After a good conversation, make it a repeating calendar event, with a mutual, guilt-free permission to cancel any single one.
The idea
My kids are not morning people. Except on Fridays when my mother-in-law is visiting: for years she's had a standing 7 AM Zoom breakfast with her friends, and my kids are dressed and at the table by 6:55 to say hi. It started in person, survived COVID and a cross-country move, and nobody ever has to schedule it. Those friendships stayed strong because of one recurring invite, set once. Nobody has to remember to reach out, and nobody has to feel guilty about losing touch.
How to do it
Pick one person you want to stay consistently connected to.
Set up a single call or coffee.
Before sending, click "repeat." Every two weeks, three weeks, monthly: whatever fits.
Give each other a permission slip to cancel or move any one, guilt-free.
Example
Every Friday morning I meet a friend for what we call a micro mastermind. We split the time so each of us can talk through whatever's on our mind. Sometimes it's 15 minutes, sometimes a couple of hours. When a close friend moved out of town, I set a Zoom catch-up repeating every three weeks, and we've kept it ever since.
Script
"This was great, would love to do this regularly."
"No worries if you need to skip one. The next one is already booked!"
Watch out for
Thinking it's too intense. Your dentist has better follow-up discipline than most friendships.
100 Coffee Dates: Set a yearly goal of 100 coffees with people you already know, about two a week. In my coaching it was usually the top revenue goal.
Text Before You Call: Text "you around for a quick call later today?", give the call a built-in time limit, and use random five-minute gaps to call people you like.