A step by step tool for top achievers

Step 25: To Have a Friend, Be a Friend
We keep looking for the right employer, the right employee, spouse, parent, child, and so
on. We forget that we have to be the right person too. Experience has shown that there is
no perfect person, no perfect job, no perfect spouse. When we look for perfection, we are
disappointed because all we find is that we traded one set of problems for another set of
problems. Having lived in the West for over 20 years, I have observed that with the high
divorce rate the way it is, people find after they get married for the second time that their
new spouse doesn't have the problems of the first one but has a totally new set of
problems. Similarly, people change jobs or fire employees looking for the right one only
to find that they traded one set of problems for another. Let's try and work around these
challenges and make divorcing or firing the last rather than the first resort.
Sacrifice
Friendship takes sacrifice. Building friendships and relationships takes sacrifice, loyalty,
and maturity. Sacrifice takes going out of one's way and never happens by the way.
Selfishness destroys friendships. Casual acquaintances come easy but true friendships
take time to build and effort to keep. Friendships are put to tests and when they endure,
they grow stronger. We must learn to recognize counterfeit relationships. True friends do
not want to see their friends hurt. True friendship gives more than it gets and stands by
adversity.