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.

* DISCLAIMER *

The author, publisher and distributors particularly disclaim any liability, loss, or risk taken by individuals who directly or indirectly act on the information contained herein. All readers must accept full responsibility for their use of this material.