You Need 8 (Types Of) Friends

You need 8 friends. 

More specifically, you need 8 types of friends. You could have 3 multi-skilled friends. Or, more likely, maybe you have 10 or 100 friends and you’ll want to tease these 8 particular sets of skills out.  

In financial terms, think of this as a form of diversification. Not just for upside, but to avoid/survive the hardest to climb out of downsides in life too. Your people are everything, especially when it comes to enduring happiness. 

Have you friends in mind? Here are the 8 you’ll need:

The Builder: If you were a sports team, they’d be the “Coach.”

The Champion: Pom-poms not included.

The Collaborator: The unindicted co-conspirator.

The Companion: They’ll be at the police station at 3 AM with bail money. Again.

The Connector: This is the friend you and I probably have in common.

The Energizer: bunny costume optional, but drums are a must. 

The Mind Opener: If they sent you this blog post, I’m flattered.

The Navigator: Like a high school guidance counselor, except useful.

It’s worth repeating – some of your friends may play multiple roles. And you might play different roles to different friends of yours. That’s fine.

The point is, have a friend who wears one of each of these hats. Be a friend who wears one of these hats. Diversify your network and make sure your friends friends are diversified too. 

Nobody does this alone. 

The happy part. 

You can do sad alone. But why? Choose wisely. 

h/t Barking up the Wrong Tree and Josh Spector