When you lapse, give yourself grace, drop the backlog, and restart right away with one tiny action, like a single email.
The idea
You will miss a day. Then two, then three weeks, then two months. The guilt grows like the mess in the garage, and ignoring it feels better than facing it. When I see people fall short with their relationships, it's almost always because they stumbled and felt they couldn't get back. Falling off the wagon is completely OK. Research has found it can take a smoker up to 30 attempts to quit for a year. What matters is the ability to pick it back up. And nobody cares: the people you haven't written to aren't stewing about it, your CRM is still storing everything, and your calendar doesn't care either.
How to do it
Grace. Accept the lapse. Guilt about what you did is fine; shame about who you are only drives more inaction.
Clear expectations. Clear off the to-do list. Nobody is angry that you haven't talked to them.
Start small, right now. Update one contact, or send one email to someone you haven't spoken to in a while.
Name the externality. Vacation, kids home, a crush of clients. When does it end? Plan to switch back then.
Script
"Happy New Year! I was just thinking of you and wanted to check in."
Example
Contactually started as an idea jotted down in Evernote, and nearly failed to launch for exactly this reason. As a side project next to our day jobs, we'd go a week or two without touching it. Instead of letting it lie fallow forever, we'd pick it back up for just a few minutes a day, and that got us rolling again.
Watch out for
Waiting for a fresh start like January 1. Every day is one.
Miss Once, Not Twice: Give yourself grace for one miss but never two. If you have to pause, set the restart date in your calendar before you stop.
Guilt Is OK, Shame Is Not: Guilt is feeling bad about what you did; shame is about who you are. Shame drives avoidance, so drop it and restart small.
Accountability Partners: Turn your solo networking block into a recurring session with one or two people doing the same work, because you'll keep promises to them.
It's Never Been Too Long: Relationships have no expiration date. After any gap, assume they'll be happy to hear from you, and reach out with no agenda.