I think the title says it all. I Dare you not to find something that suits you in the list below.
To get the most out of this article, pick just five ideas that you’re most excited about. Try them for three weeks and see what worked for you the most. After that, dismiss what doesn’t work for you and come back to pick new ideas you’ve never tried.
Now, of course, you have to know how to talk to people, have a little fun, exchange contact information and take it from there. But, knowing where to go to meet people can make the whole process of making friends easier for you.
Obviously, I haven’t tried everything here, but I tried most of it and ONLY included what makes sense for a young man to do to meet friends :
Sports Class: Boxing, Gym and Aerobics, etc. You choose. It’s a good way to take care of yourself and meet people. Although, it’s always better to take a class where the people are young and interesting. You can’t afford to waste your time in a class where you can’t meet friends.
Hobbie Class: Yoga, Salsa Dance, Tango Dance, Cooking, Acting… etc. It’s a great way to meet new friends. If you want to learn a new skill, then do it. If you want to do it just to meet friends, then fine. A lot of people take up new hobbies just for that.
Hobbie/Sports-based Group: Photography, Guitare (or any other instrument) lovers, Fitness and Running Clubs, Improv Clubs, Actors Studio, Philosophy Lovers Club.
Facebook: Of course, you have to know how to do it properly, or else, you’ll waste a huge amount of time.
Non-Profit: Join a non-profit or just go to their events, talk to people and get interested in the people. You can talk to people about the event’s subject, but the more you can talk about THEM, the more chances you’ll become a friend.
Social Events: Expat Events, Social Groups, Networking Events, 20-something After-work Events. These are great, I went to hundreds of events like them. The people are open and interested in making new friends. Also, if you’re a little shy, don’t worry, these are the EASIEST people to talk to.
Meetup.com: Abundance of groups and Get-togethers… frankly no reason not to do it. I went to a dozen meetups and now I’m part of a House Music Club. I like how chill the people are. Example (San Diego groups and meetups): http://bit.ly/vnP7g3
Neighbors: Simple sequence: go from Hi to How Are Things Going? How’s work? to What do you do? to Care for a drink?
Online Forums: Fitness, Dating, Sports… it’s amazing how you can take any subject, let’s say “fishing”, go to google, type “fishing forum San Diego” and you’ll find a whole community of people interested in that. You can go to a forum around something you love, start sharing your opinions on topics and then send private messages to some people you want to meet.
Bars and Pubs: Yes, they can be intimidating. But you can just start talking to someone at the bar, guy or girl. If you want to meet new people at bars, go to busy bars where the music is not too loud. If you put yourself in a busy area, people are going to be all around you. Turn on your confidence and talk to people.
I go to bars because my social life gets stimulated in there. I happen to bump into a lot of people I know that I would like to turn into friends. I meet existing friends and I get to meet THEIR friends. And also, it gives me a chance to introduce my friends to each other which is very important.
Book Clubs and Book Stores: Never tried a book club but I met a few female friends in bookstores. One time, I just said to a girl holding a personal finances book “Hey, that’s what rich people read… you must be rich, let’s get married or something!”. She was into self-improvement so we hit it off pretty quick.
Private Parties: Always go to the private parties of people you know. Especially Birthday parties. People may act aloof about it, but it means a LOT to them if you show up at their birthday party. You make the friendship go a lot deeper. And it’s a great way to meet THEIR friends. Chances are, you’ll meet their close friends and some family. And people get very friendly and open at birthday parties.
The Dog Park: or any pet-related event (if you have a pet)
Cultural Events: Museum events, Concerts, live music, and local bands
Comedy Club/Comedy Fans Groups
Sports Team Fans Clubs (Baseball, Football, Basket-Ball, Hockey) If you like a team, but not a mad-fan, don’t worry, you can still hang out with at the fan get-togethers. You can go and chat about the games and the team. You say to people that you don’t necessarily watch all the games but you like the team. If you’re interested in any of the participants, talk to him and switch the conversation to what they do in life and what they do for fun.
Pick five ideas that you’re most excited about. Try them for three weeks, keep what works for you. Then come back to get inspired again.
Professional Events: Fairs, Function-Driven Groups (example: sales, marketing, development, advertising, architects, lawyers, real estate, etc…). Self-explanatory I hope? People go to these events to do “professional networking”. That means they expect people to come and introduce themselves. It makes it easy for you to meet new people. Just don’t stay too much on the professional side of the conversation. You can be a little easy going and show clearly that you can be fun too.
These places are full of young people.
Seminars: self-explanatory, right? If you go to a seminar about your subject of interest, how easier can it get to make new friends? You just met the people you want the most: People with shared interests.
Self-Improvement Clubs: Hypnosis Groups, Holistic Healing Groups, NLP Groups, Psychology, Meditation. These can be fun. You could meet some interesting people who are conscious of where they’re going in life. The downside is that all people won’t be of your age. But still, you can always meet at least two to five friends, just through an NLP Group.
Public Speaking Clubs (like Toastmasters) Do you want to learn public speaking? If not, you can skip this. But if you do, then definitely go to these.
Singles Clubs and Events and Speed Dating: These are fun, especially if you go with a friend or a female friend. Just get there and talk to people and make it clear that you don’t only want to meet girls for dating. Talk to anyone girl/guy/group of girls. The key is to not take it seriously. You can find singles clubs online.
Couchsurfing.org: If you’ve never couch-surfed, you may wanna try it. I never did but heard great feedback on how interesting it is. What I did try is to contact local couchsurfers and asked them questions about the site and how did they find the experience. That led to adding them on Facebook and meeting them in person later on. By the way, they also do casual couchsurfers meetup’s, you go to them even if you’re *just* interested in the concept.
Contests and Tournaments: Poker, Video-games, Races, Dance contests…
Language-Driven Events and Groups: People learning new languages like to meet others who do too. If you speak Spanish, French or any other foreign language, find a group of people who are learning it.
Wine/Beer Events: Casual-Drinkers clubs, Beer Fans, Wine Tasting. If you drink, go to these. Some people are cool, some are just losers pretending to be cool. You have to make your pick.
That’s it for now! Awesome list and I dare you NOT to find at least Two ideas that suit your situation perfectly.
Remember, people are bored and no one listens to them. They’re desperate for someone like you to come and ask them questions about themselves.
Paul Sanders