As a Dad, it’s easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of daily life—taking the kids to school, sporting events and birthday parties. When you get home and finish the chores, you spend as much time as you can connecting with your wife. Even guys who aren’t married often pour themselves into their jobs. And we all can get distracted by the endless streaming options and social media. The aspect of our lives that most quickly falls by the wayside is maintaining consistent connections and to connect with friends.
Everyone knows friends are important. But a lot of us feel lonely at times and wonder where they’ve gone or why they don’t feel as close anymore. The key is consistency. And I’ll show you why…
4 Ways Being Consistent Will Improve Your Friendships
1. Intentionality
I think many people expect being close friends with someone to come naturally. But really, everything has to line up perfectly: You grew up together and stayed in the same place while sharing similar interests and values. Otherwise, you have to be intentional about maintaining a close friendship.
Practically, that means making plans to see each other or talk at least once a week. It shows how much they matter to you that you’re willing to cut out a chunk of time every week to spend time with them, which is key for developing trust.
2. Trust
Think about meeting up with an old friend you haven’t spoken to in years. You could of course get along, joke around a little, relive the glory days and get caught up to speed on what’s going on in each other’s lives. But would you be comfortable sharing your struggles and deepest vulnerabilities that you keep under wraps?
That’s why consistency is so key. With an intentional friend, you’ve gotten to a point in your friendship where you can say, “I’ve got your back and you’ve got mine.” You trust them to listen to these sensitive topics without fear that they’ll tell someone else. And that they’ll be actively thinking and praying for the right wisdom to help you connect with friends.
3. Different Perspectives
Whenever the best CEOs need to find the right direction for the business, they lean on the expertise of their advisors. That’s what it’s like having a few close, trustworthy friends. It’s easy to get confused in life and feel unsure about what your next step should be. But when you have the consistent advice of a trustworthy friend in your corner, it makes it so much easier. They’ll encourage you to keep going if you’re on the right track or offer insights on what to do next.
Sometimes the best advice from this kind of friend comes when we don’t even realize we need it. They can keep us accountable when we’re acting out of line or prideful. Not out of some judgmental righteousness but out of deep compassion—they know our story and they only want the best for our soul.
4. Spiritual Growth
When I talk about spiritual growth, I’m not talking about becoming a pastor or an elder in the church. I’m just talking about deepening your relationship with God and receiving His blessing in our lives. Having a group of trustworthy, reliable friends meeting up every week to be friends with God is among the most important things we can do in life. It’s what Jesus modeled for us. He taught His disciples to come together to consistently connect to God. Being able to connect with friends is one way to do this.
Is this exactly the kind of friendship you’ve been looking for? Download the Playbook for Level 5 Friendship to get started today.
