I
like to stick around with my comfort social circle of friends. This is because
we have common views on most things and usually we shared a common experience.
Maybe we have studied together in the same school. Maybe we have worked
together in the same office before. Maybe we have grown up together in the
neighborhood. Maybe we are in the same hobby club. Whatever the reasons, I
rarely venture out of my comfort social circle to see what are out there in
this world.
After reading the rich dad series, I gather that it is important to know more
people beyond my comfort social circle especially people who are more
successful than me. By mingling and mixing with them, I will be influenced by
them to raise my standard so that I can be as successful as them. As it really
make sense to me, I decided to move beyond my comfort social circle of friends
by knowing more people. Below are a few examples on the approach that I have
used to know more friends.
One way is to get to know more people in seminars or courses. I will bring my name
cards to give away or exchange. During break times, I will approach people to
say hello. To start a conversation, I will ask them how do they feel about the
seminar. If they briefly answered that the seminar is ok or fine, I will share
my views about the seminar instead so that I can keep the conversation going. I
will give my name card and request for their name cards in exchange. If they do
not have a name card, I will give them a piece of paper so that they can give
me their contacts. And I will follow up and communicate with them after the
event using email, phones or whatever. In this way, I hope that I can strike a
rapport and make new friends.
Another way is to get to know more people online. I will invite people to be my
friends in online social networking website such as myspace.com, multiply.com,
friendster.com and so on. And I will follow up and communicate with them online
if they accepted my invitation. As result, I can make new friends.
I can also try to know more people in social gatherings such as wedding
dinners, birthday parties and so on. I will be proactive and try to start a
conversation with people. I will exchange name card or contacts where
appropriate so as that I can follow up with them. The topics vary depending on
the nature of social gatherings. For wedding dinner, the common topic will be
on the bride or the groom. For examples, how are you related to the couple? How
did you get to know the groom or the bride? Similarly for birthday party, the
common topic will be on the birthday person. For examples, how are you related
to the birthday person? How did you get to know the birthday person? By this
approach, I widen my circle of friends.
Alternatively, I can get to know more people at religious gatherings. By
discussing about our common religious beliefs, I can easily form friendship
with people. I can take part in religious activities and share my views during
discussion on certain topics in the religious teaching. In addition, I can
volunteer to help out in religious activities.
Whatever approaches I use, my main objective is to get to know more people so
that we can learn from each other. Whenever I chat with people that are beyond
my current comfort circle of friends, I always get to learn more things because
the topics that we talked about are different. Also, their views are likely to
be very different from my comfort social circle of friends. This is because we
come from very different backgrounds. This is especially true for online
friends living in different countries with different cultures. We can learn
even more things from each other due to our cultural differences.
During conversation, I will always keep an open mind and listen. If what I have
heard is useful for me to progress further in my quest for financial freedom, I
will try to adopt and practice it. If what I have heard is not useful for my
quest for financial freedom, I will store them as my knowledge so that I can
share with other people in future where appropriate. Either way, I have nothing
much to loss for trying to get to know more people. The worst thing that can
happen to me is that people reject my friendship. But if I do not try, I
definitely will not have the opportunity to find new friends.
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