How do I socialise so as to make friends and form relationships?
I want to make friends, build ties and relationships. I am working and studying at the same time and I also go to my place of worship. I occassionally go out with work colleagues but this hasn’t produced the results I want. I don’t have much more time because of work and study commitments. Any recommendations for swift wins - if doable - on this?What approach or strategy could I take? I am not into clubbing or anything like that.
TheSite.org on January 18th, 2010
Hi Andrew,
It sounds like you lead a busy life – working, studying and attending a place of worship. However, you also want to build friendships and relationships with the people around you and you’re wondering what the best way is to do this.
The first strategy is to expand your social circle, and get to know more people. This might mean saying ‘yes’ to social events when you’d normally decline, or joining a club or sports team, or volunteering in your local area. Even within your day-to-day work and study commitments, there might be opportunities to work with new people on projects and tasks. You might want to try saying ‘hi’ to someone new each day and see what develops. Even if you have to fake confidence at first, you may find that, with time, meeting new people becomes second nature. You can find more tips on boosting your expanding your social life in the following two articles from TheSite.org:
Boost your social life:
Be a social butterfly:
With some people you might find an instant connection but, in many cases, a friendship takes a while to develop. It might start with a smile and a hello, progress as you ask questions and get to know each other. Try to remember people’s names and a bit about them. Having shared interests can sometimes be a ‘short cut’ to friendship, as you’ve got topics of conversation from the start. TheSite.org has a more comprehensive guide to making friends here:
We hope this has been helpful Andrew and wish you all the best.