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When “Keeping in Touch” Hurts vs. Helps You

Written by: Timothy Ferriss

Article Overview: Contacting would-be VIP mentors is something most people have trouble with. The question isn’t just “how do I contact them?” but also “how should I communicate with them once I do?” I teach students how to reach the unreachables in my guest lectures at Princeton, and here is my response to a recent e-mail about the latter.

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When “Keeping in Touch” Hurts vs. Helps You

Contacting would-be VIP mentors is something most people have trouble with. The question isn’t just “how do I contact them?” but also “how should I communicate with them once I do?” I teach students how to reach the unreachables in my guest lectures at Princeton, and here is my response to a recent e-mail about the latter.

Dear Mr. Ferriss,

Hi. I took the first step towards gaining a mentor by calling [important Chairman], and he said I can call him whenever I had any more questions. I was wondering how frequently you contact your mentors. I don’t want to contact him so frequently that it consumes his time, but I don’t want him to forget about me either.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Sincerely,

[A blog reader]

My response:

Have one truly meaningful conversation with him and ask good questions. Do the same about 3 months later and you’ll never have to “keep in touch” by bothering him. He’ll remember you. I never “keep in touch” by calling or emailing when I have nothing important to say or ask. Have fewer deep connections and you don’t need to. Be memorable and you don’t need to be frequent. The latter just annoys important/busy people.

Hope that helps!

Tim

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Home > Entrepreneur-Advice > Timothy Ferriss > When Keeping in Touch Hurts vs Helps You
Article Tags: e mail, guest lectures, meaningful conversation, mentor, mentors, princeton, thanks in advance

About the Author: Timothy Ferriss
RSS for Timothy's articles - Visit Timothy's website

Serial entrepreneur and ultravagabond Timothy Ferriss has been featured by dozens of media, including The New York Times, National Geographic Traveler, NBC, CNN, and MAXIM. He speaks six languages, runs a multinational firm from wireless locations worldwide, and has been a popular guest lecturer at Princeton University since 2003, where he presents entrepreneurship as a tool for ideal lifestyle design and world change. The 4-Hour Workweek is his first book on lifestyle design and details how to outsource and automate your life.

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