Have More Fun with Your Best Friends
Good morning, Live Better than a Billionaire-a-Holics!
Are you feeling motivated this morning? I certainly hope so. I know that I am!
Do you enjoy being with your best friends?
Would you like to find better ways to have fun together?
Are you interested in spending more time with your friends?
The key here is to build on your mutual passions and to locate new passions you can share.
Here are some of the ways that friends spend time together:
- doing activities they enjoy
- taking vacations together
- sharing the details of their daily lives
- asking for help with personal problems
- being a sympathetic ear
And those are all great things to do.
But it can be even greater when you expand and deepen your connections.
Advertisers show images of friends doing expensive things together: Shopping at chic stores; taking cruises; going on fishing trips; sitting in box seats at the ball park during the World Series; and sitting on the porch of a glamorous vacation home.
Expensive things can be part of friendship fun, but the fun can be bigger than the expense.
Let's look at a few ways to do that.
I'm going to use as examples a friendship that my wife has had for many years with a woman and a friendship that I have had with a man. We are both fond of each other's friend, as well.
1. Notice what your friend likes to do and suggest new ways to explore those interests.
My wife's friend is very interested in food and restaurants. While we don't share that interest as much, we look for ways to include my wife's friend whenever we are in a foody mood.
My friend loved playing golf on thoughtfully designed golf courses. He and I have cut back on our swinging now, but when we were still avid golfers we organized trips to courses that we both wanted to explore. A high point of this pursuit included an unforgettable excursion to Scotland to play many of the most famous courses there.
2. Find activities that spouses and significant others can enjoy, too.
With my wife's friend, we sometimes partnered up as couples to play in golf tournaments and to attend the dinner dances that followed. Naturally, we tried to pick the dinner dances with the best food.
With my friend, golf also became an alternative for the four of us after my friend's wife became passionate about the game.
3. Hop over the distance barrier.
My wife's friend moved to a new home a few miles away. We make a point of inviting her to do things whenever we will be heading that way. She does the same when she comes out in our direction. It makes each occasion almost like a reunion.
My friend moved far away, over 5,000 miles away. But he moved to a nice place. We made great efforts to vacation there and coordinated plans. Now he lives a mere 2,800 miles away, but a place where we don't travel very often. Our vacation plans once again need adjusting. Our joint vacation in Scotland helped with that. He often spends time with us when he comes back to our area.
4. Pick up the telephone.
Most women do this better than many men. But none of us probably do it enough. A long gab on the telephone can partially substitute for not being next to one another. With ever lower telephone rates and unlimited cell phone plans, it's cheaper than ever to do this.
5. Help your friend extend her or his passion in a new way.
My wife's friend hasn't taken any cooking classes in years. The two of them could take on learning something neither one has studied, like French pastry. They could either take the courses locally or go away together to have a more concentrated visit.
My friend has developed an interest in mountain climbing. That's a little more than I am prepared to do. But I do remember his love of wild flowers when we spotted them at the edges of golf courses. I can suggest a hiking trip in wild flower country during the right season.
6. Engage your friend in a great new passion of yours.
My wife has become very interested in her spiritual life. Her friend is of a different faith. But they could explore together non-sectarian ways of deepening your spiritual life.
I am having a ball now helping people around the world create vastly better ways to accomplish work, enjoy their families and care for those who need help. I recently asked my friend to help advise me in this area. Since he's now retired, I intend to find a large role for him in working with me on this.
7. Introduce friends who might like one another to each other.
The best way to do this is to create events that break down the normal boundaries between people. Usually, the goofier the event, the better. If everyone is feeling a little silly, it's easier to be friendly with people you've just met.
Please add your comments with favorite things you've done to have fun with your friends. I'm sure that other readers will be interested. Thanks!
Can any billionaire do better? I doubt it.
Billionaires have to deal with fair weather friends. When the money is flowing freely, the friends flock. And they may have their hands out when the flock. If you always have to pick up the check, it can leave you feeling like an ATM rather than a friend.
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N.B. As you can tell, I'm experimenting with color. Let me know what you like and what I should change about my use of color. Many thanks to Linda Grace for her suggestions which I am following!
Please let me know what else you would like to learn, and I'll do my best to help in future blog entries.
Here are some upcoming subjects:
On Monday, let's explore how to have your children behave better than a billionaire's.
Tuesday, we'll look at how to provide your children with something interesting to learn when they are bored at school.
On Wednesday, you'll find out how to get the whole world working to help you better than a billionaire.
Thursday, we'll look at how to say it with pictures better than a billionaire.
On Friday, let's design a great second date!
Saturday, we will visit Dr. Masaru Emoto again to explore his ideas for using Hado water to improve your health and the quality of your life.
August 31 was the most frequently read blog entry to date. Be sure to check it out!
Thanks so much for your support of this blog. I'm delighted that so many tens of thousands of people have made this blog part of their regular reading habit!
If you like this blog, please let others know who might also enjoy it. E-mailing your favorite post to them is a great idea.
Check out the latest index at http://livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars.blogspot.com/2005/10/latest-table-of-contents-to-this-blogs.html to pick out your choice.
Thank you to my many friends, students, clients and blog readers who are spreading the good word about this blog.
If you are visiting today because someone invited you, I'm delighted to meet you! Let's stay in touch.
Remember to also visit
Live Spiritually Better than a Billionaire at http://livespirituallybetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,
Be More Successful than a Billionaire at http://bemoresuccessfulthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,
Enjoy Mansions Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoymansionsbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,
Enjoy Football Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoyfootballbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/ and
Be a World Hero Better than a Billionaire at http://beaworldherobetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/.
I offer individual on-line tutorials and in-person seminars on living better than a billionaire on five dollars extra a day, creating 2,000 percent solutions (20 times the results with the same effort), developing more profitable business models and designing strategies that work regardless of the business environment. For information, contact me at ultimatecompetitiveadvantage@yahoo.com.
I am available to you as a speaker on these subjects. You can find my background at http://livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars.blogspot.com/2005_08_30_livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars_archive.html/.
May God bless you.
Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge
Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell
posted by Donald Mitchell @ 8:12 AM
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