First of all, I’d like to thank you for being my friend. Even though we’ve never met, I consider you as a friend. Now, virtual friends are amazing, right? But there’s something to be said for non-virtual friends. But meeting and making friends isn’t as easy when it used to be when we were kids. Well, technology, is kind of an addictive way of communication. We are so focused and fixated on our gadgets that we lose the ability to actually go up to somebody and talk to them.
So today in this article we’re going over 10 Tips to make new friends and meet new people.
Friend Finding Tips with Bonus!
1. Get outside of your bubble and routine. To meet new people, you need to step out of your regular routine.
2. Try new things. You got to experience new things and when you try new things, you’re going to meet new people. It is kind of a symbiotic type of a relationship.
3. Go new places and do new things if you ever expect to meet any non-virtual friend.
4. Accept every invitation you get. If somebody asks you to go somewhere, do something, instead of saying, “No. I got to do something else.” or making an excuse because you’re uncomfortable, GO! You got nothing to lose!
5. Use technology to your advantage to find groups, happenings, city search, meet-ups. There’s also online resources for you to find cool things to do in your area and go a little bit outside of that ‘bubble’.
6. Become a ‘regular’ at a coffee shop, bookstore, supermarket, museums, music venues. You meet a whole different class of people at different places and it’s a lot of fun. Once you become a regular by taking all these steps, then it’s time to start making friends.
7. Make eye contact and smile! You open yourself up, saying you’re approachable. Smile is the most important tool of communication. If you smile, the opposite person knows that you’re open for a conversation.
8. Start a conversation. Simple as that. It can be about anything and can be started anywhere. “Hey! That’s a nice shirt.” This was a conversation starter as well as a compliment which can be carried out so seamlessly. Compliments comes under tip no.9 down here.
9. Give compliments – everyone loves getting them! They don’t have to be weird.
10. Be yourself. Don’t try and be somebody that you’re not. Don’t try and go places that you absolutely have no interest in because people are going to see through it. The friendships you develop by being yourself are going to be deeper and more fulfilling. You’re going to have better engagement, you’re going to have more to talk about. Be Yourself!
** bonus** get a cute dog when all else fails 🙂
