Here’s how I use one of Trello’s great (and free) visual features to be more intentional about connecting with people. 

With so much ‘life’ going on, sometimes I realise that it’s been months since I’ve reached out and made a connection with someone, no matter how ‘close’ I consider them to be. I tried a handful of connection tracking apps to become more intentional about regularly checking in with people, but then I found a free solution (with no restriction on the number of connections I could track) by using Trello. 

I’m a huge fan of Trello boards and lists for a number of reasons; one of them is the long list of value-adding additional features (or ‘power-ups’) on offer. The power-up I use for my connections board is card ageing (with ‘pirate mode’ setting turned on!). Having this enabled on your board means that the longer you go without interacting with a card on any of your lists, the more it starts to look like an old pirate map – call me a geek but I think it looks cool. 

Here’s how it works: 

Firstly, I set up a new board, divided into lists of names; family, friends, colleagues etc. Then I set up a daily reminder for myself to check and update the board. 

Every time I interact with someone, I move the card with their name on it to the bottom of the list. Then, at the top of the list, I can see the cards that are ageing, which gives me a visual cue that it’s been a while since I connected with that person, so maybe I should reach out. The darker and more dog-eared the card looks, the longer it’s been since I connected with that person. 

I find it a really simple solution to keep on top of who I’m interacting with and whether I’m leaving it too long to reach out. 

Do you track your connections? Would love to hear how you go about it.