You can’t fake caring for long. People notice whether you remember what they told you last week.

Interest can be performed inside a conversation and cannot be performed across time. Remembering the exam, the injury, the sister who was visiting is the only real evidence, because it proves the thing was held rather than politely received. Everybody keeps that score without meaning to, and the result is accurate.

Write down one thing somebody tells you this week, then ask about it later. Nothing elaborate, just the detail and a follow-up a few days on. People tell you more once they have seen that it lands somewhere.