Track Commitments

Early in your relationship with a contact, you'll focus almost exclusively on planning interactions. You might plan on running into one person at a meetup and have a regular 1:1 with someone else.

But as you identify the people who matter and put them into groups, your commitments to these people and their commitments to you will become increasingly important. The question will quickly move from "Did I feel good when we were hanging out?" to "Was I able to help them, and were they able to help me?" This is where commitments come in.

Use commitments for two kinds of promises:

1. Remember promises you make to others and keep them top of mind so you can follow through and become someone others can trust.
2. Remember promises made to you so you can observe whether people follow through. Over time, this helps you invest in and trust people who express an interest in helping you and follow through.

Give every commitment a due date or follow-up point in time. If circumstances change, update it, reschedule it, or delete it. The point isn't to catch someone failing. It's to keep the promise visible long enough to see what actually happens.

With this clarity, the app goes beyond an interaction engine and helps you turn your network into a value engine for everyone. It will also help you tell the difference between someone who makes you feel good in the moment but never follows through and someone who might make you uncomfortable at times but steps up to the plate and helps you.