Your network evolves along with your life

Until I was 22, I was a social person. I made friends easily, found people interesting, and had a wide network, with a small core of loyal, deep relationships at its center. It felt natural.

Until a serious skiing accident changed everything. I lost my energy. My job. My sport. And my social life changed drastically, too. Many of my connections faded away as soon as I was less able to take the initiative myself. What remained was a small, loyal core of people who were truly there for me.

That changed my perspective on social networks forever. After all, a large network isn’t the same as a supportive network. Yet we rarely stop to think about that consciously. We just keep going. We get things done. We take care of things. And it’s only when things get complicated—during illness, loss, burnout, or a quiet period—that we realize just how important our network really is.

But looking back a bit helps. Because your network isn’t set in stone. It evolves along with your life. Moving, children growing up, getting older, a new job, or changes in health—all of these things affect who’s in your life. And also who has quietly drifted away.

This also confirms the findings of the Harvard study *The Good Life*, based on 85 years of research: the best predictor of well-being is not income or status, but the quality of your relationships. Connection is not a given. It is essential to life. And what is essential to life deserves to be nurtured.

I know that now. But back then, I lacked perspective. I didn’t have a clear picture of who was actually in my life, who was close to me, and what those relationships required of me. It wasn’t until later that I realized: if you can’t see something, you can’t make use of it.

That’s exactly why I developed the “ MLM-Tool.” Not as a grueling process. Not as a problem analysis. But as a social network “checkup”: slow down for a moment, take a look, and realign. Who’s around me? Where can I find support? Which relationships give me energy? Which connections require attention? And who might have fallen out of the picture, even though that person is still important to me?

You can appreciate, enhance, or rethink what you see.
Maybe this is your moment. For your own social network checkup. 

Get a clear picture of your network with the MLM-Tool.