Fill your social calendar intentionally

Treat every meal, coffee, and event as a relationship-building opportunity and schedule them as such.

Why it works

Social capital accretes through repeated, meaningful contact — not single high-stakes networking events. By treating ordinary shared meals and breaks as relationship investments, you accumulate contact points continuously without creating artificial "networking" contexts that feel transactional to both sides.

How to do it

1. Block at least three meals or coffee slots per week in your calendar for relationship-building.
2. Prepare for each by reviewing what matters to that person right now.
3. During the meeting, focus entirely on them — no phones, no agenda-pushing.
4. Follow up within 24 hours with something specific that extends the conversation.

Evidence

Propinquity research consistently shows that repeated contact predicts stronger ties. The specific "never eat alone" practice is practitioner advice; the underlying mechanism is well-supported. (mechanistic)

The practice assumes in-person or synchronous contact; remote-first environments require deliberate adaptation.

Sources

• Festinger, Schachter & Back (1950), Social Pressures in Informal Groups

Common mistake

Treating the meal itself as the outcome rather than the follow-up action it should generate — without follow-through, shared meals leave no residue.