Building Sustainable Relationships with the 531 Rule

Hello, and welcome to the Traveling Introvert. Today, I want to talk about the 531 rule and how that can help you build your network and not only that but sustain your network. Because the main thing is when we think about having to network and meet new friends and get new people in our lives, It's like, well, I barely see the people I have in my life right now as it is. Why am I adding more? And so I want to talk about the 531 rule for, like, social health. And so you can use it for all things, but let's talk about it from a point of relationships, nurturing relationships, and networking. So the 5 is spend time with 5 different people a week. And you could cram that all into 1 day or you could space it out over the 7 days of the week. But spending time with 5 different people a week should be the goal.

And, you know, the more diverse the social connections you have are, it's basically linked to, like, a better well-being. So it could be friends, family members, coworkers, neighbors. It's good to prioritize a diverse range of interactions from long walks with a best friend to sort of brief chats with your neighbor. And try and branch out of your immediate friends and family at least for 1 of those 5. Right? It could be anything sort of hobby related or like book group for financial wellness. Something that got bought up recently. Something of The that sort of stature for, like, 5 in a week. And then nurture 3 close relationships.

And so we're really good as Introvert at wanting deeper relationships, talking about deeper things with people, not having these sort of lackluster relationships, but it does take work. So during your week, think about what that could look like to nurturing a close relationship, to nurturing 2 close relationships, to nurturing 3 close relationships. And it could be, you know, just messaging that person, who's close to you, asking how they're doing, asking how you can help and support them. What does nurturing look like? And each relationship that you have is different. But thinking and being intentional about reaching out, being intentional about nurturing will deepen those relationships and sort of make things better overall, and you would have put the time in. And then so that was 5, and then there was 3, and then the 1 is aim for 1 hour of quality connection every day. It doesn't actually all at once. It could be a sort of 10 minutes here, 10 minutes there of quality connection.

Like, 10 minutes you call a friend, 10 minutes you message a friend on on on asynchronous messaging. It doesn't have to be, like, 1 side out. They're like, okay. And then do this hour and do this thing. No. Just in general, around 1 hour a day of quality connection. So the thing is it just has to be meaningful for that quality connection. And so it's fine to take this as a rule, but it's a rule of thumb.

The 531 rule is a guideline for you, guardrails for you to know what you're thinking about. Because everyone is different and everyone has different, sort of spheres that they are part of and circles that they are part of. So maybe, you know, 5 people over a week might be too much. Or to find 5 people in that week might be too much. People on vacation, someone is sick. You've got a heavy workload. This isn't something that if you don't do it, the world will crumble, but it is something that you have to be intentional about. And the more frequently you do it and it becomes a habit, The more intentional you are doing things, the easier it will become.

And so that's how you can think about nurturing and growing your network in a way that is sustainable. And growing that network and keeping that network alive is really important for jobs and, networking in general and also just for you as a human being. So I challenge you this week to spend an hour of quality time per day with some way in some way, shape, or form. Thanks for listening. This is Janice at the career introvert helping you build your brand and get hired. Have a great rest of your week.