Subscribe to fluff-free, actionable, and inspiring ideas to help you become your best self and build a life you love.
How to make friends
If you're anything like me, your expectations and ideas about friendships changed throughout your life. As a kid, you feel cool when you have a lot of friends. But the older we get, the harder it is to:
I'm not even sure which one's harder, but I recently gained brilliant insights from an article titled How to Make Friends as an Adult. The author lived across three continents in nine different towns over the last 20 years, so he was forced to learn how to build new friendships - even when it felt uncomfortable and weird: “Is this what it’s come down to?” I wondered to myself. “Is this what happens when you decide to work fully remote? You get excited about paying two handymen to install a new toilet in order to get a dose of human connection?”
At that very moment, I knew something needed to change.
If I was going to make my new town feel like home, I’d have to get off my ass and make some new friends — or at least a few that didn’t charge me for their time.
Fortunately, this wasn’t the first instance where I’ve had this revelation. As a constant-mover who’s lived across three continents and in nine different cities or towns over the last two decades, I’ve become pretty good at quickly making friends in new places. In fact, despite growing up painfully shy with a debilitating stutter, making connections both online and off is a big part of my job—to the tune where I just wrapped up a manuscript on this very topic for my book publisher. If you’re like me and believe life is best when shared, here are some tips and tactics I’ve picked up on my journey that may help you on your own.
PS - I'm hosting a *free* Masterclass next week where I'll teach how you, too, can write stories like the one above and finally share your ideas, knowledge, memories, and experiences with the world. Sign up now. |
The Personal Growth Letter
Subscribe to fluff-free, actionable, and inspiring ideas to help you become your best self and build a life you love.
Hey Reader, When I say writing has changed my life, most people think I’m exaggerating or being too romantic. But I’m not. Over the last five years, I’ve practiced various forms of writing: I self-published a book. I wrote over 550 articles on Medium. I'm journaling almost daily. I sent over 700 newsletters to subscribers just like you. And I can confidently say writing can change your life in ways you might’ve never expected.Learn more about how writing consistently could change your life....
In 1967, researchers at UCLA wrote about the importance of nonverbal communication and how our body language and tone of voice can influence our message. Over the following decades, the research was misinterpreted and led to a popular yet false concept named 7/38/55, which indicates that: 7% of a message is expressed through the actual words used 38% of a message is expressed through the tone of voice 55% of a message is expressed through body language Of course, this isn’t always true. When...
So many people fail to achieve their goals because they’re more concerned about doing things perfectly than doing them repeatedly. But here’s the harsh truth: A perfect workout won’t transform your body or mind. Working out consistently will. One productive day won’t build your dream career. Doing the right things consistently will. One great date won’t lead to a happy marriage. Consistently showing your partner that you care will. Instead of trying to avoid mistakes, fail with grace and make...