Having close relationships is one of the most meaningful elements to happiness. It’s not always easy to make friends, however. To form a friendship, you must like someone—and you must also be likable.
How can you boost the chances that someone will like you? Here are eight strategies to keep in mind—not ways to manipulate people or to be fake, but to make sure that your desire to be friendly effectively shines through:
Studies suggest that we decide how close a relationship we’ll have with a new acquaintance within the first ten minutes of meeting that person, and that in evaluating people, we weigh early information more heavily than information acquired later. So make a big effort to be openly friendly the first time you meet someone.
How about you? Have you found any good strategies for showing your eagerness to be friendly?
This article originally appeared on gretchenrubin.com. Reprinted with permission by the author.