I wrote a tweet thread (before Twitter even called them threads, really) back in 2018 that covered the topic of organising catching up with people. Revisiting that thread made me think of what really helps when it comes to organising a catch-up (or date, or whatever!) with someone as efficiently as possible.

Many people panic at how to approach the subject but I think the easy part is to reach out and ask if someone is interested in catching up sometime. Specifics are alright, but not necessary. Dropping in the suggestion of a coffee or a lunch narrows it down a bit, even better if during the day works better for you. Opening the conversation is the main thing. The person can decline or at least say they’re keen.

My friend Seb, whom I’ve known for an epoch—anything from university and beforehand may as well be an epoch—reached out to me the other day asking if I could catch up for lunch. I literally hadn’t had a good chat with him for perhaps five years, and I think I randomly bumped into him once in the city. 😂

He told me the three days of the week that worked for him, and he also added that he was happy to meet me anywhere, i.e. was happy to travel some distance and take the time to do so. It all doesn’t make for a very long message but I really appreciated all of this information because it made it a lot easier to pick a time and place to catch up. The ball was in my court.

This coincides with this tweet that was part of the thread:

I know the tweets are old… I mean, considering. They are almost five years old. But I suppose it’s nice to look back on these and realise that the tips are useful for even myself, as recently I haven’t been exceptionally good at organising or approaching catching up with people.

We had lunch on Monday and it wasn’t a problem at all to organise. I picked a place and a time and it happened. 🤜🏻

I know many people claim to “be flexible” but are often all talk. If you are flexible then let us know all the options, give us all the choice. This is one of those times I feel like there is less possibility of the idea of being “spoiled for choice”, because you’re trying to negotiate something that works for more than one person. There are multiple people involved. You can’t be spoiled for choice when you are trying to give someone options to find the middle of the Venn diagram of when you are available and when they are available.

Another thing I wanted to make a note of is how booking far in advance, such as months away, isn’t a ridiculous notion. In fact, it’s particularly useful especially if you are meeting with someone in another country and the opportunity doesn’t come by often.

We’re all friggin busy these days and everyone has their own lives but I know we can make time for the people we care about.

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I’m blogging every day in January 2023. Let me know if you’ll be joining in and trying to blog every day. 😊 The hashtag you can use on social media is #blogeverydamnday.