50 Hours a Year

So I was talking to a friend of mine about the community posts and he suggested a method that he uses to build relationships, and I really like it. I have actually done this in the past, but not as part of an intentional system, it just kind of happened.

He sets aside his lunches and time before work to spend an hour each week with a number of friends. So every week he has several meal visits with friends that work on a recurring basis all year. So every year he spends about 50 hours with each one (hence the catchy title).

While it isn't a huge amount of time it is enough, especially given its consistency to really develop good relationships. He shared that over time enough relational capital is developed that some of the holes that I was bemoaning previously are filled. And thinking back to when I did it that really was the case.

So while it doesn't look like a perfect silver bullet to fix all my problems it does seem like a solid system to systematically improve the relationships that I feel I need.

Have you ever done this? How did you feel it went?

P.S. Many thanks to my friend for his wise input.