21 - Choose good friends and key relationship goals!

Reason for relationship goals:     It is said that our success in life will be the average of our closest 5 or 6 good friends. Ensure that you develop long and lasting friendships with people of substance: people who inspire you to be your best, are good role models for you, and who always encourage you to live the life you deserve.

A negative friend will impact your thoughts and your attitudes, both of which are critical.   Without realizing it, spending quality time with people who don’t have the characteristics of whom you’d like to be will drag you down. 

Relationship goals - choose your good friends wisely

You do have the power to decide who you will spend quality time with.   You can’t choose your family, but you can choose your good friends.   You can be the one that reaches out to acquaintances who inspire you and have the potential to become lifelong friends.   Decide how many good friend relationships you wish to maintain in your life, and work at nurturing these relationships.  Being a good friend takes effort, but it’s worth it.  Write out a list of all the people you consider to be your friends and acquaintances, and decide which ones you would like to have in your inner circle of closest friends. Spend the most time with these friends. 

Studies prove that the success you achieve in life will be highly factored on whom you associate with.    If you want to improve your chance for success and live a goal-inspired life, you need to find likeminded individuals to be part of your inner circle.   List out the 5 closest people in your life, and ask yourself if you are living a life as the average of these 5 people, summed up.   

There is a good chance that your life will be a complete reflection of these people in terms of your overall success . . . your overall financial position, your overall health, your overall ambition, etc.     If you would like to expand what you see is possible for yourself, look to replace or expand your inner circle with those who are the type of person you’d like to become.    

Plan getaways with your friends

I've noticed that the people who have good friends and the best friend relationships take time for getting away and enjoying each others company. A great way to stay in contact with your friends is to establish an annual getaway.  I know many people who have established such a tradition with friends and this is a great way to keep in contact with friends you would otherwise grow apart from, either because of distance or busy lives. 

Some relationship goals and ideas for friend getaways include:

• A camping or cottage weekend with just the guys or ladies
• A skiing weekend at a chalet
• A golfing tournament
• A shopping getaway
• A weekend to an entertainment city, like Las Vegas or New York
• A major concert or sporting event getaway each year
• A trip to an annual convention (comic, sporting, hunting, cottage, etc.)  (There are hundreds of annual conventions to choose from.)
• Friendship bonding occurs when you spend quality time with each other. Make time for your friends and be the one who reaches out to plan these events. 

Good friends matter

Work at having the type of close relationships that bring joy and meaning to your life. Take time to cherish the special times and traditions of life, by seeing your friends on special occasions such as:

• Each others birthdays
• Children's birthdays
• Summer barbeques
• Local festivals
• Holiday parties
• Christmas
• etc

When all is said and done, it is important to write down your relationship goals to have with our family and friends that matter the most.

Suggested Goal(s):    Develop and maintain close relationships with 5 good friends.

Your Outrageous Goal:  Spend meaningful time with your closest friends, every month, for the rest of your life.  

Return to family and friend goals.

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Last updated: May 17, 2020