Know yourself first and you’ll pick better friends, because you’ll stop picking people who just fill the silence.

Knowing what you actually want from people changes who you let in. Without that, selection runs on availability: whoever is around, whoever is easy, whoever keeps the quiet from getting loud. Company chosen that way is still real company, but it rarely holds when something serious arrives.

Say what you want from a friendship in plain terms rather than adjectives. Someone who tells you the truth, someone you can be dull around, whatever it honestly is. Then notice which of your current people fit that description, and give those ones more of your hours.