Swimming pools and text messages

Why summer is the perfect time to level up your relationships

I write weekly about the strategies, habits, and tactics around cultivating the connections that matter to you.

Your weekly coffee meetings just disappeared. Soccer practice, beach trips, and camp drop-offs killed your carefully crafted routine of staying in touch with people.

If you're feeling frustrated trying to keep the same habits when your entire daily schedule has shifted, you're not alone.

Stop fighting it!

Stop fighting the season

Here's what I've learned: the best relationship building happens when you stop trying to force it into neat little calendar blocks.

While sitting poolside, I can often make better connections than my third cup of matcha. There's something about the relaxed vibe that makes reaching out feel natural.

People respond differently to a "thinking of you from the beach" text than another calendar invite.

Make it stupidly easy

Traffic jam productivity: Stuck in carpool line? Open up your contacts on your phone and flag a few relationships you want to remember.

Beach chair connecting: Supervising kids but not actively parenting? Perfect texting time.

Real summer updates: Skip the Instagram version. "Kids driving me crazy but loving family time" gets actual responses.

The point isn't to maintain your winter schedule. It's to stay connected without burning yourself out.

The summer advantage

Summer gives you something coffee meetings can't: real human context. When someone texts back about their vacation disaster while dealing with sunscreen chaos, that's relationship gold.

Nobody expects summer outreach to be perfect. Your text might come during a sibling fight or while hiding in air conditioning. That's not a problem—that's authenticity.

Do this now

Pick three people you've been meaning to reconnect with.

Text them: "Hope you're having a great summer! Just thinking of you while [insert actual summer activity]."

No agenda. No ask. Just connection.

Summer is permission to be more human in your professional relationships. Your relationships should fit your life, not control it.

Until next week - Zvi

P.S. Yes, texting from the pool counts as networking. Just don’t drop your phone.

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Ever felt totally out of place at a networking event... only to have an amazing one-on-one coffee the next day with someone from that same event? You’re not broken—you’re just in the wrong social power zone.

In this video, I’m breaking down why the where of networking matters just as much as the how. If you’ve ever wondered why some social settings completely drain you while others light you up, this is for you.

Here’s what you’ll learn:

  • How to figure out your personal "social power zones"

  • Why forcing yourself into draining networking events doesn't work (and what to do instead)

  • Simple strategies to modify events so they actually work for your personality

  • How to use a “bridge strategy” to turn chaotic events into meaningful connections

  • Why the most connected people aren't good at every kind of networking—they’re just really good at picking the right rooms

You can see all my videos and interviews on my channel! If you find these helpful, I’d appreciate a like, subscribe, and share with a friend, colleague, or enemy.

If you found this valuable, you might love Relatable. It’s the CRM built from the ground up to help you grow your network, not your business pipeline (but it does that too).