1. Remember birthdays; it guarantees that you get in touch at least once a year.
2. Consider standing dates that make getting together easier: a baseball game every Fourth of July, a monthly brunch, a book group.
3. Keep a friend’s needs in mind—by passing along useful information, setting up a blind date, making a business introduction.
4. If you can pull it off, have a very big party (brunch, BBQ, cocktails) every few years.
5. Send out a holiday card to everyone you know.
6. Show up: to a wedding, a birthday party, a funeral, to see a friend’s new baby.
7. Don’t forget to send out change-of-address cards or emails so people can reach you.
8. Call more often. Maintaining a “phone” relationship with someone indicates a kind of intimacy.
9. Ask for favors. It’s nice to feel needed. Makes you feel wanted and trusted.
10. Don’t assume. Be sensitive to others and their feelings.
Other tips to strengthen friendships:
a) Triadic Closure – befriending your friend’s friends to create a bigger social network
b) Emotional contagion – surround yourself with positive people, they will keep your mood happier, negative moods are more contagious than positive ones so avoid these types of people.
c) The Mere Exposure Effect – Familiarity breeds affection.Because of the “exposure principle,” the more often a person sees another person, the more intelligent and attractive that person will be ranked.
d) Fundamental Attribution Errors – we over-emphasize the role that personality plays in shaping others’ behavior, and under-emphasize the role of outside forces. Pretty much, misjudging someone because of their actions/behavior without knowing the actual reason why the person might be acting or behaving this way.
e) Warmth – Attraction is reciprocal; we tend to like people more when we think they like us.
f) Subliminal Touching – touching someone on the shoulder, arm, back, etc… without bringing attention to the touching.
*Tips Tuesdays*