Personal relationships need to be maintained in order to remain healthy.  You maintain your relationships by regularly visiting with people, either in person or over the phone, when you don’t ask for anything.  If the only time you call or call on people is when you want something, you quickly become labelled as a “taker” or a “user” and no one wants to deal with that kind of person.

So, take fifteen minutes a week and call a few people on your “relationship list” just to say hi and ask how they’re doing.  The next time you need a favor from someone on that list, you’ll be glad you did.  – Ross Reck, author of Instant Turnaround!