Networking Task Attack

This post is directly inspired by Mel Robbins’ podcast episode on creating a Personal Admin Day. Mel sets out a rather brilliant strategy for getting the personal admin done (you know, Dr. appointments, trips to the DMV, returns, donations etc. etc. etc.) - and it was soooooo good, I had to apply the concepts to networking busy work. 

What follows is not networking in the abstract of “give give get” principles. It’s a structure to take action - establishing blocks of time for critical relationship-building and maintenance tasks that are oh so easy to postpone  - and frankly, are foolish to continue to overlook or ignore.

Networking Task Attack is designed to tackle all the “I should reach out to .…” stuff. 

Why this works

• Networking gets delayed when it doesn’t feel urgent. And this is a mistake.
• The small networking stuff isn’t sexy. That’s why we put it off. But the small stuff packs a punch. It’s the stuff that truly matters: actions such as a meaningful thank-you note or thoughtful follow-up or the unprompted passing along of information, reveal more about who you are as person (and whether someone should place their trust in you), than say, one conversation at a gala dinner or a single 15-minute speed mentoring session.
• In her personal admin day podcast episode, Mel makes a point that is rather useful in the context of networking: the mental drag in not doing the task (such as sending a follow-up note) then fretting about not having done the task, is a heavy cognitive load to keep carrying around. Why unnecessarily clog up all this brain space! Rather than wasting time and energy in the not doing, block out time to do the doing.

Instead of vaguely promising yourself you’ll “be better at networking,” assign each networking task to a time slot.

One Ground Rule

This time blocking approach equally applies whether you’re an extrovert or introvert. So don’t indulge in a networking identity crisis. No overthinking who you are, what your brand is, or whether you are “doing networking right.”

You do not need a better personality for networking. You need a better recurring system.

✅ Start with a Networking Brain Dump

Time: 15-45 minutes. Depends on how many networking tasks you have allowed to pile up. If you're a champion procrastinator, allocate a little more time to this task.

Wrack your brain. Review your calendar. Scan your emails, text messages, and social accounts.Write down every networking task that is floating around, unfinished, such as:

• people to reply to
• people to thank
• people to follow up with
• people to reconnect with
• LinkedIn messages to answer
• outreach you keep postponing
• introductions to make
• introductions to request
• people to congratulate
• articles/resources to send
• events to research
• people to invite
• meeting to schedule
• loose networking ends from the past month (i.e. group to join, volunteers project to sign-up for etc.) 

The aim here is not completeness or precision. The point is getting the mental clutter onto the page where it can be dealt with instead of having it chattering away in your head and holding you back from taking useful action.

A suggestion on the brain dump: do this task late one afternoon or early evening - you know, a time of day when you may be kicking yourself for not having done the thing (again) or equally, could brush it off as "too late" to take action (again). Clear your mind by dumping it on your list. As this is a dump, no judgment allowed.

✅ Bundle + Calendar Brain Dump Tasks

Time: 15–20 minutes

What you do

• Review your brain dump.
• Highlight items that can be done in under 10 minutes (i.e. RSVP’g to the invitation you meant to RSVP to last week and haven’t).
• Put an asterisk* beside items that needing more time to complete (i.e. researching a conference you’re considering attending).
• Underline the networking follow-up, follow-through and circle back you’ve been avoiding.
• Circle the nice-to-do non-mission critical networking activities.
• Pull up your calendar. Block separate time slots for the tasks you have highlighted, put an asterisk* beside, and underlined. Those circled items? Park them - for now. 
• Wondering how much time and when to dedicate for each bundle of highlighted, asterick* or underlined items?
  
  Here’s my general rule of thumb:
  
  💡 Give highlighted items a daily 10 minutes time slot.
  
  💡 Items with an asterisk*, dedicate a 1-hour time slot each week for this research and fact-finding work.
  
  💡 If you’ve underlined something, it’s an indication that it’s a priority item, so make sure you slot 30 minutes every couple of days of prime time for these underlined items.
  
  💡 Every second week review those items you circled to see if they should be moved to a highlighted, asterisk* or underline time slot. 

Creating time slots is about moving tasks off your list, not for marveling at them. By bundling similar tasks and giving them a dedicated time slot - it improves the prospects of getting this sh#t done. 

✅ Follow-up + Follow-thru + Circle Back

Time: 30–45 minutes (depending on the backlog)

Why is are underlined items a priority? 

Because this time slot is for conversations that are already in motion - that is, you’ve had a meeting or call or been connected via email.

Task you'll be doing in this time slot could include: replying to messages you have been sitting on (i.e. an update you promised when you sent the thank you note after a mentoring meeting), or proactive outreach to stay top-of-mind with a prospect (i.e. by sending along an article), or communications to deepen a connection by making “that referral” you mentioned or intro you promised, or to prod someone else into action (i.e. confirming next steps).

This is probably the highest ROI block.

Follow-up is where networking turns into real outcomes. It's how trust is formed. Too many people think they need more networking opportunities when what they really need is to get better at what happens after the initial interaction. Master the follow-up, follow-thru and circle back, and you’ll truly stand out from the networking crowd.

✅ Suggestion: Create Your JCI List

Time: 60 minutes to create your initial list then 10 minutes a day thereafter

A JCI list is a “just checking in” list. These are the connections you want to stay meaningfully connected to (without pestering them or annoying them with needless requests to grab coffee), as well as people you want to get to know - and want a worthwhile or authentic reason to reach out to them.

Block an hour of initial networking research time to create this list.

For each name on your list, think about jotting down what you know about them (i.e. what you discussed the last time you chatted with them, where you met, what they are working on or causes they care about). Source information about them online (i.e. social media profiles, newsletters or columns or client alerts they publish and the like) and note this beside each name.

Once you have created your list, block 15 minutes a day to work through your JCI list - that is, tackle a couple of names each day, starting at the top and when you’ve worked through all the names, go back up to names at the top of the JCI list, and start all over again. Use what you can find out about a person on that day (this is where the social media profile or newsletter etc. comes in handy) as the inspiration for your outreach. So scan their LinkedIn post or Insta stories. Read their most recent client alert newsletter. By way of example, say you discover from a Facebook update that the person has just received an award. Send along a congratulatory note. That’s it. JCI completed.

✅ Research Those Asterisk* Items

Time: 60 minutes

This 60 minute time slot is for you to research networks, communities, and channels that could be useful to your goals (i.e. conferences, events, committees, associations, industry groups, niche networks) and to use what you find to either take action (i.e. attend the event or join the damn committee already!) or discard any thoughts of attending or joining or participating.

The ultimate aim of this time slot is to properly consider the information flows you’re in: where are you getting career or business information you need? And identifying what information you need and where you need to plug in to get it.

✅ A Weekly 10 Minute Task

At the end of each week, do the following:

• Review and update the Follow-up, Follow-thru and Circle Back list as well as your daily 10-minute task list. Consider whether your JCI list needs a refresh.
• Calendar your next networking research session.
• Quickly scan over the items you’ve circled to see if anything pops out which should be moved onto an action list.

Stop hoping you’ll “get better at networking.” Plan to do so by scheduling these tasks and getting them done.

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