You don’t have to be everyone’s favorite to be someone’s person.

Trying to be widely liked spreads you thin, and what it produces is a version of you that is agreeable to everybody and close to nobody. Being somebody’s person works the other way, in that it takes depth with a few, and depth is built from time rather than from charm. Those two aims pull in opposite directions. You can be mildly popular or well known to a handful, and the second one wears better.

Give one friendship real time this week rather than keeping twelve warm. Make a plan with one person and keep it. That is how the handful gets built, slowly and without an audience.