to reach out again via any of the contact methods I have on this blog, I should see it and I'm always happy to listen and potentially change my views.

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