Friends are curious little beasties.

For one thing, they know more about you more than your family does. For another, the best experiences in life are often spent with them.

See also: You Might Be a Cold-Blooded Hater

Who were with you when you lit your first cigarette, shared your first kiss experience, or watched your first porn?

With them, freedom is the best feeling ever, next to the countless laughs you've spent together.

Those were the good old days, though.

As soon as the gas ran its course (usually in our mid-20s), we realize the only thing we could depend on is our family.

With age comes experiences, success, and the thirst to get the best out of life.

Then people around us started to change, and you've changed.

The inevitable has come.

These days, it's not about what you know, it's who you know. The best connections often come from who we know.

Before we get to know someone, we need to be friends with them first. Here are five simple but equally powerful ways.

Be interesting
Nobody wants to be friends with someone boring.

N-O-B-O-D-Y.

There are far too many exciting personalities to be around with someone who's got nothing to offer but their boring existence.

The easiest way to be interesting is by playing to your strength.

List 5 things you think you're very good at, make some noise about it (blast it to your social media networks), and consistently improve how you present them to the public.

Your new friends will visit them and there you will be judged.

Prepare for the worst, hope for the very best.

Boring should not to be mistaken with tepidness or those with a few-words-for-answer style.

It's someone who agrees with everything you say.

In short, they exist solely to become somebody's side kick.

Imagine being with someone like that. What is the first word that comes in your mind?

Exactly!

Don't overwhelm
New friendships are tricky and the only way to maintain them is to take the slow train home.

Don't get too excited when you discover you share the same passion over yoga, this NBA team, or the love for the outdoors and hairy tarantulas.

Always wait for the other person to divulge first.

Listen, and because your insides are squirming with genuine overflowing interest, it's crucial not to match the other person's energy.

Not yet, though.

You want to share your fascination with that hairy tarantula in a calm calculated exuberance when it's your turn.

This is not you trying to be someone you're not, this is you giving that friend his/her time to shine.

And in return, yourself.

This way the moment of "What, you, too?" becomes a powerful memory to which you two will smile every time you think about it.

Influence but never enforce
It doesn't mean they like indie records you'd go flooding their newsfeeds with YouTube links now.

First and foremost, you've befriended this person because they ignite an aura of independence and strength you're secretly attracted to.

People with aura of independence and strength don't like to be spoon-fed.

It would put you in a very 'needy' situation.

Most people these days see that the more you're obsessed to provide (unless you're their parent), the stronger the validation seeking whether you admit it or not.

If you really like stuff then post them in your feeds.

When they click like, the ingenuity will be nothing short of uplifting.

They liked it because you liked that stuff first. How cool is that?

Have something different and similar at the same time
I have this friend once who dismissed physical fighting as pointless; I was doing wushu at that time.

He's so immersed with air soft which I also dismissed as a lazy man's way of protecting himself.

We sparred occasionally in friendly conversation why the other sport is pointless.

Interestingly, it made our bond stronger and the friendship more meaningful because in spite of the difference in practice, we're practically interested in fighting.

These contrasting opinions make friendships exciting, forging genuine exchanges of ideas which will eventually earn each other's respect.

For not bending to the other's pleasing, for staying true to yourself.

Give space
No, this ain't you pushing them to be NASA astronauts.

In other words, don't be such a suffocating piece of goat.

Everybody needs a break from the world (and that includes you) sometimes.

To give you a hint they indeed need a break, look at their feeds, their tweets, and their face.

An all day of partying and family occasion is tiring.

The last thing they needed is you badgering them with questions and updates when clearly they've just posted it in their feeds.

Unless they open up first then you can be the update maniac all you want.

Don't get me wrong.

This ain't about using people to get what you want, it's exposing your talent to the right people in order to get what you want.

Word of mouth remains the most powerful tool for marketing oneself.

On the other hand, you need to be genuine because people can tell when you're faking 'it.'