Hold on to the people who knew you before the followers, the title or the car. They’re your reality check.
GRATITUDE
WHAT THIS MEANS
People who arrive after your circumstances improve meet the circumstances first. Those who knew you earlier have a reference point independent of all of it, so they can tell when you are drifting and have no incentive to flatter you. That combination is rarer than it sounds and cannot be acquired later.
Keep at least a few of those relationships in active use rather than in storage. Ask one of them, directly, whether you have changed in a way they do not like. And make it safe to answer honestly, since the value only exists if they can.
A QUESTION TO SIT WITH
Which friend still tells you the truth about yourself?
MORE IN TRUST, LOYALTY & RELATIONSHIPS
- Years from now, you want people to say, “I’m glad I met them.” That’s built one small interaction at a time.
- Everyone texts the week it happens. Real ones text a month later, when it’s still happening but nobody’s asking.
- The friend who texts “home yet?” at midnight is doing more than it looks like.
Free, with nothing to buy inside it.