I can’t remember where I heard this, but I think it’s genius. Men connect shoulder-to-shoulder, whereas women connect face-to-face. This makes sense why I don’t feel deep connections with men when we meet over coffee. I’d rather be doing something; playing sports, hobbies, etc.
One of the best things I do every year is go hunting with one of my good high school friends. We don’t get a lot of time together throughout the year, but we make it a point to hunt together once a year over opening deer weekend.
Men are bad at making and keeping great friends, but we need close friends. We need meaningful friendships. It’s easy for us to retreat to women (girlfriends, wives, moms), but those friendships come up short. Without elaborating too much, men are missing out if they only associate with women.
Let’s start by asking someone to join us in something we love to do – creating a shoulder-to-shoulder connection.
What have you done to connect with your good buddies? Give us some ideas!
Thanks Steve & Jemma Copley for the photo above.
A buddy and I road trip places.
In high school, and summers in college it would just be taking a trip to Spokane and running around town. When I finished an internship in Arizona, he flew down and drove back to Washington with me. This last weekend we took a trip to Seattle for a ball game.
Hands down, thats the way we do business as best friends, on the road.
Great idea, Jack! That's fun to hear.
I know that my dad has connected with his friends that way, too. They saved up for a few years and toured a bunch of baseball stadiums throughout the country. They came back with some pretty cool stories!